Developer Buys Abandoned Hudson Valley Resort and Vows to Restore It to Its Glory Days

A developer hopes to restore the old magic to an abandoned Catskills resort that was once considered iconic.

The magnificent Nevele Grand Hotel (also known as the Nevele Country Club) in Ulster County, NY, was an important part of the postwar communities of summer hotels, resorts, and colonies that covered the Borscht Belt in the Catskills.

From the 1940s to the late 1970s, the Ulster and Sullivan County areas of upstate New York, about 90 minutes from NYC, were where millions of urbanites spent their summers swimming, dancing, and taking in entertainment, especially comedy routines.

“It was an affordable place for middle-class city dwellers to escape the oppressive heat of the city, have glamour, romance and fun,” Andrew Jacobspresident of the board of directors of the Catskills Borscht Belt Museum, tells Realtor.com®.

The Catskills—immortalized in films like “Dirty Dancing” and “A Walk on the Moon” and the Amazon Prime series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”—were a place of “desire and forbidden fruit” and laughter.

“It was the birthplace of comedy,” Jacobs said, noting that popular names are like that Jerry Seinfeld, Jerry Lewis, Joan Rivers, again Mel Brooks they all started in the Borscht Belt.

But the happy era came to a dramatic end with what Jacobs called the “3 A’s”—air conditioning, air travel, and assimilation.

AC meant that summers in the city were less oppressive; air travel to other tourist destinations such as Florida and Europe became more affordable; and the various groups that populated the resorts—mostly Jewish, but also Irish, Italian, and African American—became more integrated.

“Kids no longer wanted to spend their summer holidays with people of the same race,” explained Jacobs. “They wanted to integrate.”

A reimagining of the Nevele Hotel

Three OA’s said that the summer resorts of the Catskills began to close rapidly in the mid-1980s.

“Most of the big hotels are gone or in ruins,” explains Jacobs. “Of course it’s still there, but it’s just a big ruin, it’s really scary.”

But I hope it won’t be for long.

Real estate developer Somerset Partners is pouring $300 million into the 500-acre Nevele, with plans for a mixed-use community of townhouses, cottages and single-family homes, an 80-room boutique hotel, spa, restaurants, and recreation.

Founding partner Keith Rubenstein has a special connection to the hotel, having visited there with his family during the 1970s and ’80s. Rubenstein, who did not respond to requests for comment, sits on the board of trustees of the Borscht Belt Museum.

His bio states that he “led efforts to develop a high-end resort at the former Nevele Country Club” and his parents even visited the hotel.

“It was really an amazing place,” he recalled in an interview with The Times Union.

There, he learned to ski, snowboard, play tennis, basketball, and golf, and occasionally mingled with big names like Tom Seaverformer New York Mets pitcher.

“It has such a meaningful history, not only for me and my family but also for many families,” he said.

The Somerset project was recently granted critical environmental clearance from the Department of Environmental Conservation, and has an estimated completion time of three years, according to the source.

But there are challenges. A series of mysterious fires, two of which occurred in January, and one of which destroyed the resort’s main tower, pushed back the timeline.

The cause of the fire is still unknown but Rubenstein told the outlet that he suspects it was set on purpose as the abandoned buildings are a magnet for squatters, curiosities, photographers, and “paranormal investigators.”

“This is a shame because people enter this area illegally and it is almost impossible for people not to enter,” he said, adding that he has strengthened security there.

A rendering of the future development shows several low-rise, modern-style wooden buildings that fit well into the lush, rural landscape.

The development will “take advantage of the natural beauty and proximity to the city,” Jacobs said. “The setting is really nice and slightly improved.”

Local agent Fredericka Taylor Taylored Real Estate, who lives in Ulster County, agrees to restore the ruins of this place.

“The city and the local people would be happy to see that [area] it’s up, open, and running again,” he told Realtor.com. “I don’t think anybody’s against that.”

Taylor, who specializes in selling old campers, resorts, and bungalows in the Catskills and Hudson Valley, has a $2.5 million active listing on a Nevele mold property: The 94-acre former Brown’s Hotel, Borscht Belt resort that later became Grandview Condominiums before it burned down in 2012.

“There are always calls from people looking for camps, places to live, or summer communities, and builders looking for places with suitable land that will allow the development of residential areas,” he said.

“The Catskills are a wonderful place to raise your children and grow old or have a second home.”

Revitalizing the Catskills

Hotel Nevele won’t be the first crumbling icon of the Borscht Belt to get a makeover.

The site of the former Concorde Hotel is now Resorts World Catskills, a luxury resort, golf club, and casino. Brickman, once known as a “resort with humanity,” became a yoga retreat and ashram.

Some of the former icons of the Borscht Belt became Orthodox Jewish summer camps or year-round communities or luxury hotels.

And in 2025, Grossinger’s Resort in Sullivan County—famous for being the oft-cited inspiration for “Dirty Dancing”—was quietly sold to Florida-based PPG Development for $14.75 million. Although plans for the 1,100 acres have yet to be finalized, the buyer is focused on high-end resorts and golf clubs.

Jacobs says the Catskills—especially the traditional Borscht Belt resort—is ripe for a revival.

“There’s a longing for that more analog time,” he says. “There was fashion and good music, and people didn’t really care about the perceived simplicity of the era.”

The residential portion of the Nevele development—which will contain 40 or more single-family homes with floor plans from 3,000 to 5,000 square feet and about 80 townhouses—makes the plan somewhat unique in the area.

“This is the future of the Catskills,” Jacobs said. “It’s a secondary home area but that will also have community areas like a swimming pool and restaurants. It brings back the true tradition of the Catskills as a getaway, and fills a need.”

Taylor agrees that the Catskills may be on their way to their former glory—but in a modern sense. Rather than honeymoons and foxtrots, this place will be about high-end resorts and second-hand luxury homes.

“Nevele is an example of the re-emergence of these types of resorts that were so popular from the ’40s to the ’70s, but in a different way,” he says.