What in the World Happened to Beer World?

Back in October 2009, the Register-Star reported that the old Schroeder Chevrolet building was about to be sold to a pair of investors--one from Sullivan County, the other from Ohio--for $222,500. Harbalwant Singh, of Greenport Crossings fame, was the buyers' broker in the deal, and Ken Flood, Columbia County Commissioner for Planning and Economic Development, was getting credit for the "networking" that made it happen.

Last fall, Gossips was present at the Planning Commission meeting when the new owners of the building presented their project for site plan review. The front part of the building was to be a wine and liquor store. Farther back would be a Hudson version of Beer World, selling, like the store in Catskill, an extensive variety of domestic and imported beers, as well as soda. In between would be a return center for deposit bottles and cans and a franchise check-cashing service. The owners anticipated that the wine and liquor store would be open in time for the holidays--that is, Christmas 2010 and New Year's Eve 2011.

Now, a third of the way through 2011, no part of the project has been realized, and work seems to have stopped altogether. Rumor has it that there may be a federal stop work order, imposed for reasons unknown.