Where Light Industrial Space Is $2/foot

  |  October 31, 2013
river-of-opportunities

Recently, we found out about a campaign to lure New York businesses to the city of Newburgh. It’s called River of Opportunities, a project of the City of Newburgh Department of Planning and Development, which advertises the  “affordable, historic manufacturing and warehouse buildings” and explains that such spaces are “ideal for light manufacturing, clean tech, speciality food and beverage production, artisans or artists.”

We’ve spent a lot of time in the city, in the more dire-looking spots and the restored sections, and since we don’t purport to be unbiased (at least about our affection for cities) we feel good about boosting Newburgh. It’s worth boosting. We spoke to many business owners who had relocated from downstate, some of whom were paying $2 per square foot for former factory space, some of that with glorious river views.

Most people know about the city’s bad rap, but they don’t realize what a hub it is–at the crossroads of I84 and I87, a few minutes from Stewart Airport, home to the Newburgh-Beacon ferry and 10 minutes from MetroNorth. What attracts us most is the sense of community, the tightly knit collection of folks trying so hard to save the city. Granted, they have far to go, but the more folks take up in all that empty industrial space, the closer they’ll get.

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