JNS
The 1,029-acre former Jewish vacation resort, which closed in 1986 and inspired the film “Dirty Dancing,” will feature new golf, equestrian, hospitality, residential and wellness facilities.
A Florida-based real estate developer plans to transform the former Grossinger’s resort in New York’s Catskill Mountains into a year-round resort and residential community.
PPG Development, founded and led by Ari Pearl, purchased the 1,029-acre property in Liberty, N.Y., for $14.75 million in June 2025. The company said the redevelopment will combine hospitality, golf, equestrian facilities, wellness, dining, recreation and luxury residences.
The plans call for restoring Grossinger’s Big G golf course and adding a second golf course, a 100-room hotel, about 175 private residences, a polo and equestrian center, restaurants, a spa and wellness facilities, a sports complex and other recreational amenities "within one thoughtfully planned destination," the firm stated.
PPG stated that Grossinger's is "being reimagined as a premier year-round resort and residential community in the heart of the Catskills."
The original Grossinger’s was a landmark of the Borscht Belt, the network of Jewish resorts that flourished in the Catskills during the 20th century. The Grossinger family began taking in visitors around 1914 and purchased the larger property that became the resort in 1919. The resort eventually became one of the region's most prominent Jewish vacation destinations before closing in 1986.
Elaine Grossinger Etess, a third-generation member of the family who helped run the resort with her brother, Paul, after their mother’s death in 1972, died in January at 98.
Grossinger’s is widely cited as an inspiration for the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing,” although the movie was filmed in Virginia and North Carolina.
The resort’s history was also chronicled in the documentary “We Met at Grossinger’s,” directed by Paula Eiselt, which explores Grossinger’s and the broader history of the Jewish Catskills. The film premiered at DOC NYC in 2025.
