3 | REMAKING PELHAM MAY 1, 2017 | VOL. 53, No. 18
14 | RIVERTOWNS SQUARE PREMIERE
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Sullivan County bets on billion-dollar casino and resort BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH rdeffenbaugh@westfairinc.com
A Charles A. Degliomini, executive vice president at Empire Resorts, outside the casino hotel that will be the centerpiece of a $1.2 billion resort under construction in Sullivan County. Photo by Ryan Deffenbaugh.
t 18 stories, the glass-framed casino hotel tower of the Montreign Casino Resort is visible for miles from Route 17 in bucolic Sullivan County. It’s the tallest building in the county, but by the time the $1.2 billion project opens in March 2018, its importance to the region will stretch well beyond that. The casino and resort is likely to become Sullivan County’s largest employer and, officials there hope, a catalyst for the tourism sector in the Catskills region. Its developer, Empire
Resorts Inc., a publicly traded company which also runs the Monticello Casino & Raceway a few miles from the casino site, was one of three companies authorized in 2014 to operate casinos in the state. The casino and resort will sit on 1,695 acres in the town of Thompson. It’s built on land that was once part of the Concord Resort Hotel, which had over 1,500 rooms and was a renowned destination on the Borscht Belt that drew travelers to hundreds of hotels in the Catskills in the mid20th century. The casino is the central element of a resort development that » CASINO, page 21
Cappelli Organization back to work in New Rochelle BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com
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early a decade after Westchester developer Louis R. Cappelli’s grand plan for LeCount Square collapsed, his company has come back to downtown New Rochelle with a vastly scaleddown proposal. The New Rochelle Planning Board on April 25 approved a
new site plan by The Cappelli Organization for 251 North Ave., an apartment and retail development. “The market has picked up,” Bruce Berg, CEO of The Cappelli Organization in White Plains, said in a telephone interview, “and we felt it was time to take the next step.” Ten years ago, Cappelli’s New Rochelle Revitalization LLC was fine-tuning plans for LeCount Square, a $450 million, 1.15 mil-
TWB Loan Decision Banner Ad lion-square-foot 6” w x 1.5” h mixed-use development 2-23-16 that as proposed would have included 154,000 square feet of retail space, 330,000 square feet of office space, 150 hotel rooms and 243 residential units. New Rochelle’s former development commissioner in 2008 called the project “the keystone in the entire downtown.” LeCount Square was to be built across the street from New Roc City and cattycorner to Trump Plaza New Rochelle — both
built by Cappelli and often credited as pioneer developments that spurred a downtown revival in the city on Long Island Sound. The 3-acre property between North Avenue, LeCount Place, Huguenot Street and Anderson Street and includes a U.S. Post Office that was going to be razed. The financial crisis of 2007 — 2008 and the housing market bust, which brought a halt to lender financing and demand for condominiums in Westchester
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County and across the country, killed LeCount Square. Now The Cappelli Organization, formerly known as Cappelli Enterprises, controls only the two-story Standard Star building between the post office and a building occupied by a Planned Parenthood center at 247-249 North Ave. Standard Star was built in 1924 in a modified Italian Renaissance style, according to a state historic » CAPPELLI, page 6
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