Ginsburg Development Companies hires Ross as director of community experience in rentals

Ossining, NY Ginsburg Development Companies (GDC) has hired Jenifer Ross as director of community experience for the company’s new GDC rentals brand of luxury rental apartments that makes its debut in Westchester County this month with the opening of Harbor Sq., a 188-unit property set on the Hudson River. As director of community experience, Ross will be responsible for developing and overseeing events, workshops, programming and special on-site services that facilitate building community among residents and implementing a Preferred Vendor Program.

aimed at keeping business local and assisting new residents in getting to know (and utilize) their downtowns, including retail, cultural and recreational resources.

“With already over 40 businesses on board to give a discount or preferred rate, and other local vendors contracted directly by GDC to provide products and services, such as printed welcome bags from Sharon Rowe, owner and founder of Ecobags of Ossining, this programs is already supporting and stimulating local commerce,” said Ross who will also manage the social media for the properties and company. 

Ross is well known in Westchester circles for her on-going community efforts, including the well-loved and often replicated Tarrytown Third Friday event now in its 13^th year, and as the founder and owner of W@tercooler, Westchester’s first co-working space that was located in Tarrytown, NY, a shared work space for freelancers, remote workers, small business owners and entrepreneurs. She is also known for her 7,000 Facebook group page that bares the numbers of her Zip Code, 10591 that she launched in 2011 as a micro-local posting wall for events, recommendations, job postings, community happenings, lost pets, local news, and business announcements that has become the digital Town Sq. for Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Ross has been living in Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow area for the last 18 years.

Ross also has extensive experience in project management, event planning, administration and consulting. She has been the recipient of many local business awards and recognitions, including 914INC. magazine as one of Westchester’s most successful Women Business Owners in 2013, one of Westchester’s Most Innovative Companies by Westchester Magazine in 2013, and Person of the Year in 2005 and Best Service Business in 2011 and 2016 and by the Greater Sleepy Hollow Chamber.

Ross previously worked for GDC from 2004 to 2008 as a consultant for the company’s annual Ferry-Go-Round festival. She was responsible for planning, coordinating and promoting activities in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow for Ferry-Go-Round, a celebration of the Hudson River and neighboring communities.

Ross earned a bachelor of arts degree from Skidmore College in 1989, where she majored in fine arts and minored in business. She added a master’s degree in Architectural Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a master’s degree in Gerontology from Temple University, and has twice held a Real Estate License in New York State.

Past positions locally have included assistant village administrator for the Village of Tarrytown, director of development for Warner Library, and Downtown Coordinator for Sleepy Hollow’s Downtown Revitalization Corporation’s New York Main Street Facade Program.

Harbor Sq. offers a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments with many featuring a separate study. Most apartments will have balconies with sensational views of the waterfront. Resort-style amenities will include full-service concierge; rooftop club lounge; rooftop pool and deck with cabana seating; barbecue stations and an outdoor bar with TV; and a first-class spa and fitness center offering personal trainers and spa treatments. The leasing center is currently open to the public and substantial occupancy is slated for end of summer.

Harbor Sq. will also feature a 6,000 s/f free-standing restaurant adjacent to the building, offering fine and casual dining with stunning views of the Hudson River. The restaurant, which will include an outdoor patio that will seat 100 diners, is due to open in the fall 2016. As part of the development of Harbor Sq., GDC is building a public park with a children’s playground and a promenade with access to the ferry, which provides service between Haverstraw and Ossining.

Harbor Sq. is among five resort-style luxury rental communities currently operating or under development by GDC in the Hudson Valley. The other four are River Tides at Greystone, a 330-unit luxury rental complex overlooking the Hudson in Yonkers; The Lofts on Saw Mill River, which features 66 loft-style rental apartments in the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson; and Riverside and Parkside with a combined 216 units, both located at Harbors-at-Haverstraw, a GDC built community on the banks of the Hudson in Rockland County. 

Founded in 1964 by principal Martin Ginsburg, Ginsburg Development Companies (GDC) is a premier residential developer in the northern suburbs of New York City. With over 50 years of experience and market leadership, GDC has built many of the region’s most successful and prestigious luxury developments, many with a Hudson River and/or transit-friendly focus, including Harbors-at-Haverstraw, Livingston Ridge in Dobbs Ferry, Ichabod’s Landing in Sleepy Hollow, Mystic Pointe in Ossining, Marbury Corners in Pelham and Christie Place in Scarsdale. GDC’s developments have won numerous design and community planning awards. In addition, GDC owns and manages a portfolio of commercial properties, located primarily in Westchester County.