Balazs: Sunset Beach will not open this season

Julia Brennan photo

It’s official, owner André Balazs says Sunset Beach will not open this season.

“Our number one concern is the health of our employees and customers,” Balazs told the Gazette. “Health trumps all decisions.”

“Safety is number one. Not image, not money, or anything.”

Not worth the risk

Ideas were floated about a partial opening of the seasonal beachfront hotel and restaurant at 35 Shore Road on Shelter Island — maybe offering takeout, just opening the food truck, or opening the 20 hotel rooms for longer term guest rentals.

“It would be wonderful to have some sort of presence and maybe make some money,” he said in a phone call, but none of the ideas were appropriate considering the risk to public health.

“Because we rely on the public, we want to protect them, and keeping the spirit alive is not worth the risk,” he said.

Staying closed for the season means losing dozens of seasonal jobs, including some staff who have returned to the resort year after year. Typically, the hotel’s rooms are solidly booked for the season, as is the restaurant, particularly on weekends.

“Sunset Beach cannot tolerate a gap year economically, but health trumps all,” Balazs said.

Having grown up the son of a doctor in a medical family, he said he may have a somewhat pessimistic attitude about the pandemic. “June, July, August is too soon,” he said.

“Science is at an advantage today but the world is at a disadvantage because there’s so much movement,” he said. “This will hopefully teach us what it means to be a community. The upside will come, but we must not expose people to the downside. We have to respect each other and each other’s health right now.”

Keeping Shelter Island safe

The company aims to keep its other year round properties — the Mercer Hotel in Manhattan, Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, and the Chiltern Firehouse in London — open, but with rigorous training to keep the public safe in response to the outbreak.

“We can’t deliver that on Shelter Island,” he said, given the nature of the property and challenges associated with training and housing a seasonal staff. “Our customers deserve to feel safe in our properties.”

Balazs has called Shelter Island home for over 25 years.

“It’s where my home and family are, and my two daughters grew up here,” he said. “It’s my favorite spot and I want to preserve that.”