ELLENVILLE – It may be a few weeks too late to officially ring in the new year, but Brooklyn-based company Tricon Development announced that it has entered into a contract to purchase the Nevele Grande Resort for an as-yet undisclosed amount. The resort property has been on sale through Auction America Realty since last summer.

Over the course of the next two months, the company will be continuing its talks with the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency to determine what benefits, such as bond financing and tax credits, it can receive if they close on the property.

According to Tricon's president Rafi Weiss, the company's plans for the resort are "very simple: We plan to operate it as a Class A resort." He said that the renewed resort would look to reinvigorate its tradition of being an entertainment haven, and said that acts such as Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand, and the Black Eyed Peas are possibilities for the future.

Weiss stressed the fact that the company has no plans to incorporate gambling or horse-racing into the hotel's future, but rather will look to bring "the resort back full circle to the way it was."

"We plan to have service like it used to be," he said, adding that, when it comes to the service the Nevele will provide, he hopes to emulate resorts such as those owned by Disney. To do that, he said that the company will look to hire between 500 and 600 employees.

When asked if former Nevele employees would be able to resume work at the resort, Weiss said, "We intend to contact them to give them first choice." When asked if the company would look to the local community to fill its employment needs, he said, "Absolutely. We believe that the community deserves that. For us to bring in outside people before giving others a chance, if they so desire, to work there, that live in the community, that would be inappropriate."

In addition to hiring locals, Weiss said that the company would like to utilize the services of union workers, saying, "We invite them to reach out to us." In an effort to heal the wounds of the past, Weiss also said that the company is interested in repaying the debts incurred by the resort's former owner.

"We would invite all those who feel that they're owed money — assuming they can provide the proper documentation — to contact us," he said. "Though we are not responsible for the sins of our predecessors, so to speak, we will still honor those obligations just to be able to create the good will, or to maintain the good will, that we will have when we get there. The bottom line is that we're trying to make the people in the area hopefully satisfied, and we try to make sure that the guests that come to the hotel will be extremely happy."

Past creditors include former employees who are owed pay, the Village of Ellenville Water Department, and the Ellenville Central School District.

Weiss also said that there would be no logging taking place at the property, seemingly putting an end to the timber harvest application that BG Logging currently has before the Wawarsing Planning Board.

The response from local officials has been enthusiastic, to say the least.

"I think it's great," said newly elected Wawarsing Town Supervisor Lenny Distel. On the subject of the hundreds of permanent service jobs that Weiss said he plans to bring to the area, Distel said, "That's fantastic. It's a plus for the town of Wawarsing, and we'll go from there. We'll develop around that.

"Hopefully at some point I can meet the gentleman and see what his plans are going to be, but I think it's a positive," he said.

Ellenville Mayor Jeff Kaplan is likewise eager to see the resort reopen. "I think there'll be a more positive outlook for people coming in to either visit or possibly invest in the area," said Mayor Kaplan.

"From the village perspective, we're anxious to see the complex open because it's a major source of revenue for us in the water that they use," he said, adding that he hopes the hotel's management will have an 'open-door' policy toward partnering with the village and getting guests to leave the Nevele property to see what Ellenville may have to offer — a potential contrast to how the resort was operated in past years.

When asked how much money the company was planning on investing in the resort after the deal was closed and the purchase price was paid, Weiss gave an estimate of approximately $35 million.

Just last week, Tricon announced a $476 million joint venture with the Giluet Foundation I, LTD and Interstate Hotels & Resort, Corp. Tricon has been in business for 15 years, and has been involved in real estate ventures ranging from retail, hospitality, office, and warehouse-industrial properties.