Niche Industries
The benefits of doing business in Newburgh have not been lost on people. A variety of distinctive businesses have found a home in the city. Atlas Industries, a high-end furniture and design company from Brooklyn, recently relocated to a warehouse on Spring Street. "We had been keeping an eye on the area for a while," says Thomas Wright, co-founder/owner of Atlas Industries. "We love the architecture, both residential and commercial." Their former office in Brooklyn was 6,000 square feet, and with woodworking and metalworking machinery, it was a tight squeeze. The three-story, 65,000-square-foot building that they bought in Newburgh fits their machinery and then some. What was a simple relocation became a development opportunity for Atlas Industries. "Our vision for the building," says Wright, "is to create a destination-type facility where other businesses, artists, and design professionals can rent space from us." Atlas Industries joins the ranks of other accomplished businesses in the area. Just next door is Thornwillow Press, an artisanal printing press whose handmade, craft products are collected and used by some of the world's most elite institutions, like the Vatican, the Morgan Library, and the White House (Thornwillow published Barack Obama's first inaugural address). Down the street are Caffé Macchiato, an authentic Italian café, and Karpeles Manuscript Museum, which houses precious manuscripts in a Greco-Roman building on Broadway's wide, runway-like stretch.
Artistic Ambitions
Even recent strides in Newburgh's arts community have resonating impacts for the city as a whole. Ted Doering, president of the Motorcyclepedia Museum, recently opened Umbra of Newburgh Sound Stage, Newburgh's first film office. The massive industrial warehouse is now home to two state-of-the-art stages, as well as a slew of amenities for people using the facility, such as dressing rooms and a workshop to build set pieces. "Orange County had people coming through to use different locations for years," says Doering. Umbra Assistant Jean Lara adds, "Producers were going through doing location shoots, but this has pulled it more together for Orange County and the city." Oscar Rivas, who does video production for Umbra, sees the benefits of this kind of facility for the community. "When [film producers] come over here, sometimes they have to rent 30 hotel rooms to accommodate all their people. What they bring with the production is a big boom for the economy." Beyond bringing people into Newburgh, Umbra hopes to serve the people who already live there by cutting out long commutes to New York City. "It's going to improve the quality of life for the people who live here who are trying to make a living within this field," says Rivas.
The visual arts are also thriving in Newburgh. Ann Street Gallery, a nonprofit contemporary art gallery, features culturally diverse exhibits, and PUG (pop-up gallery) Projects, which brings local art to nontraditional, transitional venues, hosted "Orange Alert 3D" in May at the warehouse of two Newburgh artists, Alice Vaughan and Ellen Sigunick. The Newburgh Mural Project develops large-scale murals within the city, including one on the south wall of the restored Ritz Theater and one on the South Street underpass at Downing Park. From June 21 to 23, the Newburgh Illuminated Festival will celebrate the culture and heritage of the City of Newburgh, home to the first Edison power plant and the second city to be lighted by electricity. The festival will showcase the cumulative impact of businesses and organizations throughout the city on Newburgh's current renaissance, with countless venues throughout the community hosting events, from an Electric Music Concert and health fair in Downing Park to a run of classic motorcycles from Motorcyclepedia down Broadway. "It's an example of people trying to show Newburgh in its best light," says Elyse Goldberg.
Walking through Newburgh, it's common to experience glaring contrasts within a given instant. While strolling through the serene paths of Downing Park, the streets pulse with hip-hop thumping out of car windows. One porch will be decorated with hanging flower baskets, the next with yellow police tape. Like any great story of human struggle, Newburgh's is one of ups and downs, highs and lows. Within the spaces of this dynamic push and pull, though, transformations occur. Vacant plots become green spaces; empty buildings become homes to new visions. "Maybe cities can be reinvented," says Ted Doering, a Newburgh lifer. "The gritty part makes it interesting."
Resources
Adams Fairacre Farms
Akasaka
Beacon Riverfest
Ethan Allen
The Granite Factory
The Hop
Imperial Guitar & Soundworks
Leos Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria
Motorcyclepedia Museum
Newburgh Historical Society
Newburgh Illuminated
Newburgh Mall
The River Grill
Windows on Main Street
