By Jeanne Sager
KENOZA LAKE — September 20, 2002 – Talk about a Greek revival.
The Demetriades family has been rehabilitating hotels in the Hamptons for 15 years, and now they’re ready to move upstate.
And by upstate, they mean Sullivan County.
The Greek family purchased the Valley View House on Swiss Hill Road in Kenoza Lake last year, and contractors are hard at work inside the old hotel to get it ready for a spring opening.
According to Tommy Demetriades, who’s in charge of marketing for the new hotel, the family saw a raw quality in the old Valley View House.
And they’ve been looking upstate for two to three years, ever since the magazine editors and other bigwigs in Manhattan started shifting from the Hamptons (where the Demetriadeses own three hotels) to the Catskills.
“There’s hills and valleys,” Tommy Demetriades noted. “At one point, one place is hot, but we feel that upstate is going to pick up.
“And it already is.”
They settled on the Kenoza Lake property because of its location and its potential. The hotel, most recently a drug rehabilitation center, has been vacant for several years.
“There’s a tremendous value,” Demetriades explained. “In raw form, it’s an unbelievable property.”
The performing arts center under construction in nearby Bethel didn’t hurt their choice, Demetriades noted, but it wasn’t really the driving factor.
“I wouldn’t say it was the reason why,” he explained. “But obviously it’s going to help.”
The 90-room hotel is scheduled to open in the spring after some major renovation work, but Demetriades hopes to keep the main feel of the hotel alive.
Complete with a nightclub, catering hall and resort and spa resources, the new hotel will be open to anyone, but focused on a clientele that wants to spend a week or two relaxing in the Catskills.
All the rooms have been renovated, Demetriades said. The kitchen and lobby have seen extensive work, and even the old ballroom has received a fresh coat of paint and some touchups.
But, he said, they want to keep the old quality of the Valley View House alive for the people who come to visit.
“It has a charm about it,” he explained. “And I didn’t want to change it too much.”
The remainder of the hotel will open in stages after the main building throws open its doors this spring.
According to Demetriades, the family is looking at other properties in Sullivan County, but they hope to get this project off the ground before tackling another.