YUPPIE COUNTRY--Downstate money taking over Hudson may land in various sites including, at left, the church that Sedat Pakay may turn into a "no-alcohol disco." Center, Manhattan expatriates and Hudson real estate brokers Eric Valdina and Stephen Kingsley stroll down Warren street. Right, the home of John Ashbery.
The article is long, and I was hoping to be able to link to it in the Times Union Archive, but alas, the archive only goes back to March 1986. For that reason, I will transcribe parts of it.
Hudson? The Yuppies are taking over, of all places, Hudson?
"That's right," says real estate broker Irving Price, rocking back and forth on his heels, hands gently clasped about the chest, like a man hoping his incredible theorem will be challenged.
Call Hudson what you will--a [illegible], a blotch of urban decay, an old whaling town that later was best known for its bawdy houses and, more recently, not even that.
"Yes, you could have laughed off Hudson even three years ago," says Price. "But not today. Hudson's here, it's happening," he adds, tapping at a picture of a shabby duplex surrounded by ruin." A couple years ago you couldn't get $10,000 for a property like this. Today, it'll be a bargain at $40,000--if you can find anything like it on the market."
More typically what's in demand are Hudson's old brownstones and brick buildings in various stages of disrepair. Two years ago they would have fetched $40,000; today, they're going for $135,000--"and throw in another $10,000 if the view's good," adds Price. . . .
Everyone gains, the real estate brokers, expatriates, and businessmen say Hudson is on the edge of a boom as never before, longtime residents are watching their property values soar and, with the Yuppies here, so is business. The idea for a refinery down by the river has been dumped, the lighthouse has been restored and big things are planned for the waterfront. . . .
"Yeah, sure," mumbles John McCollough, as he chips away at ice on the sidewalk on shabby State Street. "It's great if you've got a house to sell and want to move out. But what happens to the little guy like me who was born here and lived in Hudson 49 years? They going to have a job for me? They going to pay my rent?"
McCollough says a third of the $620 he earns a month goes toward apartment rent. The building has been sold to a group of New York investors; soon it will be renovated McCollough adds, and he has been told he'll have to cough up $300 or move.
"Move where?" he asks. "Out to the sticks where the rent's cheap but there are no jobs?"
At Harold's Lounge, on the eastern end of Warren Street--the Fifth Avenue of Hudson [in 1993, Harold's Lounge was at 330 Warren Street]--bartender Hall VanWagner slowly shakes his head and sighs. "I'm fortunate. I have two jobs and can afford the rent," he says.
"All these (New York) City folk are tired of getting mugged, so they move here. They buy everything around and--whoosh--everything goes up
"Some of them just bought out the Jupiter store up the street. That's where a lot of Hudson people used to shop. It's cheap. Now they'll turn it into something fancy, and we'll have to truck on down to the Jamesway. Jamesway or to Albany.
"These City-type stores sure ain't for us," he says jerking a thumb in the direction of Willis & Geiger outfitters, where a safari jacket can set you back $175 and a hand-sewn grouse jacket costs close to $500.
"It's good news-bad news, I guess," pipes in an elderly patron. "This place was dying 'n' it was cheap. Now it's coming back. That's good. But we've got to pay the price."
Ah, the memories. 1985 is when I first moved to the Hudson area, after almost 8 years of weekends on Copake Lake. My friends Rick and Bruce had opened The English Antique Center in 1984 and told me about people who commuted from Hudson to work in NYC, so that is what I planned to do.
ReplyDeleteSomeone I knew during my Copake Lake days took a real estate course with Irving Price, and he told them that no house in Hudson would ever sell for over $50,000!! Wasn't too long before he was proven wrong.
It sure has been fun to witness first hand all the changes in the past 32 years.
Elizabeth Nyland
People arriving in Hudson in the early '80s were coming here because of the interesting New Yorkers who preceded them. This is hardly a recent phenomenon, as the 1986 story attests. But if we don't get some oral history interviews going soon, then this history will be rewritten or forgotten.
ReplyDeleteThe people who sold their homes for far more than they ever thought they would be worth laughed all the way to the bank. They didn't care that sales like this would eventually force rents up. These people who were selling were all Hudsonians who had lived here for years. Now we place all the blame on the incoming "New Yorkers." It wasn't their fault. They just paid the ridiculous asking prices.
ReplyDelete1985 is when I rented my store through Irving Price. The building 612 Warren belonged to Sedat Pakay (sadly deceased last year). I bought the Mexican Radio Building in 1990 for $40,000. I had a hard time getting a mortgage as I was told by the banks that Hudson was 'red lined'. However, Key Bank believed in me and my business and gave me a mortgage. Thank you Sid Richter. I've been amused ever since by the newcomers and new-new comers who used to say 'plenty of room for improvement here'. Well there still is, take the waterfront for an example, although it is indeed improved from what it was (oil tanks). I have the 1998 article in New York Magazine written by Sam Pratt which explored a lot of the changes up until then. I also have articles and brochures produced by HADA, (Now HAADA)Hudson Antiques & Art Dealers Association, from c 1988. Next year HADA/HAADA will have been in existence for 30 years! Makes me laugh, as we were called 'fly-by-night' antique dealers from NYC 30 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHudson, you've come a long way baby!
This was hardly the only piece of its kind in the ’80s. As I noted previously on my site (back in 2010), Larry Sombke wrote a feature about Columbia County—centered on Hudson—for New York Magazine in 1986. It can be read here:
ReplyDeletehttps://books.google.com/books?id=t-YCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=%22hail,+columbia%22+sombke&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7kqbo847WAhWl6IMKHec7AqsQ6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=hail%2C%20columbia&f=false
Sombke later became a gardening commentator for WAMC.
As annoying as such coverage sometimes can be, you never know what value may emerge from it years later. For example, Sombke’s article includes a photo of Floyd Merrifield, Jr. at his Claverack farmstand. I always wondered about this name, because some of the land I now live on in Taghkanic was owned by him, and I occasionally find rusty old POSTED signs with his name on them.
This was hardly the only piece of its kind in the ’80s. As I noted previously on my site (back in 2010), Larry Sombke wrote a feature about Columbia County—centered on Hudson—for New York Magazine in 1986. It can be read here:
ReplyDeletehttps://books.google.com/books?id=t-YCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=%22hail,+columbia%22+sombke&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7kqbo847WAhWl6IMKHec7AqsQ6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=hail%2C%20columbia&f=false
Sombke later became a gardening commentator for WAMC.
As annoying as such coverage sometimes can be, you never know what value may emerge from it years later. For example, Sombke’s article includes a photo of Floyd Merrifield, Jr. at his Claverack farmstand. I always wondered about this name, because some of the land I now live on in Taghkanic was owned by him, and I occasionally find rusty old POSTED signs with his name on them.
This was hardly the only piece of its kind from the ’80s.
ReplyDeleteAs I noted previously on my site, Larry Sombke penned a feature about Columbia County—centered mainly on Hudson—for New York Magazine in 1986. It can be read here, starting on p. 60:
https://books.google.com/books?id=t-YCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=%22hail,+columbia%22+sombke&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7kqbo847WAhWl6IMKHec7AqsQ6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=hail%2C%20columbia&f=false
Sombke later became a gardening commentator for WAMC.
As annoying as such coverage sometimes can be, you never know what value may emerge from it years later.
For example, Sombke’s article includes a photo of Floyd Merrifield, Jr. at his Claverack farmstand. I always wondered about this name, because I occasionally find old POSTED signs with his name on them on my land in Taghkanic. So there’s that.