New City's Paramount Country Club pitches housing with pledge to preserve golf course

Owners of Paramount Country Club in New City are pushing a plan to create around 247 units of housing on the grounds of the club.

Applications for needed zoning permissions have not yet been filed. "We're getting the idea out there," said Steve Lapper, who represents Paramount.

The club is owned by the Mandelbaum family, a real estate interest based in New Jersey.

Lapper said the plan is not predetermined. "The preliminary plan is basically a suggestion," he said as he and a reporter tooled around the site in a golf cart. "It's inevitable there will be some changes."

And there's a sweetener for those approvals: Paramount has offered to preserve, through a deed restriction, roughly two-thirds of the 217-acre property, including its golf course. The housing would be on about 31 acres of the site. "This will ensure that it will remain undeveloped and protected as open space by preventing future development," its promotional material states.

Paramount has put up an informational website about the plan, Paramountandclarkstown.com , that is asking people to sign up to show their support. As of July 1, about 150 had signed up, many neighbors of the site, Lapper said.

No formal Paramount Country Club proposal to evaluate yet

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said that officials are aware of the plans and public campaign.

"However there is no formal proposal before the town to evaluate," the Republican supervisor said.

The project would require zone changes.

Current conservation zoning in the area would be for four-acre lots, town officials have said.

Clarkstown is the only town in Rockland that doesn't have a municipal golf course. In the early 2000s, the town of Clarkstown considered purchasing what was then-Dellwood Country Club but the plan didn’t advance. In the 1990s, Clarkstown bought property in Ramapo for $4.5 million purchase to build a municipal golf course one town over; Clarkstown later sold off the land.

Hoehmann said Paramount is important beyond New City.

"Years ago there was an effort to ensure the golf course was preserved," Hoehmann said. "It's historic in nature. We absolutely would want to ensure that the golf course is forever protected as the jewel that it is."

The plan: 'Country club lifestyle'

The development plan includes a mix of condominiums, townhouses and golf villas, or ranch-style standalone homes, on club grounds inside the golf course.

Homebuyers could be offered house membership and other membership packages that allow use of certain amenities with possible discounts, but membership in the club wouldn't be mandatory, Lapper said. A house membership usually means access to facilities but not the golf course.

The well-regarded golf course is just one of the club's amenities. There's a restaurant and catering, a full clubhouse and rental space for weddings and events, tennis courts and Olympic-sized pool. There’s also a playground, overnight accommodations, a rose garden and well-appointed grounds beyond the 243-acre golf course.

Lapper said the current country club membership is strong.

Development would take place primarily on 31 acres, most of which are now fallow. Historic main buildings like the clubhouse wouldn't be touched. "It's not a willy-nilly plan to build across all spaces," Lapper said.

The owners of the property have proposed to set aside units for first responders at significantly reduced cost to ensure affordable housing for EMS and firefighters. Lapper could not provide a number or ratio of units.

The developer also touts job creation and envisions at least $3 million more in town and school property tax revenues from the owners of the new dwellings. The covenant on development for the rest could lead to a move to get the club's taxes lowered.

There would be no age limit, like the 55-plus residences that Clarkstown has tried to garner with its Active Adult Residential Floating Zone. But, Lapper said, the units tend to have fewer bedrooms and the plan emphasizes the "country club lifestyle."

He called the project "age-targeted."

"The plan's not especially conducive for families," Lapper said.

'Risk' of future development in fast-growing Rockland

The specter of change, always an issue in fast-growing Rockland, hangs in the background. Paramount's website pitching the plan includes a section labeled “Prevent alternative development of the land.”

“There is a risk that the property is developed into something undesirable in the future,” the site states.

In 2004, another developer eyed the property for housing, but the deal fell through. Lorterdan Properties of Montclair, New Jersey, wanted to buy the club and then build houses on the course after the Dellwood members' lease expired in 2019.

The current protections offered up by Paramount spell out how that won't happen. That is, if the pieces for their plan, with zoning and permits, fall into place.

Paramount material references the closure and land sale of golf courses around the area, including Miller’s Pond , once the former Minisceongo Golf Course along Pomona Road in Ramapo that's now slated to become a huge self-contained community of apartments, townhouses and retail space.

Also mentioned, New York Country Club in New Hempstead, which the site states "was sold to a Monsey-based firm and plans on developing the entire property, eventually extinguishing the golf and recreation amenities."

Calling the Mandelbaum family company a "generational company," Lapper said the housing plan was being launched now because it was the right time.

The "Florida lifestyle" or "country club living" of housing near a golf course is unusual for Rockland. But it is a growing option in nearby Bergen County, New Jersey. Lapper said the development could curb "out-migration" of people with a certain level of income.

Prices for homes in the development have not been revealed.

Paramount Pictures head Adolf Zukor's former playground

The property was once the home and private recreation area for Paramount Pictures head Adolf Zukor. In 1918, Zukor bought 300 acres in northern New City with a giant house, nine-hole golf course and a swimming pool.

Soon Zukor snapped up another 500 acres and hired legendary architect A.W. Tillinghast to expand the course to 18 holes on what he called Mountain View Farm. That Tillinghast distinction is still touted among golf enthusiasts.

As Paramount and Zukor’s fortunes dimmed, he opened up the course to members in 1936. Zukor sold the course in 1948 and died in 1976 at age 103.

The club became Paramount, a nod to its roots, when it was sold in 2009 to the Mandelbaum family.

The family brought in well-known golf architect Jim Urbina to spruce up the course.

Golf Digest gave the course 4 out of 5 starts. "Worth a visit if you get an invite," a 2021 review states.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New City's Paramount Country Club pitches housing with pledge to preserve golf course