KINGSTON >> The developer of the proposed Nevele Resort, Casino and Spa has anted up the $1 million fee required to make Nevele-R LLC an official applicant for one of four casino licenses to be awarded in the state.
Also, Ulster County Executive Michael Hein on Tuesday signed legislation unanimously adopted by the county Legislature backing the proposed development of a $420 million casino at the former Nevele resort in Wawarsing, signaling the county’s backing of the project.
And to make sure the state Gaming Commission’s siting board understands just how much local backing the Nevele proposal has in Ulster County, Hein also announced the creation of a county Gaming and Economic Development Alliance to advocate for the project.
“The Ulster County Gaming and Economic Development Alliance will serve as a single and unified voice for advancing the Nevele project here in Ellenville,” Hein said during a press conference Tuesday attended by several members of the alliance.
Hein said the Nevele project, expected to bring more than 1,500 construction jobs and more than 4,000 permanent jobs to the community, would be an enormous economic boon to an area that has struggled with high unemployment for decades.
“We’re taking about ending unemployment in Ellenville and Wawarsing in our lifetime,” Hein said. “It’s astounding.”
The 20-member alliance includes a cross-section of community members, including Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce President Ward Todd, Family of Woodstock Executive Director Michael Berg, Rabbi Yitzchok Hecht of Congregation Agudas Achim in Kingston and Wawarsing Supervisor Leonard Distel, as well as county legislators and other business leaders.
“I’m asking each and every one of you to be an ambassador,” he said.
The potential economic impact and community support are key components in the consideration of awarding casino licenses, said Michael Treanor, the chief executive officer of Nevele-R LLC, which wants to convert the former Nevele into a complex comprising a 70,000-square-foot, meeting spaces, restaurants, a ballroom, hotel rooms, a cabaret lounge, a nightclub, stables, a golf course and other amenities. The Nevele, once a popular Borscht Belt resort, has been closed since the summer of 2009.
By posting the $1 million, Nevele-R LLC will have a seat at the table for the April 30 mandatory bidders conference.
Final applications — which Treanor said, in the Nevele’s case, exceeds 15,000 pages — must be submitted by June 30, and to be considered, applicants must be able to demonstrate the ability to have the casino up and running within 24 months after the Casino Selection Board announces the four sites.
In November, voters approved a state constitutional amendment allowing four non-Indian, Las Vegas-style casinos in three regions of upstate New York: the Hudson Valley/Catskills, where the Nevele is located; the Southern Tier, near Binghamton; and the Albany-Saratoga area. Local officials expect the Hudson Valley/Catskills are to get two of the licenses.
The Nevele’s casino proposal is the only one in Ulster County; there are about a half dozen proposals for casinos in Orange and Sullivan counties.