Some prime commercial properties in Gardiner languish on slow real estate market

Outside the hamlet, rumors of the impending demise of the TuthillHouse at the Mill Restaurant appear to be unfounded. “Currently the Tuthilltown [Spirits] Distillery next door is leasing the restaurant from Toby and Joe Gabriello. They’re still the owners of the building — for now,” says Audra Norris, who was recently hired by the distillery to act as the restaurant’s general manager. In deference to negotiations still in progress, Norris is reluctant to be very specific about her employers’ intent to reacquire the property, which is adjacent to and was formerly a part of the Tuthilltown Spirits parcel; but she suggests that a lease with option to buy is one arrangement currently under consideration. “We’re looking forward to making it a joint venture with the distillery, so that visitors will think of them as not two separate destinations,” she says.

Although operation of the restaurant changed hands “effective July 17,” there was no interruption in service, and restaurant patrons would be hard-pressed to notice any major difference. “The menu is substantially the same, and the hours are the same for now.” The cuisine is still primarily “American/Italian right now. That was their specialty, the Gabriellos.”

But changes are in the offing, although Norris is as yet unwilling to tip her hand about what the restaurant’s new “specialty” might be. “We’re working on the service; we’re working on the menu,” she says. “We’re revamping the wine list and the cocktails list.” If the next iteration of the TuthillHouse is intended to showcase the products of the distillery next door, which has been prioritizing the use of locally sourced farm products in its production of spirits, then it may be reasonable to anticipate more of an emphasis on farm-to-table cuisine in the future — not to mention plenty of dishes with Tuthilltown Spirits beverages as an ingredient.

Another restaurant/tavern operation outside the Gardiner hamlet has remained dark since this past spring, with no prospects of reopening in the foreseeable future: the Gold Fox at Ireland Corners, previously known as Benson’s. “It’s closed, and that’s kind of it,” says new owner Bill Richards, proprietor of Skydive the Ranch on Sand Hill Road. “I don’t have any plans for it, to tell you the truth. I’ll probably sell it. I don’t want to run a restaurant.”

Richards actually already owns two eating-and-drinking establishments not too far away from Gardiner: Nu-CAVU, located at the Wallkill Airport and the Osiris Country Club in Walden, “just over the border in Orange County.” But he leases those buildings out to others to operate, and feels that the local financial and political climate is not hospitable to the establishment of new bar/restaurants. “The restaurant business is in the dumps, and the bar business is not so good… You can’t make money on food because it spoils. You’ve got to make it on booze.”

Richards blames the bankruptcy of the Gold Fox’s previous owners on excessive vigilance by local and state police against drunken driving, which he regards as motivated more by a desire to rack up overtime and increase court income from fines than by genuine concern for public safety. “The police are predatory on your clientele. They wait outside the parking lot until people leave, pull people over randomly and give them breathalyzer tests. I’m not talking about people getting really drunk; people don’t go out anymore and have a glass of wine, for fear of losing their license.”

Like a number of other parcels in Gardiner owned by Richards, the acquisition of the Gold Fox came about simply because it was available at a bargain price. “I went to the judgment auction because I was just interested in seeing who was going to buy it…. Nobody showed up except me, bidding against the bank. So I got it for a good price.”

Richards owns a number of other properties in Gardiner that remain undeveloped, similarly acquired at distress sales or when the real estate market was soft. “I own six other houses that are vacant. I hold onto them because I bought them at the right amount. They were cheap…. Prices now are much higher, but they haven’t been reassessed since.” He notes that the town’s last revaluation took place shortly after a real estate boom, and argues that current tax rates — particularly school taxes — reflect an unrealistic picture of a property’s actual value. As a result, he says, properties aren’t turning over at the rate that they should be. “I can afford it, but nobody wants to pay these crazy taxes,” he says. The Gardiner Town Board voted last September to hire consultant Michael Dunham to conduct the long-overdue assessment revaluation, and that process is currently underway.

Of the many vacant buildings that Bill Richards has stockpiled awaiting more propitious times, the one that Gardinerites seem to notice most is a large building on Main Street in the hamlet, just west of Station Square. “It’s been unoccupied for at least eight or ten years,” he estimates. “Before I owned it, it had four garage bays facing Station Square, which the previous owner had leased out. There’s also a three-bedroom house, which is completely gutted inside.” Plan after plan to do something with the building fell through for financial reasons, he says: “A bunch of people had ideas, but couldn’t afford to renovate it. A couple wanted to put in a restaurant but couldn’t get the permits.”

So if there are any entrepreneurs out there who want to capitalize on the burgeoning tourism economy in Ulster County by opening a new restaurant, there are at least three buildings with highly visible locations in the Town of Gardiner awaiting the realization of your vision. Just plan on having a comfortable enough financial cushion to get through a couple of years in the red. And you might want to think about providing a shuttle service for customers who have had one drink too many.