Whereas the settlement historical past of america signifies that it’s not the place to search out centuries-old castles and fortresses, numerous castle-like mansions that distinguished people had constructed to reflect the palaces of Europe in years of yore are dotted all through the nation.
As many anticipate the finale of the HBO present “The Gilded Age” on Aug. 10, a Lengthy Island mansion that New York financier Otto Hermann Kahn had constructed within the interval simply after that period has filed for Chapter 11 chapter.
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Constructed between 1914 and 1919, Oheka Fort was designed to appear to be a French château as a 127-room property on a 443-acre plot stuffed with winding gardens.
Nestled within the Gold Coast of Lengthy Island on the midway level between the Hamptons and New York Metropolis, what even as we speak stays the third-largest non-public residence within the U.S. has within the fashionable age been used as a lodge and venue for occasions and movie units.
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‘I might now not maintain them at bay’: Oheka Fort proprietor on collectors and debt
Whereas the property comes with a protracted historical past that landed it on each the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations and record of Historic Motels of America, this storied previous has not translated into good funds in 2025.
Developer and proprietor Gary Melius filed for Chapter 11 chapter initially of August after working up over $60 million in money owed to varied collectors.
Years of authorized battles over the rising debt have led to a state of affairs by which the chapter submitting was the one option to stop a looming foreclosures and purchase the lodge time to restructure what it owes.
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Within the 2010s, Melius defaulted on a $28 million business mortgage-backed securities mortgage that later reached as much as $50 million with curiosity.
“I might now not maintain them at bay,” Melius mentioned of the collectors to the Actual Deal. In court docket paperwork, Melius reported that the enterprise entity for Oheka Fort has not more than $67 in a checking account however over $92 million in property because of the worth of the property.
As of August 2025, the lodge is continuous to conduct mansion excursions. An in a single day keep on the property begins at $495 for the fundamental chateau room and may attain as much as $1,295 an evening for its high Olmsted suite.
Picture supply: Shutterstock
Resort reassures friends that ‘the whole lot remains to be occurring’ because it seems to restructure debt
“Proper now, it is actually simply restructuring of pre-existing debt,” lodge supervisor Steven Kessler mentioned to a Lengthy Island department of CBS. “[…] We’re open for enterprise. We now have all of our occasions for 2025-2026. Every little thing remains to be occurring.”
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The lodge’s magnificence and historic significance led some native residents to precise fears of the communal loss to New York historical past if restructuring is not labored out and in the end results in foreclosures and liquidation.
“You can stroll into that venue and never want something,” Ashley Pastore, who received married within the fort a number of years in the past, mentioned to CBS. “It is extraordinary. You can get married there and never put one ornament up. It is historical past itself.”
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