Help Us Renovate an Old Farmhouse and Create a New Headquarters
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| Our new headquarters on Harris Road, Bedford Hills. |
Make a secure online donation now!
Westchester Land Trust protects land and preserves community character. We've done so for more than 20 years. During that time we saw our land preservation numbers reach more than 6,000 acres. And our staff grew too, from four people in 2000 to a dozen now.
That presented us with a problem: our 1,600-square-foot office near the Bedford Hills train station became too small for us to operate in efficiently.
We needed a new headquarters, and late in 2006 we started to search. And then in December of that year, we got a call from Lisa Schwartz that changed everything. She, along with her husband Mark and their Harris Road neighbors, Frank and Carol Nickell, made us an offer we could not refuse:
They would buy Sugar Hill Farm, in Bedford Hills, protect the surrounding 17 acres with conservation easements, and donate the 19th-century farmhouse that is the farm's centerpiece to us, to use as our new headquarters.
As we said, it was an offer we couldn't refuse. But (there's always a 'but')...
... an old farmhouse isn't a modern office. We needed to renovate. The house needed a new roof (using recycled materials), an upgraded electrical system, a good paint job inside and out, energy efficient upgrades such as window and wall insulation, and the removal and installation of internal walls. Every precaution wastaken to make sure the renovations were done cost effectively, and in an energy efficient, environmentally friendly way.
The total was $750,000, and we estimate that WLT will save $70,000 a year in rent and other operating costs.
The most important thing is that Sugar Hill Farm will help Westchester Land Trust work harder and better at what we do best - protecting land!
So please make a gift to help restore Sugar Hill Farm and help create a permanent headquarters for Westchester Land Trust.
Click here to donate.
Need to know more? Give us a call or send us an e-mail. The Sugar Hill Farm Fund is being coordinated by our development director, Keeva Young-Wright, (914) 241-6346 ext. 18.