Holiday Mountain, a popular ski and amusement park in Sullivan County, intends to sell nearly half of its land to a developer for construction of a year-round resort hotel that might include an expansive indoor water park.

According to a letter written by the developer’s attorney, Walter Garigliano, Pine Brook Properties LLC recently signed a letter of intent to buy 62 acres from Holiday Mountain; almost half of the park’s 144-acre plot.

Garigliano was mum about details of the project when contacted yesterday. Craig Passante, owner of Holiday Mountain in the Town of Thompson, acknowledged the letter of intent to purchase his land, but said he didn’t know what it would be used for.

State and town officials familiar with the project said a Great Wolf Lodge is planned for the property. Great Wolf Lodge is a chain of resorts that includes large indoor water parks between 34,000 and 82,000 square feet. The water parks include winding slides, gigantic pools and treehouse water forts that are several stories high, the company’s Web site said.

“At any given time, our development team looks at a few dozen different sites,” said Great Wolf spokeswoman Jennifer Beranek, who would neither confirm nor deny that Sullivan County was being considered.

The multimillion-dollar lodges are designed to look like massive log cabins. They include themed restaurants, spas and hotel suites.

A stay at the Great Wolf Lodge costs roughly between $200 and $450 per night depending on the level of luxury, the company Web site said. The lodges are built and owned by Great Wolf Resorts, which made $148.6 million last year from its 10 locations. The nearest lodge is located in the Pocono Mountains and was opened in October 2005.

Garigliano said the planned resort would be built on a parcel of vacant land closest to Katrina Falls Road and would not alter Holiday Mountain’s ski area or amusement attractions.

Holiday Mountain, just off Exit 107 on Route 17, has been plagued by bad luck since Passante bought it from the town in 2002. Flooding in 2005 washed away video games and other equipment. The lack of snowfall last winter kept skiers at home.

Instead of depending on fickle Mother Nature, Great Wolf Lodge would bring steady, year-round customers to its indoor water park. Holiday Mountain could benefit during the winter, when overnight guests could slip from the indoor pool at the lodge to Holiday’s neighboring ski hill.

“No more six months hurry, six months worry,” town Councilman Bill Reiber said when told of the project. “It would be a year-round resort, and that’s what we need to get our resort industry back on track.”

Resort might require legislation
Because state and federal funds paid for land that was added to Holiday Mountain when the Town of Thompson owned it, home-rule legislation was passed by the state Legislature requiring that the park remain open for use by residents of the Town of Thompson. The 62-acre sale might require further state legislation to remove that restriction from the parcel that would be sold.

Town officials had a chance to support the project with a resolution this week, but they received information about it on the same night as their meeting and stalemated with a 2-2 vote. (Supervisor Tony Cellini is still recovering from stomach surgery.) A resolution from the town is needed to trigger action by the state. State Sen. John Bonacic and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther both said, through spokesmen, they would support the legislation if it gets to them before the legislative session ends June 22.

information from : www.recordonline.com

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 4:14 am and is filed under Real Estate, Resort. Tags: AIG development Great Wolf Lodge Oman Pocono Mountains Property Resort Resort Hotel restaurant Town Council Trigger Wolf Resorts . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.