According to the New York Department of Environmental Protection (DEC), the oil spill repair work at the HNA Palisades Premier Conference Center in Orangetown, which began on August 30, is coming to an end.

A 5,600 gallon fuel leak defined by DEC as a "major" fuel leak began with a pump failure in the daily fuel tank in the basement. The 20,000-gallon main fuel tank supplies fuel to the daily fuel tank, which has a fuel capacity of approximately 300 gallons. DEC stated that spills from the basement of the boiler room mainly enter the foundation drains, cesspits and urban sewers.

At around 7 am on August 30, workers in the Sewer District of Orangetown detected a fuel odor. There are 40 pumping stations in this area, handling an average flow of 8 million gallons per day, and traces the source of the leakage back to Hainan Airlines. DEC was notified that the sanitary system treatment plant was closed for several hours.

“The generators and diesel storage tanks at HNA Property had mechanical failures, and the fuel entered floor drains and sinks. They were connected to the sewers,” said Eamon Reilly, Commissioner of the Sewer Department of Orange Town. Environmental management and engineering.

"We acted immediately," Riley continued. "Castleton Environmental responded to the spill; they were able to recover a large amount of oil that entered the factory."

Castleton Environmental continues to carry out on-site repairs at HNA. DEC continues to test soil and water samples. According to DEC, the fuel leak did not affect any waterways.

"Leaks of this size and nature are very rare," Reilly said. "We do have accidents entering the system, usually 100 gallons. But not to this level. I have never seen anything this big."

Since the COVID closure of the hotel and conference center, HNA has been vacant for most of the time. The property is undergoing reconstruction work in the town.

Supervisor Teresa Kenny (Teresa Kenny) said she was unable to respond to calls or emails seeking comment on leaks or remedial measures because of possible litigation in the future.

Nearly two years ago, after the buyer failed to provide funds for the purchase, after the expected sales failure, Orange City invested itself in the future development of the HNA Center. The town expressed concern that if the town is acquired by a non-profit organization, the town will be removed from the tax list.

Orangetown officials selected a development team in June to redevelop the 106-acre property at 334 Route 9W. Orangetown chose the Kitching/Pelayo team as the “developer of choice”. They envisioned an updated hotel/conference center, a world-class spa, a restaurant with a biodynamic garden, maker space, 50,000 square feet of photography and Movie studios, test kitchens and collaborations.

The second phase of the plan also requires the construction of 20-30 townhouses to "create a larger accommodation environment for families and long-term accommodation."

The Kitching/Pelayo team refers to Mark Kitching and Jerome Pelayo respectively, they are Douglas Elliman's real estate agent and house builder respectively. Kitching, the head of the real estate department, sells high-end homes in California, while Pelayo of Sunia Homes is a small developer that also develops ultra-modern and environmentally friendly homes in California.

In addition to Kitching/Pelayo, there is an entity called New Valley Realty, which is a real estate investment subsidiary of New Valley LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vector Group Ltd (NYSE: VGR). New Valley is run by CEO Howard M. Lorber and invests in renovations, conversion of office and rental properties to apartments, under-performing assets, land development and sales, resorts and urban hotels, and core rental buildings.

HNA is free to sell its packages independently and reserves the right to control whether it accepts quotations. However, the town passed a resolution to redevelop the property, which included language indicating that the town would consider acquiring the property through expropriation.

Palisades Hotel and Conference Center was acquired by HNA Training Center NY LLC from IBM in 2016 for US$60 million. At the end of 2019, ZVG@Palisades LLC, an entity affiliated with Vasco Ventures, tried to purchase the property for US$40 million.

There are widespread reports that China's HNA Group Company was in serious financial trouble and was forced to go bankrupt in January. However, the HNA Training Center in Palisades owned by a limited liability company in Delaware is not within the scope of the company's bankruptcy. Mike Zarin, a special adviser hired by the town of Orange, said, “As far as we know, this asset is not affected by China’s bankruptcy.”