ELLENVILLE – Only weeks after shutting its doors for a supposed one-month hiatus, it's been revealed on Friday that the Nevele Grande Resort is to be made available for purchase via a public auction.

Auction America Realty, a New York-based real estate company owned by Marvin Neuman, has been contracted to sell the resort.

"I actually got a call from the seller of the Nevele [Joel Hoffman], that my company's work, all of our efforts, are already showing a tremendous amount of results. We are getting offers already," said Neuman in an interview on Tuesday.

"I grew up going up to the Catskills in the summer. My parents used to go to bungalow colonies in Mountaindale, and went to camp next to the Granit Hotel, so I have an affection for the area. I believe, in my heart, that there is a great place for those grand hotels that were so important to so many people for so long. So it is really my hope, and my work effort right now, that I will attain the proper purchaser for the Nevele so that it will function, and almost be like a role model hotel for the area. And I do believe that I will attain that success."

The company plans to auction the resort off to the highest bidder on September 1 in the hotel itself, after allowing prospective buyers a few hours to inspect the grounds and to assess the property.

"A regular broker will list a price, and in today's economy, people start bidding downward. In my business, I don't put a price, and the onus is on the purchaser to be respectful of the property they're viewing and make an offer based on what they're seeing," explained Neuman.

The Nevele Grande Resort was last reported as being put up for sale in March of 2008, for an asking price of $26.5 million, with the listing handled by New York-based Eastern Consolidated.

Since the news of Auction America coming on board to handle the sale of the resort broke late last week, there have been a deluge of offers, said Neuman. When asked the price range of bids that were being received, however, he could not offer details.

"It would compromise the situation," he said regarding the range of offers. "I can't disclose it; I can only tell you that some people who were thinking of purchasing in the past are now coming forward with more realistic offers. And there are a tremendous amount of people who were unaware that it was for sale." Neuman said that before the date of the auction, his firm is receiving sealed bids, and should one be offered that's acceptable to the seller, the auction may be cancelled altogether.

What got Neuman interested in taking on the job of finding the Nevele a buyer, he said, is his affinity for the resort as the "premier hotel" of the region, and that he was looking to match the property with a buyer that would reopen the property for business.

"There was just something about the Nevele that was just so spectacular," he said. "That's one reason that when the opportunity arose, I felt that because of my feeling towards the hotel and the area that I would probably be able to do a better job than most, so I was willing to take on the project."

While Neuman could not answer questions about the future of the Nevele's employees with whoever ends up buying the property, the Department of Labor recently held workshop sessions at the Trudy Resnick Farber building in Ellenville, helping laid off employees fill out unemployment forms and offering advice and assistance on what to do next. Furthermore, the Nevele is currently under investigation by the New York State Department of Labor for violations of the NYS WARN Act, or Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, which stipulates that employers with 50 or more employees must provide a 90-day notice of mass layoffs — which the Nevele Grande apparently failed to do.

But with the resort garnering the attention that Neuman says it is, it's very possible that the Nevele will be open for business at some point in the near future, defying the predictions of many who believed that the recently reported 'temporary closing' would likely be permanent.

"We're in a rough time," said Neuman. "That hotel supplies jobs to the community. There are people cutting lawns, people taking care of the pool, people making sure the towels are laundered, people serving in the dining hall.

"I believe that if we look at it in an intellectual manner, we should all in New York fight for the resurgence of an area so beautiful and so close to home. I want everyone to know that I am not doing this for the sole benefit of my wallet. I did this work now because I do have an affection for the hotel and the area, and I really want that to come forward."