The Terrace Motel was demolished and the remains carted away in early December 2024. That act brought an end to the iconic motel that had stood on the hill overlooking the village of Ellenville since the early 1970s.

The property was purchased by a local group, under the heading of Shawangunk Ridgeline Terrace L.L.C. This group says they intend to “ensure that it remains a premier gateway property to the village.”

However, since the demolition, the village learned the building was listed by the Ellenville/Wawarsing Historical Preservation Commission. Angela D'Aiuto, of the commission, raised this issue at the December 9 village board meeting. She asked why the commission was not notified of the demolition before it occurred. The building department said that they did not know about the listing of the motel.

The Ellenville/Wawarsing Historical Preservation Commission had listed the property as a historical landmark, but the building, already lacking windows, graffitied, and vandalized, was condemned by the village building inspector Dan Pollan on September 19. As a result, the Historical Preservation Commission was precluded from any further review.

According to the village code, the commission can nominate a building, at which point the Village Board of Trustees is supposed to hold a public hearing and, within 90 days, decide whether or not to designate the building as a landmark, which would require the commission’s approval for any “repair, exterior alteration, removal or demolition” of that landmark.

Mayor Trent said that the lapse was likely an administrative error, as word doesn’t seem to have made it to the trustees, who had not begun the public hearing process – although the motel is listed on the commission’s website. He told the Journal he’s spoken to Jeffrey Spade, chair of the historical commission, and that “there is definitely room for improvement on our end about making sure we are fully aware of all the historically designated properties in the Village.” He said he plans to attend the commission’s February meeting.

Still, considering the obvious deterioration of the structure, Pollan said that demolition may have been the only option, especially because the roof was collapsing. Because asbestos was present in the structure, the demolition had to be conducted using special safeguards, including transferring material to dumpsters sealed with hazardous waste bags.

The ultimate cost of the demolition was around $300,000 and all waste, debris, and soil was removed from the site in those sealed dumpsters.

Pollan said, “Everything was done by the book. I visited the site several times during the demolition.”

And so, what comes next? The new owners believe, and many in the village agree, that the site offers a major opportunity.

“I walked the property this past summer with another group of potential investors and was really dismayed to see the rot and decay that had affected even the upper building’s structure,” Trent said. “The new owners have certainly taken rapid and impressive steps to turn that blighted property around. I’m hopeful that something good will come out of it.”

“In the next few years we think this property, along with others at the south end of the village along Route 209,” a spokesperson for the Shawangunk Ridgeline Terrace LLC said, “can be redeveloped into a whole new gateway. The possibilities are endless and exciting.”

The properties around the Terrace are in flux, as well. The Ellenville Fire Department has purchased property just down the road. Old bungalows are being removed and the fire department envisions building a large, centralize firehouse for its equipment, bringing together the members of the three fire companies that make up the department.

Across the road from that property is the now empty 613 Automotive lot where a car dealership stood, before it burned down in 2019. There is also the former Chinese restaurant building next to the Mobil gas station right at the southern edge of the village. The Eastgate Group had planned to establish a synagogue and school on that lot, but the project fizzled out in the spring of 2024 when it was turned down by the planning board on safety grounds because of the possibility of people crossing Route 209.

We reached out to several members of the Ellenville/Wawarsing Historical Preservation Commission, but they declined to comment.