Clean up at the Concord before new construction

Sullivan County resort gets a face-lift for construction

By LISA CUTRONI

KIAMESHA LAKE, NY — While the fate of the Concord Hotel hangs in balance with casino development, people will be spending their days and night on the 1,600-acre grounds of the once-prestigious hotel.

But not for recreational purposes; it’ll be all work.

According to Henry Zabatta, general manager for the Concord Resort and Convention Center, it will be a hectic couple of months at the 68-year-old hotel, weather permitting. “We have a few different things going on. First, we have a clean-up project for the main hotel that we are currently getting bids for,” Zabatta said.

Clean up will consist of removal of older buildings and piles of debris. Then, Zabatta said, the building will be boarded up, secured and left alone. “There will be no additional work done there until there is a better determination on what is happening with casinos in this area,” he said.

But in the surrounding area, a whole spate of development projects are on the horizon. The area along Kiamesha Lake Road will be cleared, including the removal of the outdoor and indoor tennis courts and some smaller buildings.

“Additionally, plans are set for a new 60,000-square-foot clubhouse to replace the existing one. “We’re in the process of hiring a world-class engineering firm, Gensler, with headquarters in San Francisco, CA, to develop plans for the clubhouse at the Monster Golf Course,” Zabatta said.

The clubhouse complex is designed to accommodate a 125-room, five-star, hotel spa and a residential housing development. The clubhouse will have a members’ section, locker facilities, a restaurant and meeting rooms.

In a separate bidding process, Louis Cappelli, the resort owner, is receiving bids for asbestos abatement and demolition for the smaller, unused buildings in the complex. Once a bid is awarded, the abatement and demolition shouldn’t take longer than a few months, Zabatta said.

Representatives from the resort still have to get site plan approval through the planning board and submit plans to the building department.