ELLENVILLE – It happens from time to time: we goof up. Last week, we reported that the buyer of the Nevele Grande Resort property would have to contend with a $290,959.16 bill to satisfy Ulster County's lien against the property before the sale could close. However, it's the seller, Joel Hoffman, not the buyer, who will have to pay that tax bill before the sale can be complete, and the title can clear.

"Whenever there is a sale of any property…the first thing for the buyer to get clear title is that all liens, judgments, debts of the property are gone, or else there's no title," said Marvin Neuman of Auction America Realty, the company handling the transaction between the property's owner and the buyer, whose identity is still unknown.

"What happens right now is all the calculations are occurring," said Neuman. "Everybody is sitting there and saying, 'How much is owed,' and all of those numbers are being presented, and the attorneys are all working on both sides because they have to clear up titles. They have to make sure that everyone gets paid."

Another question that has arisen is news of a forthcoming public hearing before the Wawarsing Planning Board on September 22 regarding a selective timber harvest on the Nevele property by BG Quality Logging. Neuman said that he had heard something regarding the cutting of some trees on the property, and that Hoffman was looking to raise funds by allowing the harvest to go through, which he can still do as owner. However, he wasn't privy to any more details than that during the phone interview on Monday, though he said he hoped that the harvest wouldn't have too great an effect on the property prior to the pending sale.

As to the ongoing questions of who the buyer of the multi-million dollar property is, and how the transformation from the property's current condition into a four- or five-star hotel will occur, Neuman offered some insight into the buyer's intentions.

"What the buyer really wants is that this is not such a secretive thing, just that they're going to have beautiful plans drawn up," he said. "There's going to be renderings or sketching of the remodel of the hotel, how it's going to take on its new look. There's going to be a press conference…everybody is going to see what is going to be at the new Nevele. It's fun to have a surprise, like waiting for a birthday party. And I think that's really what they want, a fun new beginning, and not something that's going to be difficult for them to get through."