{"id":315503,"date":"2024-03-27T08:28:58","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T13:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=315503"},"modified":"2024-03-27T11:20:41","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T16:20:41","slug":"blaze-damages-new-yorks-nevele-hotel-abandoned-resort-once-was-proposed-as-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/blaze-damages-new-yorks-nevele-hotel-abandoned-resort-once-was-proposed-as-casino\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevele Hotel, Abandoned Resort Once Proposed as Casino, Damaged in Blaze"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York State\u2019s<\/a> Nevele Grand Hotel, a former thriving resort that’s now shuttered<\/a> and plagued by decay, was the scene of a recent fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Fire
A fire at the Nevele Grand Hotel, pictured above. The cause of the recent blaze is under investigation. (Image: News 12<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On March 19, the Winter Lodge building at the Nevele caught ablaze. Local officials continue to seek the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n

Thanks to firefighters, flames didn’t spread to the main high-rise building on the 463-acre property in Wawarsing, New York. But the Winter Lodge was destroyed.<\/p>\n

The whole building was fully involved,\u201d<\/strong> Everett Erichsen, director of Ulster County Emergency Services, told News 12<\/em> . \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate. We are going to be investigating.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Nevele opened in 1901 and closed in 2009. In its heyday, the Nevele had 430 rooms, two golf courses, an ice-skating rink, swimming pools, and boasted some of the biggest names in show business as headliners.<\/p>\n

Casino Proposal<\/h2>\n

After it closed, the Nevele was pitched as a gaming property with Las Vegas-style gambling. But nearby Resorts World Catskills<\/a> in Monticello, New York, was granted the coveted license by state officials in 2014.<\/p>\n

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Recently, developers have proposed the Nevele be turned into a sports complex or once again become a hotel, according to the Middletown Times Herald-Record<\/em>. So far, the various proposals have failed to move forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last October, the Nevele was sold for $5 million to an entity called 1100 Arrow LLC. The Nevele remains vacant, generating many memories of a bygone era.<\/p>\n

“The Nevele, it really has a special part in everyone\u2019s heart,\u201d Barbara Hoff, a local resident, told the JTA<\/em>, a Jewish news agency. \u201cEveryone worked everywhere, but the Nevele really was the largest. It was the hotel. The one with the TV commercials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple Fires<\/h2>\n

The Nevele fire follows other blazes at nearby abandoned hotels in the Catskill Mountain region over the past two years. They were each investigated by fire officials.<\/p>\n

In August 2022, a large building burned at the Grossinger\u2019s Catskills Resort Hotel. Legend has it the hotel was the inspiration for the Dirty Dancing<\/em>\u00a0movie.<\/p>\n

Last June, it took firefighters six hours to extinguish a blaze at the Pines Resort Hotel. The following month, the Homowack Lodge caught fire twice in the same week.<\/p>\n

Many of these vacant properties have been plagued by trespassers. No evidence has indicated that trespassers caused the fires, however.<\/p>\n

Likewise, no evidence has been presented that any of these fires were purposely set, though posts on social media sites theorize they could have been cases of arson<\/a> in an attempt to collect insurance money.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently, Ellenville Fire District Chief George Budd called the conspiracy theories \u201cslanderous remarks,\u201d according to the New York Jewish Week<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He confirmed that the hotels in the region were once popular with their mostly Jewish<\/a> guests, giving the region the nickname of the \u201cBorscht Belt,\u201d a reference to the food many Jewish guests ate while staying at the hotels.<\/p>\n

The Jewish community should not be bashed over these Borscht Belt fires,\u201d<\/strong> Budd added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some posts have nefariously claimed that Jewish property owners purposely set fire to empty buildings, calling it \u201cJewish lightning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat term, \u2018Jewish lightning,\u2019 it\u2019s a horrible term and I\u2019ve seen Borscht Belters throw it out there in the past few days on Facebook groups and it bothers me so much,\u201d Marisa Scheinfeld, a photographer who has lived in the region, was quoted by the JTA<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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