By Nathan Mayberg
SOUTH FALLSBURG — July 21, 2006 – After two years on the market, the Raleigh Hotel and nearby properties owned by Laurie Landon, daughter of the late Raleigh Hotel owner Mannie Halbert, were sold for an undisclosed amount on Tuesday.
The combined parcels listed in the deeds filed on Tuesday appear to total nearly $6 million for the Raliegh Hotel, the Heiden Hotel and nearby tracts of land in South Fallsburg.
The largest parcel, at 90 acres (including the Raleigh Hotel), sold for over $5.1 million – at full market value. The buyer, Ralhal LLC, is connected to Congregation Khal Bnei Zion Inc., out of Brooklyn, which is seeking to turn the hotel into a religious camp.
In addition, properties within the Town of Fallsburg and the Town of Thompson on Heiden Road, Thompsonville Road and Park House Road sold for about $700,000 more.
The 29-acre parcel on Heiden Road sold for $291,000 to Concord Estates Condominiums, which is connected to the same owners, said Landon.
About 8.6 acres in the Town of Thompson sold for $265,957 to Ralhal, LLC. More than 60 other acres were also sold.
Mendel Lerner, a representative of Congregation Khal Bnei Zion, indicated his clients would likely be attempting to go off the tax rolls with the camp at the hotel.
Town of Fallsburg Supervisor Steve Levine said he has not received an application to go tax-exempt yet, but he said the town could challenge the exemption if it doesn’t appear to comply with regulations. He said the town is in the midst of fighting some tax-exempt applications right now and has done so in the past, with no success.
Landon said she was happy to have sold the hotel without owing anybody money. Taxes owed on the land were paid after the closing on Tuesday, she said. Landon said her efforts to sell the hotel to somebody who would operate it as a hotel were unsuccessful. There was an application to the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency once to renovate the hotel by a potential buyer, but that fell through.
“I had to sell it to make a deal,” she said. “I wanted it to remain a hotel.”
A number of the workers from the Raleigh have moved on to Kutsher’s, while some have found work at Monticello Raceway, said Landon. The hotel closed after New Year’s and was preparing to reopen for Passover when it appeared a deal would go through. It was held up by an injunction from a former suitor.
Landon admitted that she never wanted to run the hotel and was looking forward to spending time with her family, which includes raising her two young children.