The people of Ellenville, and we are no exception, have been waiting on word about the development planned for the former Nevele Resort with strong, almost obsessive interest. So we were please to welcome Keith Rubenstein, the point man for the project, to the Journal office to hear what’s happening at the 500-acre site.

“There’s a high, high, high, high percentage of completion,” Rubenstein told us. “Like, we’ve been through everything, and there’s commitment, there’s a signed letter of intent, there’s definitive documents getting negotiated.”

The loss of the Nevele, which sputtered to a close in 2009, was part of a series of blows to the local economy, already hammered by the departures of Schrade Imperial and Hydro from the factory site north of the village. For a few years, there was interest from a casino development, and then as a sports center to bring travel ball teams to the area. Both projects eventually foundered.

At that point iStar picked up the property and it sat there in limbo while the village and town sighed and got used to the loss of all the area’s economic engines. A few years later, Rubenstein’s Somerset Partners bought the property for a reported $9 million.

Rubenstein said he had wanted the property since 1997, when the Slutsky family put it up for sale. He didn’t have the money at the time, but imagined a “beautiful luxury wellness resort that people would come to from all over the world” on the site. The opportunity finally came after the casino and sports complex plans fell through.

“I was working on our major project in the Bronx, and I was on the phone trying to finance this big piece of land that had a self-storage business on it that I was buying,” he said. “So, there’s this call and my friend came in and he says ‘Hey, the Nevele is for sale.’ So I was telling him my story about the Nevele, and [the man on the phone] interrupted and said, ‘Stop, I own it.’”

The man on the phone was Jay Sugarman, a real estate investor whose company had just foreclosed on Michael Treanor, the casino/sports center man. Sugarman suggested that Rubenstein think about buying the old closed Nevele property.

And that eventually happened, with the property officially falling into his hands On September 29, 2023, after a few years of preparation. “We negotiated a contract on the eve of COVID.” Since then, those in the area have been waiting to see progress.

“What we have done over the last five years is not always seen,” Rubenstein said. “We know, the question is always ‘Where are the cranes, and where are the new buildings?’ But it’s not that easy.”

Rubenstein said he knew that the permitting process “can be rigorous” and “you have to deal with things which you don’t have in New York City: eagles… snakes, and water, lots of water. All of that.”

Pretty soon, he found himself with an unexpected issue. “During the [State Environmental Quality Review] process, we were doing a site tour with our engineers and our team and I looked up and I said ‘Wow, is that a bald eagle?’

“So, the engineer said, ‘Yes, it is,’ and I said ‘That’s cool,’ and he said, ‘No. Not cool.’ I said, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘Because that opens up a whole new can of worms. You got a nest up there, right?’”

Rubenstein recalled it all with a kind of wry fatalism. “We spend I don’t know how much on design and our basic site plan, and we now had to spend double to move everything away from the bald eagle. And we did all that, and eventually we got our [negative declaration of environmental impact].”

Issues related to the historical nature of the site have also taken their time, especially a unique 3D mural on a large wall. Readers have written in about this mural in the past, asking whether it could be saved.

“That mural in the old tower building, well, we couldn’t get it out. It’s on concrete, it’s probably like 100,000 pounds or more, and it would probably break up if you tried to get it out. So, we did a 3D scan and that was part of our SHPO [State Historic Preservation Office] agreement, another hurdle in the process. What I suggested to Andrew Jacobs at the Borscht Belt Museum was that we take a piece of it and make that an exhibit. There’s no way to take the whole thing.”

But Rubenstein said, that’s wasn’t all, because that option relied on their Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) permit.

“The DEC permit encompasses everything, wetlands, endangered species. Trees, all of it. And it took us three years to get that permit… One of the issues there was we had to do an 18-month rattlesnake study… Then we had to monitor the bald eagle and we had to negotiate protective measures for both of them, the eagle and the snakes… and we did a tree survey. We had to count the number of mature trees on the property.”

He does, however, maintain that there’s “never been” a rattlesnake seen on the property, which is downslope from the rocky mountain ledges on which they tend to bask.

“So, a lot of hoops to jump through. And then there was the Army Corps of Engineers which has jurisdiction on waters, like the lake. So now we have an army approval.”

Next on the to-do list was infrastructure. “The village doesn’t seem to have capacity for us to have water, but we’ve discovered two wells that would be able to provide sufficient water. We’re in the exploration process with them right now,” he explained. “According to what we believe from our initial studies there’s sufficient water in those wells to allow us the full capacity. I think our uses will be 150,000 gallons a day. Remember we plan to have residences on the site. The Nevele had 500 rooms, our plan is for 60 rooms, possibly 80 rooms. But there will also be the villas and we’ll have a big spa.”

With water intake taken care of, Rubenstein and the village don’t have many concerns about water out – the sewage plant is ready for the additional usage.

“My point is that before anything can happen, all of this has to get done. Because the other critical thing for a project like this is something called money. We’ve been funding everything.”

He estimates that Somerset Partners has spent something in the range of $10 to $12 million on development so far, “but to build this project you need about $300 million. And before any credible investor will commit to that there’s a lot of questions that I get asked and a lot of answers that have to be given to that investor. So, I’m happy to say that we have de-risked the project to such a degree that we are in the final stages of signing that investor agreement.”

Well, great, what’s next?

“We first have to go back to the town and get final site plan and subdivision approvals. We have started the process for that. I think you will see us at our first [town planning board] meeting on September 15. That will probably take some time, maybe nine months to do. Once that is done, and we have final approvals, and water and sewer is all locked in, at that point in time is when you will see activity on the land.”

Rubenstein listed the known elements of the plan. The small luxury hotel at the south end of the property. The row of villas along the eastern side. On the southwest side there will be a sports facility for paddleball, pickleball, and basketball – a sport Rubenstein says he used to play at the Nevele when he was young.

“The villas will actually be dispersed throughout the eastern side of the property. Some set back, some on the slope, some maybe overlooking the lake, but far enough away from the eagle so that we’re in compliance. Whatever we do, we don’t bother the eagle. And then in the plan is a culinary experience on the north west side of the property. That would have an orchard and an organic farm, and a farm stand. Some type of indoor-outdoor restaurant, with gardens and things like that.”

We mentioned that Ellenville had become consumed with fears that this project was fizzling like so many other projects in the area before it, and that those worries were when it was announced that another developer was going to try and revive Grossinger’s, another once famous resort in the Borscht Belt firmament.

That said, Rubenstein knows what the Grossinger’s proposal faces. “They’re just starting. They’re years behind us.”

We asked if there was a sense of mutual benefit from many such projects running in parallel. “Yeah, 100 percent I think so. You know, a rising tide does lift all boats. They had 600-some-odd hotels around here once.”

Why all this work?

“It starts, really, when my family came up here when I was a kid. My parents’ honeymoon was at the Nevele. I probably came here twice a year for between twelve and fifteen years of my life. We came for Passover and winter break… I learned to ski at the Nevele, probably why I’m not so good. I learned how to skate and how to play basketball.”

He pointed to the arrival of other developments like Wildflower Farms in Gardiner, but observes: “We’re really one of the first movers to believe that this has the ability to capture what it was in the past. You know, one of the most celebrated luxury resort destinations in America.”

Rubenstein has noted the positive changes in the village and the region.

“One of the things that we had to overcome is, will people go there?” The benefits are clear: “The land is amazing, the proximity to New York City is amazing – you could drive here, or you could fly,” especially with new upgrades to Resnick Airport.

In the Bronx, he said, his job included a fair amount of work spent improving the image of the borough. He says that work is happening independent of this project.

“When you come into Ellenville, and you look at the backdrop of Canal Street, it could be anywhere USA. [Like] in the ski towns like Aspen and Telluride, you have the backdrops of the mountains. And you have the beautiful church set against the mountain and then there are the shopfronts which, as you know, have started to fill and activate. You see how active Gaby’s Café is, you see this little place has opened for mustard, the guy’s very nice, very talkative. I just think the transformation is happening… I have brought maybe one hundred potential capital partners here and they all said that it’s cool, you know?”

Turning back to the hotel project, Rubenstein has a vision for it fully developed.

“So, we will have a hotel operating company, a world-renowned operating company that’ll be managing the hotel and the property around it. They’ll create things for the guests to do and also will open it to the public for some activities.”

Rubenstein referenced WinStar Farm, a well-known horse-riding school and facility in Kentucky. “They have outdoor music and I think we will have a very robust corporate business and wedding business. And all of that will drive activity in to the village. And people will have their cars and they will explore the area.”

The Shawangunk Journal turned to the “hot” topic in this discussion, the fires. Asked about what he had learned about the many fires in the ruins of the Nevele, he said:

“Well, I only learned what I’ve been told by investigators. I’ve been told that it was a vagrant, and we spend so much on fencing. It’s private property and no one is allowed on it and people trespass. We’ve had significant expense in terms of fixing fences and trying to keep people out. I think that will actually get better when the construction starts.”

For a while, they used a security company to try and keep intruders out, but now he says “it’s such a big property, it’s not realistic. So, it’s hard but it’s gotten better and I think once our financing package is in place we will begin construction and demolition. We’re responsible developers and when we’re ready to build the project, we’ll demo all the buildings and, until then, we’ll keep the property as locked up as we possibly can.”

Rubenstein says there are no trespassing signs and lots of fencing but “if people want to get in there, they’re going to get in there.”

Which leads Rubenstein to what is needed and what will happen.

“The thing is financing. We are significantly close to finalizing that financing package, which is a long process.”

What about removing the buildings to stop any more fires? Members of the Ellenville Fire Department have said they would like to see action on that.

“There are a lot of buildings to be removed and typically, from a developer standpoint, the demolition occurs in conjunction with the construction. It wouldn’t be like ten dollars to tear down all those buildings.”

Rubenstein says that he has personally invested millions in the project. “You know, I’ve been operating for several years in a very, very strong headwind for finance. I’ve put my own money into it, north of ten million of cash into this project, which is a lot of money.”

Those headwinds include all of the financial turmoil of the pandemic and inflation era.

“I was willing to take the risk that there would be a market for this. But there was a complete shutdown of hospitality finance in our industry for several years. It was COVID, it was everything... So, I can’t say anything more definitive yet, but as soon as we have it wrapped you will hear all about it.”

For now, he’s waiting for the financing to close.

“I’m watching, right? I look at the social media where the guy says ‘Oh, this is another loser.’ And, believe me, you don’t think I want to type in there and say [something]? But I don’t. Because it’s not appropriate to do so. We just keep our head down, keep working, and not everything can be seen.”

We’ll be accompanying Rubenstein on a tour of the property sometime in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for that.