KINGSTON – Two businesses will each receive a check for $51,980 in the Ulster County Jump Start Competition, part of the Ellenville Million initiative from County Executive Michael Hein.
Carmen’s Sabor Latino and Humble Gym, Inc. were selected from among 20 applicants.
Carmen Oquendo and Eric Abraham will operate Carmen’s Sabor Latino restaurant in a new building to be constructed at 1 Clinton Street in Napanoch. Oquendo, an employee of the Ellenville Central School District and Abraham, an employee at the state’s Eastern Correctional Facility in Napanoch, are lifelong Ellenville residents.
“Our restaurant fits in with the diverse mix of family-run businesses in the Village of Ellenville and its surrounding areas,” said Oquendo. “Many in our tight knit and supportive community have expressed the need for a local Puerto Rican eatery so they do not have to travel to Middletown, Kingston or Sullivan County to enjoy the food they love,” he said, noting their property is on a business highway district, “and we anticipate serving the hardworking officers, teachers and medical staff who work at both Eastern and Ulster Correctional facilities, Ellenville Regional Hospital, Ellenville Central Schools and all our friends and the families who have lived here alongside us all our lives.”
Humble Gym, a new fitness center and gym will offer weight training, cardio, stretching and personal training at a recently purchased building in Ellenville. The Jump Start funding will be used to renovate and restore the building.
‘From the beginning, the Ellenville Million initiative was designed to encourage a groundswell of new economic activity in the Ellenville/Wawarsing area,” said Hein. “Over the past two years, residents and visitors to the area can see the tangible impacts this investment is having; buildings are being renovated, parks are being expanded, and now two new businesses will add to the area’s employment while filling important gaps in the local retail mix.”
