Ulster County receives $1.6 million for hotel restorations

KINGSTON, N.Y. (NEWS10)-- Ulster County has been awarded a $1.6 million grant from New York State for a restoration project in the hamlet of Pine Hill. The Restore NY grant will go toward revamping the Wellington Hotel into a productive use space, to create housing units, a café and a food market for the town.

In 2022, Wellington Blueberry LLC raised a large amount of equity to purchase and start the revamp process. According to the county, returning the 12,000 square foot hotel to a usable space is a priority for the community.

"With most of Shandaken’s land publicly owned, this is just one example of the many things the Town and the community are doing right now to show that appropriate scale-development is possible here," Jan Jaffe, president of the Wellington LLC board and volunteer community engagement coordinator for Shandaken, said in a statement. "It’s delicate work, hard work and mostly volunteer work. This award gets the Wellington closer to its goal of increasing Shandaken's affordable housing stock by almost 3 percent with 10 affordable housing units and a market. It demonstrates that Ulster County and New York State back the power of a small town to make a big impact."

After becoming part of the National Registry of Historic Places in 2002, the hotel became part of Pine Hill's Historic District but the property was unkept. Members of the community and Wellington Blueberry LLC held clean up days and invested almost $200,000 in structural reports and stabilization repairs. According to the county, the grant will help them restore a community asset.

"As a county government, we are committed to helping our Catskills communities thrive, and the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the beloved Wellington Hotel will restore this historic building as an economic and community anchor while providing much needed workforce housing," Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger said in a statement. "I want to thank Governor Hochul and Empire State Development for this award, and the team at Ulster County Economic Development for its work with the Shandaken community on this successful application. I also want to congratulate the Town of Shandaken and Jan Jaffee and Wellington Blueberry LLC for their visionary plan for this building and their commitment to making it happen."

Other Ulster County areas received grants as well. Additional grants were given to the City of Kingston for the Kingston Standard Brewing Company and the Village of New Paltz for the Ann Oliver House.