Three Westchester camp directors recently bought Breezemont Day Camp Inc., a 15-acre property in Armonk, in a multimillion-dollar transaction.
The day camp, which serves about 300 children ages 3 to 14 each year, will undergo a $300,000 to $400,000 facelift. The plan is to add new programs and choices of activities including a zip line and an aerial ropes course. New tennis courts and renovations to the basketball courts, playgrounds, dining room and visitor and health centers will take place before this summer.
The summer camp includes six pools, a lake, and outdoor adventure and aquatics programs. During the off season, the camp serves as a wedding venue and hosts other events.
“We”™re the only day camp in Westchester with its own lake,” said Gordon Josey, one of the three buyers. “As a result, we want to enhance our sports, arts, outdoor adventure and aquatics programs.”
In addition to Josey, the other two partners are Tony Stein and Mark Newfield.
The property on Cox Avenue was bought from JR Tesone. The exact price was not disclosed.
The day camp is in the process of hiring activity specialists, general counselors and group leaders for the summer. In the past, the vast majority of its staff has been full-time educators or teachers, who can take the summers off to work at the day camps. Josey said Breezemont is looking to hire 30 to 40 people for the summer.
“We want to keep the same traditions where children come and feel safe and welcomed,” Josey said. “What we want to do is to create a marriage of fun with nice facilities. Now with the availability of online enrollments and new menu options, we”™re taking the old tradition of the camp but presenting it with a newer and fresher perspective.”
Since 1936, the day camp has served as an educational and recreational center for children. About 50 years ago, the New York Rangers ice hockey team used the lake inside the day camp as a training facility. Long before that, the camp grounds served as a summer vacation home for middle- and upper-class immigrants from New York City, Josey said.
Josey, a native of Scotland, started working at summer camps in America in 1990. In 1998, he became the director of a camp in Maine. Then in year 2000, he bought Camp Twin Creeks, an overnight camp in West Virginia.
The three partners each own summer camps. Stein owns Camp Echo Lake, an overnight camp in the Adirondack Mountains; and Newfield owns Iroquois Springs, a co-ed overnight camp in Rock Hill, Sullivan County.
“We”™ve got lot of experience operating a camp, and we know the potential is fantastic,” Josey said. “But like any other new business, it takes three to five years to turn it around and get it to where we have to financially, with infrastructure and staffing.”
RIP JR, you created a beautiful camp that gave joy to thousands of children. You will be missed.
JR, my son spent many summers at Breezemont and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting him there over many years.
I believe his experiences and the friends he made at Breezemont are one of the reasons he turned out to be a well-rounded young man. Thanks for the fond memories of raising a child.