Four new loans approved by CWC

MARGARETVILE, May 7, 2008 - Low-interest loans approved by the Catskill Watershed Corporation Board of Directors April 22 will help renovate a wedding and conference center, purchase a fitness facility, start a bike rental shop and acquire property housing a popular catering business.

A fifth loan will help finance the reconstruction of a hardware store following a fire that destroyed the building and all its contents in March. Hi-Fi Realty (Will Finch) will utilize the loan to rebuild Brookside Hardware on Route 28 between Arkville and Margaretville, and to buy out retiring partner Mary Hinkley.

American Plum Tree, Inc. (David, Diane and Ariel Dax) will use their loan to make substantial renovations and improvements to the wedding hall and event venue they operate at South Kortright, Town of Stamford. The owners plan to winterize the historic carriage house, build a caterer’s kitchen, install a business media center, build paths and roads, erect signage and make other improvements to the facility appropriate for weddings, corporate and civic functions and equine events.

Joe Moskowitz and Pauline Liu, owners of a building in Arkville, Town of Middletown, will use a small loan to purchase inventory and establish a bicycle rental shop.

Richard and Mary Anne Erickson, owners of Blue Mountain Bistro (Bistro-to-Go) on Route 28 in the Town of Kingston, will purchase the building they currently lease for their catering business and retail gourmet food shop.

Jennifer Smith plans to purchase Curves of Liberty at 3 Triangle Road, Liberty and continue the fitness center.

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.