MONTICELLO — The historic parcel of land where Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel once stood will have a new lease on life.

During the February 11 County of Sullivan Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meeting, a resolution was passed to help facilitate the closing of the Property Leaseback for Sullivan Resorts LLC (SR, LLC), owners of the site.

According to Counsel for the IDA, Walter Garigliano, the Payment-in-Lieu-of-Tax Agreement has been negotiated between Town of Liberty, IDA and Louis Cappelli, a Westchester-based developer, and owner of Sullivan Resorts

During the meeting, it was stated that Sullivan Resorts would pay a flat rate of $200,000 per year in Pilot payments from 2020 to 2022 between the Town of Liberty and the Village of Liberty.

According to Garigliano, the Pilot payments were negotiated between Liberty Town Supervisor Brian Rourke and Louis Cappelli.

“The former Grossinger's Resort property is vast and beautiful and one of the Town of Liberty's best opportunities for positive tax-paying development,” said Rourke. “Payment will be apportioned among the County, Town, Village, and Liberty School District in the same proportion that each entity's individual tax rates relate to the total combined tax rate.”

During the spring of 2017, Cappelli applied to the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) asking for part of the site to be designated as a contaminated site, otherwise known as a brownfield site.

Becoming a brownfield site opened the flow of funds from the state to help rectify soil contamination that was left over from Grossinger's heyday.

In court documents obtained by the Democrat, between 2015-18 Cappelli filed four lawsuits challenging the real property assessment of two of the parcels at the site.

According to Rourke, with counsel and input from the Town of Liberty board members, negotiations were held to finalize the four cases.

“By settling the matter, the municipalities saved the costs of litigation and avoided the uncertainty, which is part and parcel to having a court decide the value. All and all, I think the settlement was in the best interest of all interested parties,” said Rourke.

Once the Property Leaseback is finalized, the project can move forward with the installation of renewed water and sewer lines.

The Democrat reached out to Cappelli for comment but did not receive a response by press time.

The overall project is a three-step process according to Garigliano, the demolition was the first step, the next would be to have water and sewer installed, and the third will be to find a developer for the site.

The amount of land that could be developed is approximately 582 acres.

The demolition of the last buildings on the Grossinger's property happened during the late summer of 2018 and cost over $6.5 million, according to Garigliano.

The Future

According to the application submitted to the IDA in June 2018 by Sullivan Resorts, future development of the site may include a 250 room luxury hotel.

Moreover, the “Big G” championship golf course will be renovated along with the golf clubhouse.

Furthermore, the location might in the future see a convention center with a live music venue, a nightclub and restaurant, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis and paddle courts, hiking and cross country trails and single and multi-family residences.

History

Grossinger's, at one point, was one of the largest of the Borscht Belt resorts. In fact, the resort had 35 buildings on 1,200 acres.

The hotel hosted 150,000 guests a year and countless celebrities. It once had its own airstrip and post office.

The resort was also the inspiration of the movie, Dirty Dancing when guest Eleanor Bergstein took dancing lessons with local legend Jackie Horner and used those experiences to write the classic film.

Horner later became a consultant for the film because of her career working at the Sullivan County hotels and provided much of the background material and was also an inspiration for one of the film's leading characters.

Horner was recently honored by the Sullivan County Historical Society for her assistance on the film which helped preserve an era of Sullivan County and her long career as a dance instructor in Liberty.