My Dad and Grandpa built and developed real estate in and around New York City, so it’s definitely in my blood. I grew up wearing a procession of hard hats. I fell in love with the Earth in the 1960’s and decided I couldn’t “pave paradise and put up a parking lot” like my Dad and Grandpa had. I became a sustainable developer reusing and restoring previously developed buildings in and around New York City in the 1970’s through 2012. I also lived, loved and developed in high desert of Santa Fe and the temperate rain forests of Oregon from 2001-2016.
I have been a licensed New York broker for 45 years. I was at Woodstock (yes, the festival) in 1969 and came back to Hunter Mountain to redevelop Hunter Highlands in 1976. And fell in love with Woodstock (the town). To get away from the intensity of NYC and the Hamptons, which so many people are doing right now and seeking solace in the Hudson Valley, I bought part of a mountain in Woodstock itself.
In 2017 I returned to Kingston and was so excited to see the changes here. I met and began working with principal broker Larry O’Toole to help him expand the commercial part of his brokerage. We’re a good fit and that aspect of Lawrence O’Toole Realty is thriving. At the same time I’ve begun to learn more about single-family residential. Always learning, always learning: that’s my story.