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A Roundup of Recent Ulster County Business-Related News, Views, and More

October 28th, 2026

Growth in Ulster County doesn't just happen on its own. Too often, when someone tries to build something new, the first answer they hear is "no." This kind of thinking keeps our economy stuck in place.

Ulster Strong is here to change that. We are fighting to make sure local business owners have a voice in the big decisions. We want to make sure local leaders know why we need new projects and growing businesses to keep our community strong.

You can see why this matters in our piece this week on the Winston Farm project. Saugerties Supervisor Fred Costello puts it well: it is easy to say what we don't like, but it takes real courage to compromise and build something great. That is the kind of leadership we need to move forward.

If you want to help us make our local economy better, we hope you will join us. You can become a member today at ulsterstrong.com/membership. Let's work together to make our county a place where business can grow.

REMEMBER: you can always find this and other recent Ulster Strong Business Bulletins on our website at ulsterstrong.com

(Pictured: Local business owners and officials take tour of Saugerties-based Elna Magnetics before business listening session hosted by Ulster Strong and Ulster County Legislators.)

This newsletter includes the following:

Insight Into Saugerties by Supervisor Costello

New development advances the City’s efforts to expand access to high-quality, affordable housing

Ulster Strong Fall Mixer & Networking Event

Ulster Strong Takes the Pulse of Ellenville Business Community

Member's Voice: Bricks Out, Visitors In

Upcoming Business Listening Session

Controversy, allegations of bias dog Village of New Paltz planning board

Upcoming Ulster Business Events

In 2002, when Fred Costello began his first term on the Saugerties Town Board, the community, like every other town in Ulster County was still reeling from the closure of IBM’s massive campus in the Town of Ulster, and seeking a new path to economic growth. 24 years later an answer has emerged - a strong tourist economy which exists alongside a light manufacturing sector that provides the kind of well-paying jobs often lacking in the hospitality industry. Costello attributes the town’s emergence from the post-IBM doldrums to a mixture of luck, strong community spirit and a commitment to an ongoing comprehensive planning process.

“We’ve matured into a year-round tourist community; and that’s good because there’s an economic story that goes along with that and it’s significant” said Costello who is in his ninth year as Town Supervisor. “And the other part that I think we don’t give ourselves enough credit for is a pretty diverse basket of industries that are leaders in their field.”

In 2011 the town invested $5.5 million to extend water and sewer infrastructure to Kings Highway south of the village. The investment paid off allowing existing businesses there to expand and attracting new ones. Today the Kings Highway industrial zone is home to specialized light manufacturing firms like Ceres Technology which makes components for the semiconductor industry, and Markertech, which builds custom audio/visual systems. On the other end of town in Malden, the family-owned La Dolce Machine Company operates a 100,000 square foot precision manufacturing facility. Costello said the strength of Saugerties’ manufacturing sector lies its diversity, insulating the town from the kind of economic havoc wrought by the loss of IBM.

“When IBM left, we had all our eggs in that one basket so it was pretty catastrophic and left behind years of strife where we had to kind of reinvent ourselves,” said Costello. “We’re stronger today because of the diversity…if one of those companies was to leave or lose their position in the marketplace it wouldn’t have the same catastrophic consequence that IBM did when they laid off thousands of people at one time.”

If the town’s manufacturing sector stands out locally, its path to a tourism-based economy is one familiar to virtually every community in Ulster County. In Saugerties, the sector began to take off in 2004 when local entrepreneur and developer Tom Struzzieri brought HITS (for Horse Shows in the Sun) to town along with a seasonal influx of well-heeled equestrians. Every summer and fall the village turns into a kind of mini Bridgehampton, supporting a thriving food and beverage sector. Struzzieri continued his focus on the upper end of the tourism market with the luxury Diamond Mills hotel and event space on Partition Street, and a marina, spa and wellness center on the Esopus creek.

More recently the town has benefitted from the explosion of youth travel sports. The sprawling Cantine Veterans Memorial Complex in the heart of town has 11 baseball and softball diamonds, along with soccer fields, basketball courts and an Olympic sized ice rink for figure skating and hockey. In the summer thousands of visitors come from around the northeast to participate in weekend-long travel baseball tournaments and other sporting events.

“That’s something that’s become very big for us lately,” said Costello. “It draws in a lot of people and really helps support our businesses.” As the town continues to grow, no project looms larger than the proposed Winston Farm development at the site of the 1994 Woodstock festival. With 800 residential units proposed, the project includes a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, condos and apartments - and 250,000 square feet of commercial space, hotel and a 5,000-seat performing arts center. Although the total site is 800 acres, plans include preserving a large portion for protection. The development will create an entirely new neighborhood on the outskirts of the village.

Developers seeking a Planned Development District have submitted a Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement and are heading into a public comment period where will they will have to answer tough questions about the project’s impacts, including on an aquifer that provides water to hundreds of wells outside of the town’s sewer and water district. The proposal has already generated intense and well-organized opposition both from grass-roots groups and well-funded environmental advocacy organizations including Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Sierra Club. With concerns about the aquifer as well as traffic and infrastructure and that the PDD will set a precedent for sprawl, Costello acknowledged that the road to approval would likely be long, contentious and litigated.

“One thing we’re great at is expressing what we don’t like; but do we have the courage to compromise and say okay here’s something we do like or at least can tolerate?” said Costello. “And I think with Winston Farm we need that level of engagement for it to be successful.” 

(Rendering above by Marvel Architects)



Milestone Development, a mission-driven real estate company focused on affordable and workforce housing, and RUPCO, the Kingston-based nonprofit housing organization, announcea plans to develop 135 units of 100 percent affordable housing on the site of a former auto dealership in Uptown Kingston.

The development team of Milestone and RUPCO, which also includes the Kingston-based real estate firm Sycamore Street Advisors, has filed plans with the Kingston Planning Board to construct a new six-story residential building at 111 Schwenk Drive consisting of 135 affordable apartments, an outdoor amenity court, car and bicycle parking, and 1,485 square feet of retail space. The affordability mix will be finalized as the development process progresses. The project currently aims to provide homes for eligible households earning between 40 and 80 percent of area median income (AMI).

Reflecting Milestone and RUPCO’s commitment to building resilient, sustainable communities, the Schwenk Drive project will also benefit from the addition of a Geothermal Heat Pump system as a renewable energy source for heating and cooling. Marvel Architects is the architect of record for the project with Dutton Architecture PLLC serving as Design Consultant.

“We believe the best affordable housing does more than meet a fundamental need. It acts as a springboard for people and communities to thrive,” said Aaron Koffman, Partner and CEO, Milestone Development. “That philosophy has guided our projects across the region, and we’re excited to bring our work to Kingston.”

“Through the Schwenk Drive project, we have the opportunity to create 135 new affordable homes and help shape a stronger, more inclusive Kingston for generations to come,” said Marlee Busching-Truscott, Partner and Head of Development, Milestone Development. “We are thankful for the support of Mayor Noble and look forward to engaging with the community and local stakeholders as the project advances.”

“People shouldn’t have to leave Kingston to find a home they can afford,” said Kevin O’Connor, CEO, RUPCO. “We’re thrilled to be working with Milestone on a transformative project in Uptown, giving more people a chance to live in a walkable neighborhood with shopping and everyday services close to home.”

“We have been working to create more housing opportunities across our city, and bringing 135 affordable, modern, and sustainable homes to Uptown on the site of a vacant auto dealership is exactly the kind of proposal that will address the biggest challenge facing our community right now,” said Mayor Steve Noble. “I’m grateful to Milestone, RUPCO, and the local partners who are bringing this proposal forward, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as the project moves through the City’s review process.”

Kingston continues to face significant demand for housing. The City's 2025 rental vacancy survey found a vacancy rate of just 2.08 percent among market-rate properties and 2.37 percent among affordable properties, while the City has identified access to affordable housing as a significant community need.



About Milestone Development

Milestone Development is a Hudson Valley-based real estate development company focused on creating high-quality housing that responds to the needs of the neighborhoods it serves. The company brings award-winning expertise across affordable, workforce, and large-scale mixed-use development, with experience navigating complex projects from conception through completion. Led by a team of experienced developers, Milestone combines deep industry relationships, creative problem-solving, and a commitment to thoughtful, sustainable development that uplifts its residents and surrounding communities.

Calling all business owners, entrepreneurs and senior managers!

Join Ulster Strong for our next mixer and networking event on:

November 12th from 5:30-7 at the Senate Garage, Kingston.

Connect with the business leaders who are innovating and growing the Ulster County economy, get the latest updates on transformative projects happening across the county, and learn more about Ulster Strong's work.

Pre-registration is required.

ELLENVILLE - Ulster Strong, an Ulster County-based nonprofit that advocates for sustainable economic growth through local investment and smart development, held a gathering in Ellenville on September 30 at Shadowland Stages on Market Street.

The "listening session" was intended to take the temperature of the local business community and solicit suggestions about what might improve the business climate.

As is often the case, Tim Weidemann served as emcee. The group also included Leslie Wellington, the newly confirmed Director of Economic Development for Ulster County; Peter Criswell, Chair of the Ulster County Legislature; and Raleigh Green, Communications Director for Ulster Strong.

Snappy white sheets of paper were handed out, along with the inevitable Sharpies, and participants settled into groups around tables spread across the theater space.

Among the topics discussed were the shortage of skilled and reliable labor and the challenges of starting and maintaining a business in a geographically isolated area — issues particularly evident in Ellenville and Wawarsing.

That led to transportation, which came up at many of the tables. Several participants said that a bus connection to New York City would provide a major economic boost to southern Ulster County. Currently, the only bus service is Short Line, which has a weekday bus leaving Ellenville at about 8 a.m. The only return bus arrives in Ellenville around 8 p.m. There is no weekend service.

Another recurring concern .....

For 115 years, the business on my stretch of the Hudson made something and sent it downriver. Hutton Brickyards, the old brickworks on the Kingston waterfront that is now a 43-room hotel and event property, shipped its clay to New York City as brick, and the money came back upriver as paychecks. When we bought the place in 2014, I thought I was buying real estate. It turns out I had joined a very old trade.

The brick is gone, but the trade is alive and well. What we send out now is harder to stack on a barge: a weekend, a wedding, a cold bright morning on the water. What comes back is the same as it ever was. People from somewhere else, happily spending money here.

That is the part I find most encouraging. When a Kingston family eats out in Kingston, money moves from one local pocket to another. When a wedding party drives up from Brooklyn or flies in from Chicago, new money arrives. We have hosted weddings of up to 600 guests, nearly all of them from out of town. We have 43 rooms. You can do the math, and so can every innkeeper in Kingston. Those guests fill hotels and rentals, eat Uptown and in the Rondout, buy coffee and gas and, often enough, come back on their own. Behind every wedding stands a small army of caterers, florists, tent crews, musicians, photographers and drivers, most of them local.

The calendar matters too. Summer Saturdays are wonderful, but no business lives on them alone. A company retreat on a Tuesday in March keeps a housekeeper on the schedule and a cook in the kitchen, and lets a manager keep good people all year. I have learned to love a midweek booking the way a farmer loves rain.

All of this generates taxes, and we are glad to pay our share: sales tax on every dinner, occupancy tax on every room, property and payroll taxes, and the taxes our vendors pay on the work we send them. But a tax on visitors works only if visitors come, and visitors compare prices. Kingston has been weighing a new city occupancy tax of up to 5 percent. Stacked on Ulster County’s 4 percent lodging tax and 8 percent sales tax, a room here would carry about 17 percent in taxes. A room in Manhattan carries about 15 percent, plus a few dollars a night.

I think Kingston is the finest small city on the Hudson. But charging a traveler more tax for a room here than for one near Times Square makes no sense. And it hurts most the businesses we should want most: the new inn, the first-year festival, the company deciding where to hold its first retreat.



The brickyard once sent Kingston out into the world. Now the world is coming back, one weekend at a time. Let’s make it easy for them to say yes.

Karl Slovin, owner of Hutton Brickyards, is a member of Ulster Strong.

Like many projects before local planning boards, the proposed visitors center at Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz has drawn both support and opposition. As the review process continues, some supporters allege a familial connection between a vocal critic and a key member of the Village of New Paltz Planning Board.

Concerns about bias surfaced in a July 14 letter to the planning board from Charles J. Gottlieb, a partner at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, LLP, the Albany-based firm representing Historic Huguenot Street. Although the letter did not name the planning board member, two anonymous sources confirmed to Hudson Valley One that it referred to chairman Zach Bialecki, whose father, Matthew Bialecki of Bialecki Architects, opposes the plan.

“It has become evident through the planning board and historic preservation commission process that the most vocal opposition to the project, a non-resident of the village, has engaged in ex parte conversations with a certain planning board member, creating a premeditated bias against the project that warrants recusal,” the letter states. It cites legal opinions spanning nearly three decades to argue the board member should recuse themselves.....

The county planning board is expected to share its recommendations with the Village of New Paltz Planning Board, which is still reviewing the proposal and has not yet closed its hearing. Some supporters worry the proposal will not receive a fair review at the village level, claiming Matthew Bialecki’s objections are echoed by his son, Zach.