CATSKILL - Colin DeVries follows up on last weekend's report about an accepted bid out of auction for the closed-down and bankrupt Friar Tuck Inn in Kiskatom with a report in today's Daily Mail that notes sources connected to the auction are now saying that a binding deal has not yet been made.

Michael Shaughnessy, executive vice president of Ulster Savings Bank, said Wednesday that the potential buyer had 15 days from the close of auction to decide on the purchase.

“We’re still waiting,” he said during a phone interview yesterday noting that more details could emerge about the potential purchaser by Monday, Dec. 6.



Though a single bid of $2,580,000 was declared the winner after the auction closed Nov. 18, multiple groups are still “vying” for the hotel, according to auction firm Jones Lang LaSalle. Mark Von Dwingelo, auctioneer of Jones Lang LaSalle, said there was “a ton of interest” and that there was no firm deadline to close the deal, though the auction terms call for closing within 30 days of bidding.

Among the groups interested, Von Dwingelo confirmed local speculation that a “religious-oriented” group was among the prospective buyers. It was originally reported the prospective buyer was a real estate investment group. The auction did not include the contiguous timeshare properties currently involved in a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding.

The Friar Tuck resort, which became a popular regional resort after its founding in 1971, has been in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings since spring 2009. The bank repossessed the property in April following a failed Chapter 11 reorganization process.

The $2.5 million bid will result in a loss for Ulster Savings Bank, Shaughnessy said. More than $3.2 million in mortgage debt to Ulster Savings Bank was cited in bankruptcy court filings.

DeVries adds that a court-ordered live bankruptcy auction held in November 2009 yielded only a phoned-in $4.5 million bid from Caterpillar Lawn Service, Inc., an Oklahoma City entity with a shaky tax history and little-known assets. Owner of that Oklahoma business, Joseph Abbo, a residential real estate agent, said he was interested in getting into the Northeast resort business but could not come up with the millions of dollars he promised. The deal, orchestrated by local real estate company Win Morrison Realty, eventually failed after weeks of negotiations.

Similar efforts to sell the Nevele Hotel outside of the Ulster County village of Ellenville have been similarly sent back into limbo in recent years, but usually because of legal, zoning and facilities problems that arise during closings.

And efforts to sell a number of larger hotels in Sullivan County have ended up nowhere as buyers drop following acceptance f their bids.

For more on this story in the Daily Mail, click HERE.