The Pine Hill Arms and the Belleayre Lodge, two landmark hospitality properties central to Pine Hill’s identity, are under contract to be sold to Foster Supply Hospitality, the Sullivan County hotel and restaurant company founded by Sims Foster and Kirsten Harlow Foster.
“We’re in contract on the Pine Hill Arms and the Belleayre Lodge,” Sims Foster said on Thursday. “But as I’m sure you know, being in contract, I don’t own them. We still need to get to the closing table.”
The Pine Hill Arms, a Main Street inn built in 1882 and long regarded as the hamlet’s social anchor, hit the market last summer with an asking price of $675,000 after years of diminished activity. Together with the lodge, 11 cabins and studios about two miles from Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, the transaction would be valued at more than $2 million, according to Laura Warren, the Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty broker on the deal.
“It’ll be great for Pine Hill,” said John Glatt, an investigative journalist and true crime writer who has owned a home in nearby Highmount for more than two decades.
Local leaders have been deeply invested in the outcome of the sale, Warren said.
“People in the town were concerned that it did go to someone who wasn’t just going to buy it and let it limp along,” Warren said. “These properties mean a lot to the people of Pine Hill.”
Warren said she showed the Pine Hill Arms to about 40 prospective buyers before identifying Foster Supply as a potential steward. Yet the Arms alone wasn’t big enough for the level of investment the company typically undertakes.
“He actually got back to me and said, ‘Look, it’s great, but it’s just not big enough,’” she said.
That feedback prompted Warren to start conversations with the owners of the Belleayre Lodge, which wasn’t yet for sale. Combining the two properties created a scale that aligned with Foster Supply’s operating model, she said.
Gigi Loizzo, a co-owner of the Belleayre Lodge, said the property was not initially for sale, but circumstances aligned once Foster Supply expressed interest in the Pine Hill Arms.
“We weren’t planning on selling,” Loizzo said. “But when they were interested in the Arms, they needed more rooms, and as three partners it landed at the right time for us. We’re all in our 60s, and it felt like a good opportunity — not just for us, but for the town — to invest the time and money as a catalyst for what Pine Hill needs to be.”
Loizzo, 64, said she and her husband, Angel Molina, 66, along with their third business partner and longtime friend Brian Robinson, 60, have owned and operated the Belleayre Lodge for five years. Loizzo was appointed to the Olympic Regional Development Authority board in June, bringing her onto the state authority that operates Belleayre Mountain and other major recreational and tourism facilities.
Foster Supply operates four hotels and restaurants in Sullivan County and has an additional project under construction in Newburgh. Sims Foster, who grew up in Livingston Manor, where the company is based, said his caution in discussing details publicly reflects both the early stage of the deal and his familiarity with small-town dynamics.
While specific plans haven’t been completed, Foster said hospitality can help revitalize communities.
“Hospitality plays a really important role because you’re able to talk to a larger audience,” he said. “Hospitality, by its nature, creates an energy and a megaphone to talk about all the things that are around it. And that’s what we plan to do in Pine Hill.”
Local leaders said the pending sale represents an important signal for Pine Hill, the target of renewed investment in recent years, including the redevelopment of the former Wellington Hotel into affordable housing.
“During its heyday, the Pine Hill Arms was a beloved gathering place for locals and visitors,” said Jan Jaffe, a co-owner of the Wellington Hotel Project. “It’s good news for Pine Hill and all of Shandaken that an experienced hotel and restaurant team wants to bring it back to that role.”
Jaffe said Main Street property owners will strengthen their efforts to seek public support for renovations.
“Hopefully, this private sector vote of confidence will encourage the state to look favorably on our applications,” she said. “We are looking forward to welcoming and collaborating with the new Arms owners and anyone who wants to show a little love to our town.”
Warren said Foster Supply has indicated an intention to reopen the Pine Hill Arms as a hotel and return its restaurant and tavern to community-facing spaces. Plans won’t start until the sale closes, she said.
Noah Eckstein is the editor-in-chief of The Overlook. Send correspondence to noah@theoverlooknews.com.