Michael Treanor, the New York-born and New Jersey-based lawyer and casino developer who tried unsuccessfully to get a casino license for Ellenville's shuttered Nevele Resort over the past three years, announced his own "Plan B" proposition for a different project last week. Instead of a $640 million full resort with casino gaming, he's now got his eyes set on reviving the classic old hotel with a $100 million sportsplex resort... and video lottery terminals, if passed.

This week, Treanor said that he was getting a "pre-development" financing package in shape so he can rehire his two vice presidents, Eric Atkins and former New Paltz Chamber of Commerce head Michael Smith, to his team, and keep his offices in the penthouse of Ellenville's government center building, which he had renovated last winter.

"We need capital for the analytics," he said. "This time our debt and equity financing should be more regionally based, from the city and elsewhere in New York State."

In a recent press release on his plans, Treanor highlighted plans for four, full-sized baseball fields, eight regulation fields for soccer, field hockey and lacrosse, an indoor aquatics center, revived golf course and ski center, and 550 VLTs, currently allowed only at racetracks and full casinos in the state, but subject to a legislative okay proposed by Assemblyman Kevin Cahill for Ulster County, but not yet formally presented.

When Cahill first brought forth his VLT proposal last year, it was designed with the Hudson Valley Resort and Pinegrove Resort, both in the neighboring town of Rochester, in mind. State senator James Seward was pushing the proposal in his chamber until both legislators stalled the proposal when Treanor suggested it would weaken the Nevele's bid for a casino license.

Asked whether he would be able to go ahead with his $100 million plan for a sportsplex-oriented Nevele without a proposed 750 VLTs, Treanor said, "Without it there would be no financial engine to get things done. It's nearly completely necessary."

Further questioned about whether Seward would still be sponsoring the VLT legislation in Albany, Treanor replied, "That's a very good question," and said that a final announcement regarding sponsors was "very close." He then added that at present, the proposal is for a legislative okay to a single Ulster County resort.

Beyond that, the developer — who said the CEOs who replaced him last fall, after past legal problems involving his family surfaced, were no longer working with the new Nevele plans — said he felt confident about his positioning for something to happen because of how much he had accomplished in his casino bid. He pointed out that as far as he knew, planners tended to okay projects that shrunk in size.

Treanor also noted that at present he didn't want to put any timeline to the new $100 million Nevele plans.

In a separate development, it was also announced that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating the casino selection process for potential conflicts of interest tied to the fact that each of the chosen entities had some professional ties to a law firm that was also picked to advise the siting board.