Project entails 32 units for performers
Hudson Valley Shakespeare on Jan. 16 received approval to construct a residential compound for performers and guests that it says will eliminate the expense of housing actors at Fishkill hotels.
After a three-month review, the Philipstown Planning Board approved five buildings that will form an L-shaped compound on the 98-acre property off Route 9. HVS anticipates the 32 units will be ready by the summer of 2026, about six months after the anticipated completion of Shakespeare’s new open-air theater.
Four buildings — two-story cottages totaling 1,000 square feet each — will have two separate bedrooms with a private bath on each floor, a kitchen and living area off the entrance and 100-square-foot porches. An additional 16 one-bedroom units with kitchens and bathrooms will be contained in a “barn” building with a 1,300-square-foot porch and a common kitchen, dining area and laundry.
Under town law, performers cannot occupy the units for more than nine consecutive months. They will also be subject to quiet hours between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., a restriction included in the Planning Board’s approval in July of the organization’s master plan for the property.
During its offseason, HVS can rent the units to guests for stays capped at one month. Adam Stolorow, a representative for the project, said those lodgers would likely be guests attending weddings at Shakespeare’s property, which includes a banquet hall, restaurant and eight-room inn.
Hudson Valley Shakespeare held a groundbreaking in September for Phase 1 of its master plan, the hub of which is the hilltop Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center that honors the former lighting designer and performing arts patron.
That 13,850-square-foot structure will seat 500 and be the first purpose-built theater in the U.S. with platinum certification by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). It will have a green roof, solar panels and rainwater capture and be constructed of low-carbon materials. Since 2022, the festival has been staging its plays in a seasonal tent elsewhere on the site.
Phase I also includes a back-of-house facility for actors and technicians, and concessions and bathroom pavilions. The plan allows for 12 additional housing units in a northeast section of the property.
During the September groundbreaking, HVS said $50 million in private and public funding had been raised for the theater, ecological restoration at the property and financial reserves, with an additional $8 million needed for the lodging. A month later, Davis McCallum, HVS’s artistic director, said a $10 million state grant for the theater and other funding had closed that gap.
Hudson Valley Shakespeare has two entities: (1) a nonprofit business that includes the theater, grounds, gardens and 32 residential housing units and (2) a for-profit hospitality business with food and beverage in theater and for banquets and hosted events.
In January, an HVS representative replied with a muddled response to a question from the Planning Board chair about whether the residential units would be part of its for-profit business. Everything I’ve seen says the residences are under the nonprofit business.
A fair comparison is the cabin-based resorts in Gardiner, in Ulster County. Promoted as allowing stays “in the wild,” they generate substantial revenue and provide tax revenue that supports the local school, town and services.
The HVS plan has similar isolated spacious units, amenities, a central hospitality building/barn, decks, kitchens, etc. It becomes an attractive hospitality site in the wild for group events, corporate retreats, board meetings, partner teams and weddings.
This is, by far, the largest commercial development approved in the Garrison ZIP code and perhaps in Philipstown. But for residential units reserved for high-end hospitality, keeping them in the nonprofit category is a bridge too far.
According to HVS, the lodging will be owned by its nonprofit parent company. Off-season revenue will go to the nonprofit to cover expenses, but the housing will be managed through the for-profit entity.
Thank you for your helpful and fair follow-up. With HVS now approved I’d much prefer its success over failure. But I also thought the Bills would win.
The success of HVS, with the nonprofit owning the hospitality/actor housing. is now more critical for residents in the Garrison district than it ever was when HVS was just on paper. The school board should know that no one can do your homework for you. Based upon the new HVS response, why shouldn’t every nonprofit be able to shield non-mission hospitality revenue to benefit its nonprofit mission? When presented with a fulsome plan, town residents broadly, even smartly, support the mission of nonprofits; private schools, land use, religious, parkland, recreation, human services and think tanks. It has prospered the community with a highly livable scale. But the best things also have a tipping point.
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The approval last month of the Phase Two site plan for artist lodging by the Philipstown Planning Board marked the conclusion of its five-year review of the project and is an important milestone for Hudson Valley Shakespeare.
We would like to thank Chairman Neal Zuckerman and the members of the Planning Board — along with the professional staff that supports their work, especially Cheryl Rockett, Steve Gaba and Ron Gainer — for the diligence, patience and dedication that they brought to the process. The job of balancing the rights of property owners with the rights of the community, as we’ve heard the chairman say often, is not always easy. These folks carry out that work each month with an unwavering commitment to transparency and fairness.
We still have a significant fundraising gap to close before we can begin construction for the artist lodging, but the construction of the Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center is underway for the 2026 season.
We would also like to extend our profound thanks to the community here in the Hudson Valley. HVS’s collaboration with the Planning Board and members of the public has undoubtedly made our project better along the way. We are honored to be a part of a community where people care about their neighbors, and about their neighborhood, and we are grateful to have benefited from an approval process characterized by that same diligence and care.
McCallum is HSV’s artistic director. This letter was also signed by Managing Director Kendra Ekelund.
With approval of HVS’s aggressive site plan, difficult detail work lay ahead. Respectfully, at least one important detail is to clarify the 32 residential artist and hospitality units as part of the for-profit business.
Both HVS and town residents benefit from this clarification: (1) It doesn’t change at all the opportunity for HVS success, (2) The for-profit business will contribute to the nonprofit side some of the significant profit it will earn from high-end hospitality, (3) HVS nonprofit needs are met fairly without giving it an unfair advantage over area for-profit inns, B&Bs, etc. (4) The HVS for-profit appraised value will rise as a tax ratable, benefiting the public service systems, (5) HVS will then bring need to bring in exceptional talent to manage the for-profit hospitality facility, which is the financial muscle of the whole HVS business.