By
- Samantha House | shouse@syracuse.com
A long-vacant school building in a quiet corner of Upstate New York could get new life as a sprawling resort with three restaurants
Copake, a tiny Catskills town minutes from the Massachusetts border, is considering a proposal to transform the historic Roeliff Jansen Central School into a hotel and wellness resort
Roe Jan Resort LLC is seeking a special use permit to revamp the 41-acre property at 9065 Route 22 in Copake, 47 miles southeast of Albany. Under the proposal, crews would renovate the old brick schoolhouse into a hotel with 97 rooms; build new standalone lodges and cabins; and add a variety of entertainment facilities
The Roeliff Jansen Central School, built to hold 600 students, opened in 1933 on rural State Route 22 The building has been vacant since 1999, when the school moved to Taconic Hills Central School District’s Craryville campus, The New Pine Plains Herald reported
Roe Jan Resort LLC’s vision plans to make the long-abandoned property a bustling destination
Property plans filed with the Town of Copake state the proposed Roeliff Jansen Hotel and Wellness Resort would include:
- three restaurants (one fine-dining spot, a cafe and “wellness” grill);
- a 400-seat theater;
- two bars (one cocktail bar, one taproom);
- spa facilities;
- a gym, pilates studio and yoga studio;
- a farm store with a greenhouse;
- a bakery and ice cream shop;
- and pools, hot tubs, saunas, tennis and pickleball courts.
Wellness retreats are becoming increasingly popular across the world. According to the BBC, the Global Wellness Institute considers wellness tourism a growing part of the $6.8 trillion industry
Upstate New York is already home to several award-winning wellness resorts and spas. That includes Inns of Aurora Resort & Spa in Aurora, a lakeside Central New York village named America’s best small spa and wellness town
The review of Roe Jan Resort LLC’s plan is expected to take months, Zoning Board Chair Jon Strom said
On July 12, about 100 people attended a public hearing held by the Copake Zoning Board of Appeals about the project
Some residents, including a former teacher at Roeliff Jansen, shared concerns about the project — ranging from potential environmental impacts on a nearby stream to the influx of new people the resort would bring to the pastoral area, The New Pine Plains Herald reported
For others, the idea of reviving the crumbling school sparked hope for an economic revival
“People move out of here. We don’t have a school or anything else because we don’t have jobs,” one woman said, according to the newspaper. “This would provide jobs for people. It would be wonderful. So many people are sickened by the deterioration of a beloved school that we all went to.”
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