Rail travelers to Hudson still use its original 1874 brick depot. Credit Tony Cenicola / The New York Times
There’s a trend happening. According to Yahoo Finance, young money who have found the lifestyle of the Hamptons appealing at one time, are now heading to the Hudson Valley. People are attracted to the Hudson Valley because of its historic preservation, accessibility and its surrounding natural beauty. Lack of traffic, a laid back lifestyle combined with nature’s bounty of the freshest of food and fresh air offer a quality of life unsurpassed on the East coast.
Hudson Valley has been the proud home to the renowned Culinary Institute of America for more than 40 years. A big boom as come from restauranteurs, who have trained there or moved away from the big apple, closer to their food source.
What makes Hudson, NY, the heart of the Hudson Valley is that it offers residents and visitors alike a chance to eat, shop and stroll a one mile Main Street populated almost exclusively by independent retailers and restauranteurs. Many have gravitated to this very special place to make their mark. In an era of strip malls and corporate retail, Hudson stands out as a unique laboratory for the next wave of curated shopping and food.
Two new boutique hotels have opened on Warren Street in the last two years. Another 2 are slated to open in Hudson by 2019. This includes “The Wick”, a sixty-plus room hotel in a former sperm whale candle factory. Hudson’s unique blend of curated shops, farm to table restaurants (featuring our many local farms) and boutique hotels create a youthful energy.
The business climate is changing here too. Hudson’s factory-based economy, which disappeared in 1960s, left grand industrial spaces unused. They are slowly being brought back to a life by a new economy. In 2011, the online retailer, Etsy, opened their first office outside of Brooklyn, in a cannon ball factory in Hudson, NY. This has brought further energy and business savvy to the area.
There’s a tremendous value in purchasing a home in the Hudson, New York area that can no longer be found in the Hamptons; The combination of the pristine farmland and forests of Columbia County surrounding the country’s oldest city of Hudson, New York, provides a unique lifestyle combination increasingly difficult to find anywhere. All of this within two ours of New York City.