Aug. 02–The Bushkill Inn and Conference Center, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in May, is expected to change ownership by the end of the year.
General Manager Roger Taylor said he expects a major, unnamed real estate investor from the New York area with no prior experience in the hospitality business to submit a plan in two weeks to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, New Jersey, for approval.
Taylor said the process would be completed in six months, around the time that the inn would exit Chapter 11.
“It’s all moving along normally,” he said. “We’ve filed for financial reorganization to get out of bankruptcy because of an issue with one of the owners with another business under that owner that has had some financial issues,” which he said led to a shortage of available capital.
He said two other entities expressed interest in ownership, but the current owners were more familiar with this applicant.
He said the current ownership of Isaac Greenwald of Greenwald Caterers of Lakewood, New Jersey, and Nchemya Leiman “has dissolved” and that the parting was “amiable.”
“Chapter 11 was a way for us to seek a new owner and to reorganize the existing debt and to make sure the property stays operational in good upkeep,” he said.
Spruced up
Bushkill Inn had a grand reopening in September 2012.
The 167-acre property on Bushkill Falls Road was formerly known as Pocmont Resort. It closed in November 2009 and had been owned by the Artzt family for 63 years.
Once valued at $8.23 million, it was purchased for $2 million by a group of eight partners under the name Pocmont Properties LLC, the name under which Chapter 11 reorganization was filed after unpaid contractors filed with the courts to recover payments and back taxes accrued.
Taylor said those debts are being paid off. But one of them — Strausser’s Nature’s Helpers in East Stroudsburg — has not received its $29,700 balance, and it remains in litigation.
“Businesses understand the difficulties, because they go through some things themselves and have been very supportive and accommodating,” Taylor said.
The inn has 107 hotel and cabin rooms and is booked on weekends through August. Some 30 cabin rooms still need to be renovated, which Taylor said will be taken up by the new owner.
Bushkill Inn and Conference Center has a staff of more than 60, mostly from Pike and Monroe counties.
Brightened outlook
After what Taylor called a “flat” winter season when severe weather kept customers at home and “tremendously” spiked the inn’s heating, energy and snow removal expenses, and a “flat” July, Taylor said business picked up with a 20 percent improvement in August from a year ago and a “very promising September” with 16 percent increase in business projected compared to September 2013.
Unlike Fernwood Hotel and Conference Center a few miles south, which closed under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Taylor said that at Bushkill Inn it’s been “business as usual.” He said business from regular customers has not dropped because of the bankruptcy filing.
He said there “are no plans at the moment” to offer timeshares. But he said the new owner “will expand our sales force and define marketing strategy.”
He said the business plan would become “more family friendly” rather than appeal to affluent, upscale couples from the tri-state region.
The hotel continues to have dining throughout the week, with the Lounge offering dinners seven nights a week, and the Steakhouse opened for dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings.
There are indoor and outdoor pools, a spa by appointment only and on weekends, hiking trails, a lake with paddle boats, as well as tennis, basketball and volleyball courts and a horseshoe pit.
