Westchester County Business Journal 050415

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51 | FACES & PLACES

29 | SPECIAL REPORT MAY 4, 2015 | VOL. 51, No. 18

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Ossining developer and village clash over history BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com

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developer’s recent move to demolish a national historic site on the Ossining riverfront has angered and alarmed village officials and history-minded residents, adding another incident to the contentious contemporary history of a deteriorating relic of Ossining’s industrial past. Village officials on April 14 issued a stop work order at 36 N. Water St., where brothers Peter and Nicholas Stolatis that day began razing the former Brandreth Pill Factory, a mid19th century red-brick complex distinguished by its mansardroofed architecture and as one of the first industrial manufacturing sites in Westchester County. Listed on the National

Register of Historic Places, the main factory building on the roughly 5-acre property was stripped of its façade by wrecking equipment, leaving graffiticovered walls on the building’s upper and lower floors exposed amid rubble, before the work was halted. The Stolatis brothers’ Pleasantville company, Plateau Associates LLC, acquired the secluded property at a foreclosure auction in 2001, according to the developer’s attorney and a village official. Vacant since 1979, the old factory has been a notorious partying spot for youths and hidden target for vandals. For several years, Plateau Associates has been thwarted and delayed by village opponents and the economy in efforts to redevelop the property as » OSSINING, page 5

GAME PAGE CHANGER 4 Owner Isi Albanese at Bellizzi in Mount Kisco, an Italian restaurant that will be renovated to house an international food hall. Photo by Danielle Brody

Airbnb popularity soars despite obstacles PART-TIME HOSTS EXPERIENCE VARYING DEGREES OF PUSHBACK

BY REECE ALVAREZ ralvarez@westfairinc.com

SAN FRANCISCO-BASED AIRBNB, THE ONLINE accommodations marketplace that allows people to rent their homes or spare rooms for a weekend vacation or an extended excursion, has been

hailed as one of the frontrunners in the developing “sharing economy” — but the prestigious Silicon Valley distinction of being a disruptor has not come without the growing pains any new business seeking to upend traditional industry models would be expected to face.

“In 60 seconds you can suddenly be an entrepreneur, you can share your home, your car, anything in your life that hasn’t been monetized before, you can actually share with somebody,” said Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky in an interview with CBS recently. “It’s really the

notion that a person can become a micro-entrepreneur.” Airbnb has made headlines for its sky-high valuations ($13 billion in 2014 with estimates of $20 billion in February) as well as for causing friction in large metro areas as it and companies like » AIRBNB, page 6

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