Ulster County has received a $1.6 million Empire State Development grant for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the historic 12,000-square-foot Wellington Hotel at 310 Main Street in the hamlet of Pine Hill in the Town of Shandaken. Being developed by RUPCO, the project will create ten affordable residential units, a café, and a food market.
Once called “the Saratoga of the Catskills,” Pine Hill is a historic, two-square-mile unincorporated hamlet with a year-round population of 275. In December 2022, Wellington Blueberry, a multi-member local LLC representing a diverse array of the Pine Hill community, purchased the three-story Italianate structure on almost an acre built in 1882. Other preserved features include a wide wrap-around porch, parquet floors, an elegant staircase, and historic paneled doors and woodwork.
In 2002, the property was added to the National Registry of Historic Places. Neglected for decades, the now-142-year-old former hotel became a source of blight on Main Street. The LLC further invested almost $200,000 in soft costs, including architectural drawings, structural reports, and minor stabilization repairs.
“I’m so proud of the hard work and recognition the Wellington community has brought to the Town of Shandaken and Pine Hill,” said town supervisor Peter DiSclafani. “This project is fantastic!”
“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,” said Jan Jaffe, president of the Wellington LLC board and volunteer community engagement coordinator for Shandaken.
“It’s delicate work, hard work and mostly volunteer work,” Jaffe said. “This award gets the Wellington closer to its goal of increasing Shandaken’s affordable housing stock by almost three percent, with ten 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.”
RUPCO CEO Kevin O’Connor termed the project “a fabulous opportunity,” to repurpose the abandoned building to provide workforce housing at the foot of Belleayre Mountain,” he said. “We are grateful to governor Kathy Hochul for her leadership on the importance of housing, including rural areas, and providing Restore New York funds to support the project,” he said.
Joshua Stratton-Rayner, county economic development deputy director, was optimistic this Pine Hill project would lead to others. “The preservation and adaptive reuse of this historic property that anchors the Pine Hill corridor will add needed affordable housing density in a place with the infrastructure to support it, and the daytime commercial presence to service locals and visitors alike,” he said. “We anticipate that this will catalyze further successes for the citizens of Shandaken.”
Ulster County is undertaking a rail-trail project which will connect with Pine Hill.
The Empire State Restore New York Communities Initiative provides financial assistance to municipalities for revitalizing commercial and residential properties. It aims to eliminate blight, grow local housing, encourage community growth and revitalization, and boost local economies by revitalizing properties and increasing the local tax base.
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