Developer buys abandoned Hudson Valley resort and promises to restore it to its glory days

A developer hopes to bring back the old magic to an abandoned Catskills resort once considered iconic.

The formerly majestic Nevele Grand Hotel (also known as Nevele Country Club) in Ulster County, NY, was an integral part of the post-war communities of summer hotels, resorts, and bungalow colonies that formed the Borscht Belt in the Catskills Mountains.

From the 1940s through the late 1970s, the Ulster and Sullivan County areas of upstate New York, about 90 minutes from New York, were where millions of city residents spent their summers swimming, dancing and having fun, especially comedy routines.

“It was an affordable place for middle-class city dwellers to escape the oppressive heat of the city, to have some glamour, romance and entertainment,” Andreas Jacobschairman of the board of directors of the Catskills Borscht Belt Museumtells Realtor.com®.

The Catskills – immortalized in films such as ‘Dirty Dancing’ and ‘A Walk on the Moon’ and the Amazon Prime series ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ – was a place of ‘desire and forbidden fruit’, but also of chuckles.

“It was the birthplace of stand-up comedy,” Jacobs says, noting that household names like it Jerry Seinfeld, Jerry Lewis, Joan Rivieren, And Mel Brooks all got their start in the Borscht Belt.

But the vibrant era came to an abrupt end with what Jacobs calls “the 3 A’s”: air conditioning, air travel and assimilation.

AC meant that summers in the city were no longer so oppressive; airplane travel to alternative vacation destinations such as Florida and Europe became much more affordable; and the various groups that populated the resorts—primarily Jewish, but also Irish, Italian, and African American—became more integrated.

“Children no longer wanted to spend their summer holidays with people from the same ethnic group,” Jacobs explains. “They wanted to mix.”

The redesign of the Nevele Hotel

The three A’s caused the Catskills summer resorts to quickly begin closing in the 1980s.

“Most large hotels have simply disappeared or are in ruins,” Jacobs explains. “Nevele is still there, but it’s just a big, epic ruin. It’s really creepy.”

But hopefully not for long.

Real estate development company Somerset Partners is investing $300 million in the 500-acre Nevele estate, with plans for a mixed-use community of townhouses, cottages and single-family homes, an 80-room boutique hotel, a spa, restaurants and leisure spaces.

Founding partner Keith Rubenstein has a special bond with the hotel, having vacationed there with his family in the 1970s and 1980s. Rubenstein, who did not respond to requests for comment, is a member of the Borscht Belt Museum’s board of trustees.

Are biography says he is “leading the development of a world-class luxury resort at the former Nevele Country Club” and that his parents even honeymooned at the hotel.

“It was a really great place,” he recalled in an interview with The Times Union.

There he learned to skate, ski, play tennis, basketball and golf, and occasionally mixed with big names Tom Zeevera former pitcher for the New York Mets.

“It has such a meaningful history, not just for me and my family, but for so many families,” he said.

The Somerset project recently received a major environmental clearance from the Department of Environmental Conservation and has an estimated completion time of three years, according to the outlet.

But there are challenges. A series of mysterious fires, two of which occurred in January and one of which damaged the resort’s iconic main tower, have reset the timeline.

The cause of the fires is unknown, but Rubenstein told the newspaper he suspects they were deliberately set because the abandoned buildings are a magnet for squatters, the curious, graffiti artists and even “paranormal explorers.”

“It’s a shame because people are entering the premises and it’s almost impossible to keep people out,” he said, adding that he has increased security there.

Renderings for the future development show several low-rise, modern-style wooden buildings that blend seamlessly into the lush, rural mountain setting.

The development will “take advantage of the scenic beauty and also the proximity to the city,” says Jacobs. “The setting is really beautiful and barely developed.”

Local agent Fredericka Taylor of Taylored Real Estate, who lives in Ulster County, agrees that renewal of the resort’s ruins is welcome.

“The city and the local population would like to see that [area] active, open and active again,” she tells Realtor.com. “I don’t think anyone is against that.”

Taylor, which specializes in the sale of vintage camps, resorts and bungalows in the Catskills and Hudson Valley, has assets of $2.5 million mention in the form of Nevele: the 94-acre former Brown’s Hotel, a Borscht Belt resort that later became the Grandview Condominiums before burning down in 2012.

“There are always calls from people looking for camps, retreats or summer communities, and builders looking for properly zoned properties that will allow for housing development,” she says.

“The Catskills is truly a wonderful place to raise your children and grow old or to have a second home.”

Revitalizing the Catskills

The Nevele Hotel won’t be the first worn-out Borscht Belt icon to get an overhaul.

The site of the former Concorde Hotel is now Resorts World Catskillsa luxury hotel resort, golf club and casino. The Brickman, once known as “the resort with personality,” became a yoga retreat ashram.

Other former icons of the Borscht Belt became Orthodox Jewish summer camps, year-round communities or luxury boutique hotels.

And in 2025, Grossinger’s Resort in Sullivan County — known as the oft-cited inspiration for “Dirty Dancing” — quietly closed sold based in Florida PPG development for $14.75 million. Although plans for the 1,100 hectares have not yet been completed, the buyer specializes in luxury resorts and golf clubs.

Jacobs says the Catskills — and especially the resort culture of the Borscht Belt — is ripe for a revival.

“There’s a longing for that more analogue time,” he says. “It had great fashion and music, and people are really nostalgic for the perceived simplicity of that era.”

The residential component of the Nevele development – ​​which will consist of more than forty single-family homes with floor plans ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 square feet and approximately 80 townhomes – makes the plan somewhat unique to the area.

“This is the future of the Catskills,” Jacobs said. “A place for second homes, but that will also have community areas like a pool and restaurants. It brings back the original tradition of the Catskills as a place to get away and fills a need.”

Taylor agrees that the Catskills may be heading back to their former glory, but with a modern sensibility. Instead of honeymoons and foxtrots, the area will be about luxury leisure and luxurious second homes.

“De Nevele is an example of a resurgence of these types of resorts that were so popular from the 1940s through the 1970s, but in a different form,” she says.