Hotel builders drop request for tax relief

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. » Developers of the Woodstock Way, a planned 23-unit hotel, have dropped their plan to seek tax breaks from the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, co-developer Ryan Giuliani said he and partner Jesse Halliburton did not want to be at odds with town residents over the tax issue.

“At the end of the day, when we weighed the pros and cons of receiving the IDA’s assistance, being harmonious with our community and our town leaders was more important to us than getting a financial break,” Giuliani said.

“When you really weighed out the money that was saved over a 10year period of time versus having this mistrust between us and our board members and a small portion of the community, it just didn’t make sense,” he said. “We thought that was not our goal. When we applied for it, we were not expecting the reaction that we got from it, and our goal is to become part of the community.”

Woodstock Way initially sought to have $305,338 in property taxes waived under a proposed paymentin-lieu-of-taxes agreement for a 2.4-acre parcel that runs along both sides of Tannery Brook.

The property currently pays $17,671 in property taxes; the application sought to have the amount unchanged for three years, then increased by only 25 percent of the improved value for two years, followed by a five-year period in which payments would amount to 50 percent of the improved value.

“We felt that the IDA process was a good one, but our ultimate goal is to have Woodstock Way become a major piece in the fabric of Woodstock for decades to come,” Giuliani said.

The developers will lose the $500 application fee that was paid to the agency, as well as the amount they paid in attorneys’ fees to prepare the paperwork.

“I don’t think that should be the focus,” Halliburton said. “We have a project that we think is going to be great for Woodstock. We’re very proud of it and we’re very proud to continue the construction on it.”

Work on the project has continued through the winter, with the first rooms anticipated to be ready in August and the project completed a year later.

“We’re working very diligently to make that opening earlier,” Giuliani said.