A sign has sprouted on Route 209 just south of Ellenville offering the 550-acre Nevele property for sale. Calls to the number listed go to a phone mailbox and so far have not been returned.

The phone number belongs to iStar Financial, the firm that has been holding the deed to the property for almost a decade.

Michael Treanor, who has been working to secure finance for a sports park on the property, said, “I haven’t given up. I was even hoping that today might see approval of funds for our project. But I don’t know what is going to happen.”

Treanor did touch on a major concern. “I have heard that iStar is talking now to another group. But I will continue fighting for the sports park project.”

iStar is the brainchild of financier Jay Sugarman, and has recently become focused on ground leases. iStar announced this year that it would sell almost $500 million in assets over the next two years to grow that business.

Almost two years ago, iStar auctioned off the Nevele property and it was thought that Michael Treanor and his backers had secured it. Machinery was due to begin work in the spring of 2018. Unfortunately, it developed that some fraction of the investment finance that Treanor was depending on has been hung up in the compliance system now required to establish the provenance of large sums of money moving through the global financial system, thanks to the amended and reauthorized US Patriot Act of 2003. Thus, the Nevele remains in the hands of iStar, at least for the moment.

Issues with the property include the expenses of clearing away the old buildings, mitigating hazardous materials within them and taking them to landfills. That process has become more expensive with time and may have an impact on the property’s sale value.

Treanor said, “I’m not giving up the fight. Ellenville and the Catskills are hot! And getting hotter. I want to be a big part of that. Also, we’re ready to go. Anybody else coming in would take a year or two to get up to speed.”

This is a developing story.