In days gone by the Greenwood Bar at the Hotel Lafayette in Suffern was a place to be seen. But those colorful days have long receded into memory. Most recently the hotel had fallen into extreme disrepair.

Orange Avenue Associates has begun the long construction process of clearing the parcels of land for the planned the five-story luxury rental building will have 92 units apartments in the Suffern downtown area. The complex proposes to draw on Suffern’s easy-access transportation hub and attract people who would like to live in a walkable downtown environment that includes a variety of restaurants and other services.

(The Lafayette Hotel in Suffern, once an elegant gathering place for locals and western Ramapo beacon, was put to rest Thursday, June 30, making way for an apartment development in downtown Suffern. The hotel had fallen into extreme disrepair.) Video by John Meore/The Journal News

(Suffern Village Historian Craig Long discusses the Hotel Lafayette)