Holland Sporting Club Buildings to Be Demolished This Week

A sense of relief is what a group of Mohegan Lake residents will feel when the deteriorating buildings of the  on Horton Road in Mohegan Lake are demolished this week. 

Yorktown supervisor Michael Grace said he anticipated the demolition process would begin last week, but due to an , the demolition had to be delayed to this week. He said the process is expected to take three to four days in total. 

But Patrick Cumiskey, a construction project manager and a father of three children who wakes up to an eyesore every day, said he would believe it only when he sees it. 

"I'm optimistic to an extent," said Cumiskey, whose Horton Drive home is located right across the street from the abandoned 14-acre lakeside property.

The property has been deteriorating for years and the buildings have been subject to graffiti and vandalism. Cumiskey said he has seen teens wandering through the property. He has also warned town board members about the dangers of teens possibly falling through floors as they explore the buildings.

Other residents who live in the area have also spoken up. They've asked the town to find a solution for the property. Last year, they threatened to sue and  possibly hundreds of its own codes as well as state codes, such as keeping yards, courts, and vacant lots free of physical hazards; and maintaining all exterior property and premises. 

The deteriorating town-owned property has been sitting on the  for more than a year, but now the buildings are a few days from being gone forever. 

The cost of the demolition and the asbestos removal is estimated to be $125,000. The final cost will be known after the construction material is disposed of in dumpsters and the tipping fees are taken into account, Grace said. About 40 dumpsters will be needed for the project.

"It's always good to get something off your plate," Grace said of the project. "It's getting done."

Cumiskey said he believes the delay of the project was because of the town's "fear of the unknown" and the thought the project could have cost millions of dollars. But he volunteered to do researched and told town board members the demolition and asbestos removal should cost no more than $250,000.

The town has  in-house or hire an outside contractor. In April 2011, the town  to knock down the 11 buildings on site.

But now, the demolition work will be performed by the town's highway department and through an asbestos removal contractor for a total of approximately $125,000. 

In May, town board members approved a $7,200 change order in the Holland Sporting Club asbestos abatement project because the roof of one of the buildings had collapsed, which required additional work. That amounted to a total of about $5,000 extra needed for the project, Grace said. 

The Holland Sporting Club was once an exclusive posh summer resort and weekend getaway. Now the 14-acre lakeside property on Mohegan Lake, located on a heavily wooded parcel of land, is not maintained, beer cans, glass and debris are scattered about. Graffiti is written all over the buildings by people making their way in despite the "" signs. 

The Club dates back to the 1920s, when the property had a hotel, cottages and two clay tennis courts, according to records, on 1,000 feet of lake frontage. In 1915 the property was a resort for the wealthy, called Rock Hill Lodge, and eventually it became one of the last resort hotels in Westchester, housing more than 250 vacationers.

As far as what the use of the Holland Sporting Club property would be after the demolition, Grace said he has "a lot of ideas," but he would like to get the input of the residents in the neighborhood first. 

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