Ghosts of the Borscht Belt – The ruins of the Nevele Grand Hotel and Country Club

August 2024

Note: This article was originally part of my Borscht Belt series profiling multiple former hotels and bungalow colonies. As I have photographed the Nevele Grand more than any other hotel over the past 6 years, I decided to make this entry a stand alone. You can start here for other articles in my Borscht Belt series: The crumbling remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland – The rise and fall of the Borscht Belt – Canadian Military History (militarybruce.com)

A quick hello to Jack, Fred and their lovely wives (who’s names I regretfully can’t remember), whom I met in the dining room at Honor’s Haven during my recent visit to attend the 2nd Annual Borscht Belt Fest.

The Borscht Belt was the colloquial name of the Catskills area of eastern New York State that was once populated with resorts and bungalow communities for Jewish clients from New York City.

In an era when Jewish people still faced discrimination elsewhere, Borscht Belt resorts were popular for family vacations before cheap airfare allowed families to travel to distant locations.  Offering kosher food, recreational and entertainment facilities, these resorts became an annual pilgrimage for many families and inspired several Hollywood movies including “Dirty Dancing” and “Sweet Loraine”, both released in 1987.

From a high of over 500 different hotels and thousands of bungalow colonies to just a handful today, the Borscht Belt represents a by-gone time.  Some hotels were renovated and have held on with a smaller clientele, while others were given a second life as religious schools and retreats.  However, most were abandoned and left to deteriorate or were outright demolished.

Well known resorts in the area included The Concord, Grossinger’s Resort and Country Club, Brickman’s, Brown’s Hotel, Kutsher’s Hotel and Country Club, The Nevele, Friar Tuck Inn, Gibbers, Gilbert’s, The Granit (which later became the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa), Woodbine Hotel, Heiden Hotel, Hotel Irvington, Lastman’s, the Laurel Hotel and Country Club, The Pines Resort, Raleigh, Silverman’s Riverview Hotel, Stevensville, Stiers, the Tamarack Lodge, the Olympic, Shawanga Lodge, the Overlook and the Windsor Regency.

Many efforts were been made over the past four plus decades to revitalize the area with casino gambling, to little result.  In February 2018, the $1.2 billion Resorts World Catskills opened in Kiamesha Lake, featuring 150 table games, an entertainment village, an indoor water-park lodge and an 18-hole golf course.

The Nevele Hotel, simply known as “Nevele” (eleven spelled backwards), was opened in 1901 in Ellenville by Charles Slutsky on land he was farming, a farm that he also ran up to 1938.

In 1906, Charles had the land divided, giving the land the Nevele stood on to his son Joseph and taking for himself the other half, on which he built the Fallsview Hotel.

The Nevele Grande, known for its impressive 18-hole course, had the usual amenities including an indoor and two outdoor pools, a children’s activity centre and playground, gym, tennis, racquetball, a ski hill, skating rink, live entertainment, indoor mini golf and a Hawaiian-themed nightclub.

Other amenities included two magnificent ballrooms and several conference halls, which were excessive, even by Catskills standards.  Those who wished to experience the natural beauty of the property could visit its two natural lakes, which are fed by a 35-foot waterfall.

One very distinct feature of the Nevele was the circular guest tower, the Nevele Tower, built in 1966, along with the standard rectangular shaped towers.

The Nevele Grande also had the distinction of hosting then-President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, when he came to dedicate a hospital in Ellensville.

At its peak, it had 430 guest rooms and employed a staff of 800.

The decline of the Borscht Belt hit the Nevele and Fallsview and by 1997, the Slutsky family sold both the Nevele and Fallsview to Mitchell Wolff and Joel Hoffman.

Wolfe and Hoffman attempted to revive the business by combining the two resorts into The Nevele Grande Hotel.  Despite their efforts, the Nevele Grande continued to suffer financially and by 2006, Wolfe and Hoffman sold off the Fallsview portion of the property and put all their efforts into the original Nevele, but they could not stop the inevitable.

In the end, Wolfe, now without Hoffman just couldn’t keep the aging hotel operating.  Declining guest volumes created a serious problem for cash flow, which meant that needed repairs and maintenance went undone, while Hoffman attempted to sell the hotel.

In addition to a growing list of health code violations and overdue accounts payable, including utilities, vendors and Nevele employees, the hotel was hit with a fine of over $4000 for unpaid worker’s compensation insurance and a lawsuit by Wolff against his former business partner Hoffman for unpaid business obligations.

During a cold snap in January 2009, the hotel ran out of heating oil, forcing guests to stay elsewhere.  The Golden Gate building had its pipes freeze, causing them to burst and flood the lobby.  In the end, the building was condemned, perhaps foreshadowing what was to come.

Without notice, the Nevele Grande abruptly shut down after the Fourth of July weekend in 2009, ceasing operations after 108 years.  In addition to the other debts, the hotel was in arrears on their taxes to the tune of $342,687.

An auction was set up to sell the resort to pay off the tax debt, but was soon called off after a potential buyer expressed intent to seal the deal.  The deal fell though and the hotel remained empty

Lounges

Dining

Entertainment

The Nevele was purchased in May 2012 by an investment company, Nevele Investors LLC, who announced a $500 million redevelopment plan that included a casino. At the time, the original lobby, the circular tower, skating rink and golf course were to be incorporated into the new resort, to be named the Nevele Resort, Casino & Spa.

When Nevele Investors LLC failed to secure permission for a casino, plans were announced in September 2017 to turn the hotel into a mega sports complex, with an opening date that was expected to be March 2020.

However, Nevele Investors LLC’s plans seem to have fallen apart as the Nevele was put up for sale again in October 2019.  Meanwhile, the buildings continue to deteriorate, perhaps beyond saving at this point.

On 29 September 2023, the Nevele was sold for $5 million to 1100 Arrow LLC.  Current plans by New York City-based developer Somerset Partners involve the demolition of the existing buildings and construction of a new hotel and a 126-unit housing development.

Indoor Pool and Gym

Ballrooms/Conference Rooms

Cousin Brucie Room/Games Area/Mini-Golf

Lower lobby retail area

Summer Outdoor Leisure Activities

Golf Clubhouse

Children’s Activity Center

Nevele Ski Lodge & Ski Hill and Skating Rink

The Nevele Tower

The Golden Gate/Vacationer/Pennsylvanian Complex

Winter Lodge

While the buildings at the Nevele have been left standing for the almost two decades since the hotel closed, awaiting a re-birth that appears less and less likely with each passing year, the Winter Lodge is no more.

On 19 March 2024, a two-alarm blaze had firefighters from 10 companies busy for 15 hours, fighting a fire that had erupted in the Nevele’s century-old Winter Lodge, the oldest former guest building still standing that was last used as staff quarters. By the time the fire was extinguished, only the stone fireplace was left standing.

No other buildings were impacted by the fire.

The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency investigating the fire. According to Everett Erichsen, Ulster County’s director of emergency services, no cause has been identified yet. The fire is not being labeled as suspicious at this time. This was the fourth in a series of suspicious fires at former Borscht Belt hotels.

In August 2022, a fire consumed the Elaine Grossinger–Etess’ house, one of the few remaining buildings of the long-abandoned Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel that wasn’t demolished in the summer of 2018. Next was The Pines Resort in June 2023, a fire destroyed the main building, including the dining room.

Then in July 2023, a fire at the Homowack Lodge destroyed the lobby, dining hall and one of the guest wings.

After the Fire

Also read: Is a serial arsonist behind the rash of fires at abandoned Borscht Belt hotels? – Canadian Military History (militarybruce.com)

What does the future hold for the Nevele Grand Property?

The Nevele was sold last September to New York City-based developer Somerset Partners, who have stated plans to demolish the existing buildings to allow for the construction of a new hotel and a 126-unit housing development. This is just one is a long line of re-development proposals that have come and gone over the years since the Nevele Grand closed. The previous plan involved the development of a hotel and sports training campus, utilizing mostly new buildings and the rehabilitated Nevele Tower.

The Nevele Resort & ProSport Campus was scheduled to open in March 2020. A billboard just to the south of the hotel is still standing in July 2024.

The Fallsview is still in operation today, but as Honor’s Haven Resort & Spa.

You can read about Honor’s Haven in Part 2:  A second helping of Borscht – The (crumbling) remains of America’s Jewish vacationland, Part 2 – Canadian Military History (militarybruce.com)