In Sullivan County, public officials and business and union leaders are backing a well-financed development team in the hope of landing a giant eagle this fall on the 1,700-acre site of the former Concord Resort Hotel.
The eagle is Adelaar ”“ the Dutch word for the bird of prey that inhabits the Catskills ”“ a $750 million development planned as one of the state”™s initial four destination gaming resorts, and one of two in the Catskills region, authorized by voters last November following state legislators”™ passage of the Upstate New York Gaming and Economic Development Act. At press conferences March13 in New York City and at Bethel Woods Arts Center near the development site in the town of Thompson, Adelaar was unveiled by its owner, EPR Properties, a specialty real estate investment trust based in Kansas City, Mo.
Since 2011, EPR has teamed with Empire Resorts Inc., owner and operator of Monticello Casino & Raceway in Sullivan County, to pursue the ambitious and long-awaited Concord project after an acrimonious split with Westchester County developer Louis Cappelli.
Cappelli, head of Cappelli Enterprises Inc. in Valhalla, led the Concord redevelopment effort for more than a decade until he was effectively sidelined by heavy financial losses in the recession and entangled in lawsuits with EPR and other public and private partners and liens filed by unpaid contractors. Cappelli and EPR, formerly Entertainment Properties Trust, in 2010 settled some suits with an agreement to end their partnerships at City Center in White Plains and New Roc City, the entertainment and retail complex in downtown New Rochelle. EPR continues to own New Roc City.
The settlement freed Cappelli from repaying a $133.1 million loan that EPR claimed it was owed for the Concord project, in exchange for which Cappelli transferred most of the Concord acreage to EPR. That forgiven loan likely is included in the $750 million total project cost for Adelaar, which includes land value.
EPR Properties president and CEO David Brain told the Bethel audience the company has invested more than $200 million to date in the project. “We”™re a Kansas-City-based company, but we love New York,” he said. “We also have the capital and access to it to execute this plan.”
EPR and Empire last year secured municipal approvals for the project and are seeking a state gaming license for their planned 650,000-square-foot casino to be operated by Empire.
Emanuel Pearlman, Empire Resorts board chairman, told the Bethel Woods audience the Adelaar casino will open under a new brand name to be announced soon. If licensed by the state, it will include 2,150 slot machines and 58 gambling tables, he said.
Now it”™s up to the state Gaming Commission and its newly created Gaming Facility Location Board. The commission reportedly will call for casino proposals in the next few weeks. The site selection board is expected to announce winners this fall.
Adelaar”™s developers said they are ready to break ground on their $600 million construction project within 30 days after being awarded a license.
The all-seasons resort has been designed to draw families and outdoor enthusiasts as well as gamblers. It will include 1,100 hotel rooms in five lodging venues; a 200,000-square-foot “entertainment village” for local residents and resort guests that would feature a 60,000-square-foot CineBowl & Grille and 20 retail shops and restaurants; the Concord”™s Monster Golf Course redesigned by Rees Jones, the renowned golf course designer, and numerous outdoor recreational activities.
EPR is partnering with Aquatic Development Group in Cohoes and two resort operators to develop an outdoor adventure park and a 350-room family-style lodge with an indoor waterpark on 135 acres on the Concord property. The same team is developing EPR”™s Camelback Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania”™s Poconos resort region.
The Adelaar project would create an estimated 2,550 construction jobs and an estimated 2,160 full-time and part-time jobs at the resort amounting to more than $60 million annually in employee compensation.
Brain said EPT will collaborate with existing local businesses to help them grow. In line with Gov. Andrew Cuomo”™s intent when pushing for the casino gaming legislation and ballot referendum last year, “This project is meant to be a real launch pad for tourism in upstate New York,” Brain added.
Cathy Paty, president and CEO of the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce, said Adelaar”™s visitors “will have a reverberation effect on many of Sullivan”™s businesses. They will not just stay in the hotel and the casino. They will also explore what Sullivan has to offer”¦And that means badly needed new revenue for those businesses.”
The Adelaar unveiling signaled the start of high-stakes competition among would-be casino developers to win a state gaming license. EPT and its Catskills partners might have jumped to an early lead on their business rivals.
“They have a two- to three-year head start on everyone else in the game,” Thompson Town Supervisor Bill Rieber said.
Sorry for being blunt, but I have heard about gambling since I was old enough to understand it. My dad worked as waiter in the hotels in his college days. I worked for Kutcher’s in 1992, and they were talking about it then. My family owns property not too far from Bethel Woods.
Sorry for the boring personal information, but we have a saying in my family. When your rear end is sitting at the table and you are placing a bet on a card, then you know gambling has arrived. Until then, pass the pipe.