Will Cobleskill’s closed motel succumb to vandals before it’s sold?
Good question.
Vandals continue to pick away at the Inn of Cobleskill––formerly Rodeway, the Best Western, and long ago, Top of the Town––but the motel may eventually be sold.
That would be the latest step for the motel, once a go-to place for bowling, dining, weddings, banquets and gatherings.
Cobleskill Mayor Becky Terk said Noah Bank in New Jersey that holds the mortgage is foreclosing on Cobleskill Enterprises LLC. The bank has paid the back taxes but is owed $2.8 million, which may be the price when the bank auctions the motel.
“They may or may not take less,” Mayor Terk said.
An auction won’t happen right away, she added, and it may take months “or even a year” before it comes up on the block.
“I’d love to see a hotel there, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen,” Mayor Terk said.
Meanwhile, vandals are having their way with the building even though the ground floor windows are boarded shut and the doors are barred.
In his report to the village board last week, Codes Officer Mike Piccolo reported two break-ins in January. On the 10th, someone smashed a window on the back side and also threw items out of the second story. A second break-in occurred on the 28th.
“And they got it again yesterday,” Mr. Piccolo said Tuesday morning.
Those have been recurring issues for three years. In November 2018, Mr. Piccolo closed the Inn of Cobleskill for numerous code violations.
About a month later, firefighters extinguished a suspicious fire and determined that the cause was arson.
There have been regular break-ins since.
“It’s totally wrecked,” Mr. Piccolo said. “Windows are broken, walls have been knocked out, doors broken.”
Police Chief Jeff Brown said his officers patrol the motel several times a day and occasionally catch perpetrators.
Recently, he said, someone tried to start a fire, “but it didn’t catch.”
“It’s just a mess,” Chief Brown said. “It’s been a constant headache and it’s been such a hotspot for us.”
Mr. Piccolo said there’s been interest in buying the motel, but nothing’s materialized yet.
And although the inside is a catastrophe, there’s hope.
“Structurally, it’s fine,” Mr. Piccolo said. “But you’d have to gut it inside. You’d have to gut it anyway to bring it up to code.”