Entertainment City to break ground

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme- mso-fareast- mso-fareast-theme- mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme- mso-bidi- mso-bidi-theme-} Goodbye, Monticello Raceway. Hello, Concord Downs.

Those changes and more are in the works for the property in Kiamesha Lake, where Westchester developer Louis Cappelli is planning his $1 billion Entertainment City, which will stand in the footprint of the former Concord Hotel.

Cappelli Enterprises announced recently it has secured $225 million in financing from Kansas-based Entertainment Properties. Along with the $100 million Cappelli has already invested into the project, he has met requirements needed to start receiving funds from New York state. In the deal inked with the Legislature, Cappelli will receive 75 percent of the profits from the racino, which is moving from Monticello to the Concord site.  

Hotel rooms numbering 750 and over a quarter-million square feet of ballrooms, retail and entertainment space, along with the new Concord Downs and the re-planted racino, are part of the adventurous plans for the former Concord Hotel property. An additional 125-room luxury hotel with spa facilities is in the mix, along with the renovation of the property”™s existing golf courses, including the famous “Monster” course, hoping to bear the signature of Jack Nicklaus. Cappelli hopes a themed water park will become  part of the attractions.

Cappelli has completed demolition of the old hotel ”“ a painstaking feat, considering the asbestos removal required in several of the areas ”“ has been completed, and building permits to start constructing should be issued shortly, according to town of Thompson Supervisor Anthony Cellini.

Cappelli”™s cheerleaders include U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, state Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and a host of other state and local officials who want to see Entertainment City rise from the disintegrated glory once known as the Borscht Belt. The Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency approved abatements for Cappelli for both mortgage and sales tax and in property tax relief with incentives to get the project done on budget and on time.  

Giving tax breaks to Cappelli may irk some locals, but long-term, proponents say it will benefit the region”™s sagging economy. Entertainment City expects to employ more than 3,000 construction workers and add more than 2,000 permanent jobs in the former resort haven once it”™s completed.  Cappelli gave assurances that his company would spend money sprucing up Monticello”™s Broadway and perform remediation work on the Monticello Raceway site once it is moved.  

If Orange County residents are concerned about bottleneck traffic at the Exit 16 interchange, where travelers to Cappelli”™s EntertainmentCity will exit to get onto Route 17/Interstate 86, Schumer has promised high speed EZ Pass lanes. That stretch of highway is also being widened to accommodate what the state sees becoming  major corridor for trucking and travelers  coming in and out of the mid-Hudson region.

Cappelli, who, along with various partners, made a name for himself in White Plains and New Rochelle and who is trying to remake Yonkers, turned his sights to the Catskills more than a decade ago, but couldn”™t find backers to buy into his lofty goals for the Concord property. Now that”™s all changed, and a Sept. 15 groundbreaking is planned for the new Entertainment City site.

Cappelli was unavailable for comment.