Camp Sussex has offer

VERNON — One week after the Vernon Township Council voted to suspend negotiations to purchase the Camp Sussex property, the site's owner says he has a new offer on the table.

Lowen Hankin, fund manager of Empire Tax Funds, which owns the property under the subsidiary TFI Jersey Holdings, said on Tuesday that he received a new offer on the property that day.

He said the property has received interest from "several prospective buyers."

While not wishing to disclose the nature of the offers or the identities of the interested parties, Hankin said some of them are looking to use the site as a camp.

"I'm happy to say there is interest from multiple people," he said.

The Township Council voted to discontinue negotiations on purchasing the property after it received appraisals of the property from two firms hired by the town.

The camp was appraised at $200,000 by one company and $230,000 by another.

The appraisals were far off from the amount the property's owner was asking, according to Vernon Mayor Victor Marotta.

Marotta said Hankin was seeking $900,000 for the property.

"We both agreed that we are to far apart to really make a deal," Marotta said. "I think he has a better chance of attracting someone who will turn it back into a camp."

If the buildings on the camp were to be demolished, the appraisal firms found the value would rise by another $500,000, which is the amount some have estimated it will cost to demolish the structures on the site.

Camp Sussex, once a boys camp and also previously used as a baseball camp by Derek Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation, was the scene of a fire that destroyed two cabins in September. Vernon police had ruled the fire was suspicious at the time.

Hankin said both cabins have since been demolished.

There have also been reports of graffiti at the camp.

"It's been absolutely destroyed through vandalism," Marotta said of the buildings on the property.

Hankin sees the camp in another light.

"It's a beautiful piece of property. It should be put to productive use and I hope it will soon," Hankin said.