Belleayre Resorts at Catskill Park

[Joe D]

New resort coming to the Ulster Catskills

By Paul Brooksand Jeremiah Horrigan
Times Herald-Record
September 05, 2007

Highmount - Governor Eliot Spitzer today announced an agreement on a $400 million deal that will bring a resort complex next to the state-owned Belleayre Ski Resort in the Catskills while creating 1,200 acres of “forever wild” protected nearby land.
The agreement ends a seven-year regulatory battle between developer Dean Gitter’s Crossroad Ventures LLC and a number of environmental groups. Under terms of the agreement, the eight-year construction period could begin at the end of next year.
Spitzer said the project will simultaneously revitalize the region’s economy with 450 new, full-time permanent jobs and 1,800 construction jobs while protecting the environment through reliance on green buildings, watershed protection measures and land preservation.
Spitzer praised “all the parties who came to the table and accomplished great things for the Catskills. Their hard work illustrates that environmental protection and sustainable economic development can go hand in hand.”
The new resort will be built on the border of Ulster and Delaware counties in the towns of Shandaken and Middletown. It is located in an environmentally sensitive area of the New York City watershed in the central Catskill Mountains. The project includes two hotels, 259 lodging units, a conference center, spa and organic golf course. The land is adjacent to the state-owned Belleayre Mountain Ski Center and will feature ski-in/ski-out recreational opportunities.
Key components of the agreement include:
●State acquisition of 1,216 acres of land on the Big Indian Plateau to be added to the State Forest Preserve through a purchase negotiated by the Trust for Public Land. The Big Indian Wilderness Area and the adjoining Slide Mountain Wilderness Area, together make up the largest contiguous tract of wilderness in the Catskill Park;
●State acquisition of 78 acres at the former Highmount Ski Center to be integrated into a westward expansion of the state-owned Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, and a NYC Watershed conservation easement on 200 acres of nearby lands;
●Clustered development approach that reduces the total number of acres to be disturbed from 573 acres to 273 acres – a 52% reduction;

●Construction of environmentally sound green buildings that meet specifications set forth by the US Green Building Council. The buildings will obtain certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program;