To add to Ulster County”™s economic woes, particularly for the town of Warwarsing, the abrupt shuttering of the Nevele Grand Hotel has left the county and the municipality trying to find a way to recoup lost investments in the property.
The Nevele abruptly closed its doors after the July 4 weekend, leaving more than 100 workers locked out. The hotel”™s owner of record, Stratford Business Corp., based on Long Island, is currently under investigation by the New York state Bureau of Labor Standards for failing to give workers advance notice of the shutdown. Stratford bought the Nevele back in 2000 for a reported $26.5 million and claimed to have spent millions more in renovations.
According Ulster County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach, the Nevele owes more than $700,000 in back taxes and fees. How they will be collected is the challenge for the county, the town of Warwarsing and its village of Ellenville”™s central school district. Still hanging in the balance are salaries of employees who found themselves abruptly out of a job.
Auerbach said that Auction America Realty, the company handling the sale, and the owner, New Jersey-based Stratford Business Corp. are one entity headed by Joel Hoffmann.
Auction America Realty says the Nevele is not in foreclosure and Auerbach agrees. The auction for the 1,000-acre property and its 18-hole golf course will be held on Sept. 1 at the hotel itself, with a suggested starting bid of $12 million.
Many former Nevele guests posted opinions on travel web sites (traveladvisor.com, travelpost.com) about the hotel”™s condition long before doors closed, with mostly unfavorable reviews. The Nevele, like many of its grand hotel Catskill counterparts, seems to have missed the mark in trying to make the transition from Borscht Belt vacation to luxury hotel destination.
Auerbach hopes that someone will indeed buy The Nevele and restore it to its former glory days and reopen it.
Ulster County Executive Michael Hein said, “The bottom line is Nevele is closed and the county is now facing bigger issues, like PILOT payments that are due and payments to municipalities that need to be collected.”
