Officials begin to envision Long Dock

(Poughkeepsie) - Dutchess leaders closely involved in the high-profile Long Dock hotel and conference center project for the Beacon waterfront traveled to Westchester County recently met with project representatives and investors at the Doral Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center in Rye Brook, New York. Principals of Doral Hotels and Resorts affiliated with the Doral Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center recently came on board as equity partners in the Long Dock project.
Dutchess County officials gained first-hand information about the Westchesterbased conference center that will assist in planning the next stages of the Long Dock project. During the site investigation and visit, the Dutchess County delegation discussed financing and development plans for the Long Dock project, including the application of county incentive programs.

Among those taking part in the combined site investigation and planning meeting were Dutchess County Executive William R. Steinhaus; Roger Akeley, Dutchess County Commissioner of Planning; Anne N. Conroy, President and CEO of the Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation; Mary Kay Vrba, Director of Dutchess County Tourism; Matthew D. Rudikoff and Ned Foss of Foss Group Beacon, LLC (manager of the commercial component of Long Dock); Margery D. Groten, Senior Land Project Manager, Scenic Hudson Land Trust, Inc.; Steve Rosenberg, Executive Director, Scenic Hudson Land Trust, Inc.; Clara Lou Gould, Mayor, City of Beacon; several City of Beacon Councilmembers; Edmund J. Burns, Jr., President of Burns Group, Inc.; Arthur Sonnenblick, Sr, Managing Director of Sonnenblick-Goldman, LLC; and the President and General Manager of Doral Arrowwood.

Says William R. Steinhaus, “the Long Dock project will inject even more energy into Dutchess County’s economy. This sophisticated, environmentally friendly project will help brand Dutchess and showcase what can be accomplished when public, private, and nonprofit sectors work together on a project of significant scale and importance.”
Says Anne N. Conroy, President and CEO of the Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, “the opportunity to study Doral’s conference center in Westchester helps us envision the completed Long Dock plan and offers us the opportunity to further explore financing mechanisms and better understand recent modifications to the Long Dock plan.”

About the Long Dock Project, Long Dock will be a hotel and conference center constructed on a redeveloped brownfield site on the City of Beacon waterfront. Planned as an environmentally sensitive “green” development and public park, with Scenic Hudson as a project sponsor, Long Dock will offer a projected 158 rooms and is anticipated to generate close to 300 full-time jobs. Total investment is estimated at $73 million.