Florida developer plans reinvention of famed Grossinger’s resort
Decades after its doors shut, the famed Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel is about to get a spark of life from a Florida developer.
Ari Pearl’s PPG Development submitted planning documents with the town of Liberty for a mixed-use project at the Sullivan County site, the Times Union reported. The plans emerged a year after the company purchased the vacant land for $14.75 million.
Plans for the campus, spread across more than 1,000 acres, include 100 hotel rooms, 175 luxury private residences, two golf courses, a polo and equestrian center, a farm, a sports complex, restaurants and a spa and wellness center.
Redevelopment of the site would unfold across four phases, beginning with the resort hotel, cottages, sporting areas, farming operations and one of the golf courses situated on the south part of the property.
Grossinger’s built a reputation as a popular resort destination for New York City visitors, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The resort even inspired the movie “Dirty Dancing” before closing in 1986.
The site was sold to investors for $9 million and largely demolished in 2018. Four years later, a fire wiped out one of the last standing vestiges of the resort.
The project is being reviewed by Liberty’s planning board. It will also need to be evaluated under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, though Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development president Mark Baez doesn’t foresee any issues with getting approval.
Nevertheless, one can never be too sure in the Catskills.
Several months ago, a New York State Supreme Court Justice overturned the Cairo Planning Board’s “negative declaration” for R. Henry Courtemanche’s Blackhead Mountain resort project, invalidating the final site plan approval.
The judge ruled in favor of residents and environmental opponents because the Planning Board failed to conduct a thorough environmental review to assess the project’s potential impact on water and energy.
The development team plans to convert the existing property into a 66,000-square-foot resort and spa with 127 units, though opponents argue the project is too big and would harm the environment.
Read more
Resort project in Catskills roiled by environmental review
Development
South Florida
Ari Pearl scores rezoning for 166-acre Hollywood golf course redevelopment
$561M deal for Catskills casino resort stalls, as investors seek counsel
