ELLENVILLE – According to an employee within Manhattan- and Long Island-based Auction America Realty, the company hired to sell the Nevele Grande Resort, "negative press" concerning the resort and the sale proceedings have hurt the deal from going through.

"Since the day the sale was announced," said the employee on Tuesday, "there's been nothing but negative press coming out of the area. The people, the rumors, this, that — it's just not ending."

A recent article published in the Times Herald-Record that takes the company and its president, Marvin Neuman, to task for having yet to produce evidence that a sale has gone through alleges that Neuman may have been "premature" when announcing that a sale on the property had gone through.

"We weren't premature with what we said. There were some very interesting things that have come up due to the area's press," said the employee. "The press up there played a very big role in what's going on right now.

"They might have killed the deal….It's possible that it's killed the deal. I won't say that it is a definitive that the deal was killed, but it has made things a lot more difficult."

The employee said that, based on his experience in real estate in Manhattan, press of any kind can prevent a sale from being completed.

"Anytime a deal is done in Manhattan, if you look at any deal, any major deal…no one ever hears about it until everything is done. Otherwise the deal is killed. In my business, you have to know what's on the market before it's on the market. If I have a building that's not for sale, but secretly is, I can sell that building. If I have a building that is for sale, and the whole world knows about it, good luck trying to sell it. It never happens. Every deal you look at always is done behind closed doors."

Interestingly, in the weeks leading up to the date of the property's auction — which was suspended after Neuman said he had secured a buyer — Neuman had been forthcoming and responsive in terms of giving interviews to this newspaper. However, in the past several weeks, Neuman has not returned the myriad calls and requests for interviews to discuss the current goings on with the Nevele.

The taxes owed to Ulster County have been paid in full, due to — according to the aforementioned Record article — a loan of funds obtained from iStar Financial by the resort's current owner, Joel Hoffman.

There is also a pending logging permit before the Wawarsing Planning Board to conduct a selective timber harvest on the Nevele property, another potential source of revenue for the property owner.

In the meantime, while the resort has made good on the taxes owed to the county — whose lien on the property was lifted after the taxes were paid — the Nevele still owes $255,695.74 in Ellenville School taxes, $9,402.97 to the Ellenville Public Library, and $155,480.36 in water bills to the Village of Ellenville.