Real estate group Upstate Curious is trying something new. They’re converting Rosendale’s Main Street church, known as "The Belltower," into a community events space and central office for the company.

That wasn’t real estate agent Megan Brenn-White’s original intention when she was scouting a location for an official Upstate Curious office. Brenn-White, who lives in Kerhonkson, founded Upstate Curious in mid-2019 as interest in the region grew, and she ranks in the top 1.5 percent of agents in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal's Real Trends, because of a philosophy she describes as “one part friend, two parts expert guide.” She has been using a farmhouse she owns in Accord and a coworking space in Stone Ridge as the Upstate Curious “offices.”

The original plan was to open a Kingston office, but only one real estate office per brokerage company can exist per town, and they’re a part of Compass Realty, which already has a Kingston location. That took her to Rosendale, where Brenn-White found the church, which not only could be a centrally-located office but also a space to store the items used for staging houses. Currently, that furniture and décor is spread out in five different storage units.

It was at this point that Brenn-White began toying with the idea of having the space be multi-purpose, with a role for the community.

The building, at 398 Main Street, was built in 1896 and was originally known as the Rosendale Reformed Church. The church was in operation until 1971 until it was purchased by a local fire company.

In the early 1980s the fire company moved locations and the building sat abandoned for three years. Louis Sclafani, a local glassblower, stepped in to buy the property as both a studio and home. It was 1985 and Sclafani was in his early 30s when he acquired the “mess” of a building.

“I bought the biggest building in town that needed the most work,” Sclafani said. “There were cats running rampant, no heating. It was a hands-on journey.”

The trick, he said, was that “when I bought it, Rosendale was a ghost town, which is how I afforded it.” He described Rosendale back then as begin akin to “living in the South Bronx,” with bar fights every Friday and Saturday. He fondly remembers his mother once telling him that “everybody needs a muffler around here.”

Beyond transforming the church into a studio to make his detailed, architectural glass installations and home décor pieces, he eventually converted the former parsonage into rentals. The Belltower became a hub for glassblowers until the early 2010s when the nave was transformed into an events space, primarily for weddings.

In ending a nearly-half-a-century-long journey with the building, Sclafani, who called himself the “unofficial mayor of Rosendale,” said he’s “really glad that Megan has it. She’s taking it to the next level, doing all the things that need to be done at this juncture. She’s really putting a lot of love back into the building.”

Now, under Upstate Curious’ direction, work at the Belltower begins a serious facelift. When we visited the church, the inside was stripped and restoration was underway on the arched gothic windows in the nave. Huge new sliding doors were place at the end of the front hall. All current tenants, Brenn-White said, are staying in the building and their rent will not be raised.

Though weddings will still be a part of the space, with help from a partnership between Upstate Curious and Audrey’s Farmhouse, a hospitality and catering company based in Wallkill, the space will be primarily used for other types of events, with new events and marketing team Margot Isaacs and Ashleigh Lovelace steering the ship.

“This year will be a lot about logistics,” Brenn-White said. Upstate Curious is working with the Wallkill Valley Land Trust and the Rosendale Theatre to co-produce events. Brenn-White also mentioned that they have underlined categories for events that they will sponsor and welcome into the space, which include prioritizing the Rosendale community, the LGBTQ+ community, small businesses, animal welfare, and other local causes proposed by Upstate Curious agents.

Their idea, Brenn-White said, is to “experiment” with the remainder of the year by holding five events “that are every kind of type,” led by regional organizations or individuals. She said this may include options like a banquet, cocktail party, class, theatrical production or performance, fundraiser, musical event, maker fair, and more. The purpose of the ‘experiment’ is to “test how hard they will be to organize and what the money [associated with them] will look like.”

Above all, they want to help facilitate events that “are fun and meaningful for people,” and to make these events affordable for both attendees and hosts alike. They don’t plan on making a profit on the events space, and in Brenn-White’s “perfect world,” “they will be free for everybody except for weddings.”

“If we see that the real estate team is growing as a part of the space and the market doesn’t change, I can count it as a marketing expense,” Brenn-White said, adding that “instead of giving money for events when people ask us, the primary way we decided [to move forward] is that we can really focus on this.”

All of this, though, is very pie-in-the-sky until Brenn-White and her team get confirmation from the Town of Rosendale planning board about proposed uses for the space.

For now, the space is still very much under construction, with some notable improvements including new windows. One upgrade is actually a bit of a restoration, as cast-iron radiators are being installed to return the building to its original steam heat set-up.

Dana McClure of Ravenwood will be designing a mural for the back wall and Jason O’Malley of Rural Modernist is designing a “Rosendale-themed wallpaper,” Brenn-White said, with sketches of the Trestle, Rosendale Theatre, and Brenn-White’s own dog holding a rose in its mouth.

Brenn-White said she’s currently in search of nearby companies to use for lighting, flooring, and furniture in order to keep the décor as local as the events.

At this point Brenn-White admitted they are “way over budget,” but are looking forward to being ready to welcome people into the space, hopefully around mid-September. She said she’s happy for people to reach out and pitch ideas for the space.

Learn more at www.curiousbelltower.com and @curiousbelltower on Instagram. Upstate Curious can be seen more here https://www.upstatecurious.com/.