Monster remains
It seems like another lifetime when Valhalla-based developer Louis Cappelli first introduced plans for Entertainment City, to be built on the site of the once-luxurious Concord Hotel. The ambitious undertaking included a first-class hotel and conference center and casino-style gambling. The state was ready to pitch in by returning some of the racino earnings to Cappelli in exchange for job creation.
Then the Great Recession reared its head. Financing tightened. Empire City remains on hold.
The Concord is gone, but its 18-hole “Monster” golf course, with all 7,650 yards of fairways and sand traps, is ready and waiting. The first golfers ”“ the public is welcome ”“were expected to tee off April 30.
Golf pro Mike Stoltz, who has been at the Monster for the past seven years, confirmed the course would be open despite reports to the contrary. “The International is closed, but the Concord and Grossinger”™s are both open,” said Stoltz, who just returned from Florida.
“I wasn”™t as worried for my job as I was about the Monster being closed down,” said Stoltz, a Sullivan county resident who has watched the region”™s famous hotels fall to the wayside. “It”™s a magnificent golf course with a great history and it has been beautifully maintained. To think of it being closed was personally heartbreaking for me.”
For Stoltz and golfers, their worries about playing the storied greens can be put to rest. But for the former Concord hotel that once overshadowed it, that”™s another story. Cappelli made a statement to the media that he”™d build it “or die trying.”
“I just returned from Florida, and I know we have it bad here, but there are literally thousands of homeless people down there. And as I speak, Florida has just passed legislation to allow casino gambling. I really don”™t understand what”™s happening here in New York. If that”™s what it will take to re-energize the Catskills, then bring it on.”
Stoltz has worked closely with Louis Cappelli”™s organization and says he wishes the developer the best and hopes Entertainment City will indeed become a reality ”“ the sooner, the better.
“All developers are hurting right now,” he said. “Louis is no exception, but I know he believes in this project, and we need a hotel desperately in this area. There are very few options for weekend guests. I”™m sure he”™s doing whatever he can to make it happen, but the economy has turned on everyone. No one is immune.”
In the meantime, said Stoltz, golfers can come play the famed golf course as well as nearby Grossinger”™s course. “Some people thought we were closed for renovation, but in fact, everything is exactly as originally built and is in great shape.”
Call 794-4000 for days and hours of operation.