This just in: At their last meeting on November 2, the Catskill Watershed Corporation voted to make a $700,000 low-interest loan to the Hurley-based Pan American Dance Foundation to buy and refurbish the ailing Woodstock Playhouse.
This spring, the iconic venue -- burned down in 1988 and partially rebuilt -- fell into foreclosure. A last-ditch attempt by the Playhouse's board of directors to raise over $400,000 to get the theater out of foreclosure was unsuccessful.
At the same meeting, the CWC also approved a $255,000 additional loan to the Maverick Health Clinic, doubling the amount of money the organization has committed to help Maverick make its planned move from Phoenicia to Boiceville. (The CWC had already authorized a $255,000 loan to the clinic in March.) A press release from the CWC:
MARGARETVILLE, NY, Nov. 9, 2010 – The Woodstock Playhouse will be purchased and refurbished, and a Boiceville building will be renovated to accommodate a medical clinic, thanks to low-interest loans provided by the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC).
The loans were approved November 2 by the CWC Board of Directors.
The Pan American Dance Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that has been doing business in Hurley for 23 years as the New York Conservatory for the Arts, is purchasing the Playhouse which is currently in foreclosure. The $700,000 REDI Loan from the Catskill Fund for the Future will enable the Foundation, led by Executive Director Randy Conti and President Diane Stein, to purchase the property at 103 Mill Hill Road, enclose the open air structure, build interior walls, install stage lighting and new seating and make other improvements.
The $255,000 REDI Loan to Maverick West LLC will help Maverick Health Clinic to acquire and renovate the former Indie building at 4080 Route 28 in Boiceville. The clinic, which employs six people, is moving from offices in Phoenicia that it had leased from the Town of Shandaken for the past ten years. The CWC had approved a loan earlier this year but the cost of the project rose and additional financing was sought. Rondout Savings Bank is also providing support for the project.
The CWC is a non-profit, local development corporation responsible for several environmental protection, economic development and education programs in the New York City Watershed West of the Hudson River. For more information, go to www.cwconline.org, or call toll-free 877-928-7433; or 845-586-1400.
