Concord Timeline
- 1935 – Russian immigrant Arthur Winarick took possession of The Ideal Plaza in Kiamesha Lake in settlement of a debt. This marks the beginning of what would become the Concord Resort Hotel.
- 1950s – With a reputation for sumptuous kosher dining and top entertainment, the hotel becomes one of the top vacation spots in the Northeast. Winarick's daughter, Clara, and her husband, Raymond Parker, take over the hotel operation. The hotel is passed on to Raymond's sons.
- 1960s – The decline of the Catskills resort industry takes hold, as city dwellers move out to air-conditioned homes in the suburbs, affordable air travel makes vacations to more exotic locations possible, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allows the Jewish clientele of the Catskills resorts to choose other, previously exclusive domestic resorts for their vacations.
- 1985 – With mounting debt, Grossinger's is sold for $9 million. Attempts to reopen it fail. It is later sold again in foreclosure.
- January 1997 – Albany lawmakers reject a casino referendum, which Concord owners were banking on heavily.
- February 1997 – Concord files for bankruptcy protection. Sullivan County, owed more than $8 million in taxes, is the resort's largest creditor.
- January 1999 – The hotel sells at a bankruptcy foreclosure auction for $10.25 million, to a partnership led by Joseph Murphy with Westchester developer Louis R. Cappelli as a silent partner. Cappelli later buys out Murphy.
- March 2000 – Cappelli and the publicly traded Reckson Strategic Venture Partners announce a plan to redevelop the Concord as a world-class resort.
- October 10, 2000 – Cappelli and his partners break ground and begin demolition.
- Reported by Concord Hotel: What It Looked Like Inside The Hotel in 2005: December 2004 – Concord sold by Reckson Strategic Venture Partners/Cappelli, which purchased it out of bankruptcy, to Empire Resorts. Empire owns Monticello Raceway as well as Mighty M Gaming, which operates the "racino" at the Monticello Raceway. It's been reported that Empire hopes to locate a casino at the Concord.
- January 2008 – Outside of the golf course, the resort remains an abandoned ruin.
- April 2008 – Demolition begins in the new Concord hotel / Racino. The $750 million project is expected to be completed in five years.
- May 2011 - Owner enters into a joint venture with Mohegan Sun casino to develop a new $600 million Concord resort.
Read more about this topic: Concord Resort Hotel
Famous quotes containing the word concord:
“We were hospitably entertained in Concord, New Hampshire, which we persisted in calling New Concord, as we had been wont, to distinguish it from our native town, from which we had been told that it was named and in part originally settled. This would have been the proper place to conclude our voyage, uniting Concord with Concord by these meandering rivers, but our boat was moored some miles below its port.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)