Villa Roma reopens for business

$27.4 million investment

By FRITZ MAYER

CALLICOON, NY - The smoldering ruins of the burned-out building that choked the site in April 2006 are now just a memory. The owners of the newly rebuilt main hotel at the Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 28 to invite supporters in for a look at the new building.

The $27.4 million construction effort of the main hotel included one- and two-bedroom luxury suites, a 600-seat ballroom, a dance club, a 150-seat café and a 30-person Jacuzzi spa.

In remarks to the 200 or so guests at the ceremony, president Martin Passante thanked “the dishwashers, the bellhops, but I especially want to thank my bankers at the First National Bank of Jeffersonville,” which brought a big laugh from the audience.

Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver said he saw the re-opening of the facility as part of “the rebirth of the Catskills,” in which he included the opening of Bethel Woods and the coming of the new Louis Cappelli project on the site of the old Concord Hotel.

Jonathan Rouis, chair of the county legislature, thanked the Passante family and The Villa Roma organization for reinvesting in Sullivan County and said it should serve as a reminder to others that “if you invest here, you will get your return.”

The opening of the main hotel has already had one positive effect on the county; while it was closed, the number of people employed at the facility was scaled back to 300. With the reopening, the number of employees is up to 400.