After bankruptcy, popular Fire Island resort hits market for $17M
Majority of complex, mecca for gay community, listed for sale
A majority of one of Fire Island’s best known resorts is on the market after its owners filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
Approximately 75 percent of the Fire Island Pines Resort commercial district is being offered for $17.2 million, Muroff Hospitality Group announced this week. The district is home to some of Fire Island’s priciest real estate and is known as one of the most popular queer communities in the country.
The investment includes the well-known Pavilion nightclub, a hotel, two restaurants, a pool deck, boat docks and more stretching across 320 feet of Fire Island Pines’ main pedestrian walkway. There are a total of 10 buildings across two acres, according to the listing.
The resort is the lone hotel zoned within the Pines’ commercial district. The property includes a 16-room building and a three-room building for staff housing and potential to develop two parcels into 18 rooms or bungalows.
Muroff told The Real Deal that a buyer would have the opportunity to acquire additional assets down the line from the seller.
Outpost Pines, controlled by Ian Reisner and P.J. McAteer, bought the property in 2015 with big hopes to “renovate and rejuvenate” the resort, as Reisner told the New York Times at the time. But Outpost Pines has since defaulted on loans with two lenders, according to court filings, and has run into issues with the local town over conditions at the resort. The entity filed for bankruptcy in February; the sale is part of the owners’ reorganization plan.
The listing includes ideas on how to further develop the property. Muroff is promoting it to investors as a hotel that could be reimagined by upgrading the rooms and expanding retail and dining offerings for a more upscale experience — catering to the well-heeled city residents who summer on the island.
Fire Island is a mecca for the LGBTQ+ community, as featured in the eponymous 2022 movie. Fire Island Pines is one of the top vacation spots on the island, along with Cherry Grove. More than 100,000 people visit Fire Island Pines each summer, according to the listing.
Last year, Florida-based Bowline Hospitality Group purchased the nearby Ice Palace resort on Fire Island for $7.2 million, a transaction that included a nightclub and a 63-room hotel, the largest on the island. Muroff also represented the seller and procured the buyer on that deal.