March 17, 2014 – Ossining, New York A community-based investment fund has launched in Ossining , NY with the main objective to encourage growth in Ossining’s Main Street Business District. This endeavor, Grow Ossining, is seeking to assist in the revival of Ossining’s Main Street Business District by aggregating financial support in order to purchase or improve a local property. The vision is to create a unique social destination/gathering space (i.e. bar, restaurant, live entertainment, marketplace, gallery etc.) that will serve the greater Ossining community and beyond, as well as serve as springboard for further community development.
This form of “locavesting,” coined by journalist Amy Cortese, seeks to have community members support community growth by rallying financial support at a small cost per share so that many can participate in the venture and be personally vested in an investment’s growth.
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Dennis Kirby, co-founder of Grow Ossining and a 30-year resident, indicated “The local investing, or ‘locavesting’ concept has already proven to be a success in many different parts of the country. There are wildly successful community-owned craft breweries, taverns, and marketplaces in small towns like Boothbay, Maine and in medium-sized cities like Austin, Texas. Locavesting is very scalable and has proven to be an effective downtown revitalization tool. The Village of Ossining has had great recent success in stimulating growth and revitalizing its historic Main Street but challenges remain. The concept of a community-based investment fund may be able to play an important role in supporting that effort.”
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With a growing number of commitments from community members to donate their time to this launch effort, Grow Ossining has secured some core steering committee members, all residents of the greater Ossining community, whose professional expertise and personal experiences include Finance, Law, Architecture, Construction, Marketing, Real Estate, Fundraising, Community Action, Property Management, Restaurant, Interior Design and many others.
The first phase of fundraising has begun with a small goal in mind initially in order to cover start-up costs and legal filings including forming the corporation and preparing a legal prospectus and offering plan.
Wayne Spector, Grow Ossining’s co-founder and 25-year Ossining resident explained: “Dennis and I agreed that before we would fully commit to launching the second phase of the Grow Ossining effort, we would test the waters to measure the community’s interest. We felt that if we could persuade 100 members of the community to pledge $100 towards initial startup costs, it would provide initial funding and, more importantly, indicate a positive interest on behalf of the community. We are quickly closing in on the 100 pledges target with nothing more than word-of-mouth promotion.”
The second phase of fundraising will be to raise $2.5 million through investment by anywhere from 500 to 1000 community members. The business plan aims to raise capital through modest individual investments by community members. “We’ll be finalizing the structural details of our investment process, our formation documents, basic agreements and required disclosure documents. We’re confident that before the end of this Spring, we’ll legally be able to start accepting larger investment pledges,” said Spector.
Witnessing successful revitalization efforts in areas like Peekskill, Tarrytown and Port Chester - destinations frequented by the Greater Ossining community - the effort looks to launch with the same ideas in mind. This initiative is intended to break new ground in community participation in Ossining’s local development process.
Kirby believes, ”Ossining has so much potential—and we want to be able to provide the members of the community with a way to actively invest and take ownership in Ossining’s revitalization.”
Visit www.growossining.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GrowOssining.
Or contact
Dennis Kirby: Denby10562@gmail.com; phone: 914 629-3704
Wayne Spector: wspector@cohn-spector.com; phone:914-428-0505
