Tupper Lake community priced out of bidding
By James M. Odato
This fall, Franklin County authorities intend to sell the landmark mountain best known as the Big Tupper downhill skiing center.
The 240 acres that include the mountain, a marina, a pond and a key right-of-way along Tupper Lake are set to be offered in a public auction, probably in November, said Frances Perry, county treasurer.
The Adirondack Explorer thanks its advertising partners. Become one of them.
With plans to sell to the highest bidder, the county is no longer planning to give the town or village of Tupper Lake first crack at getting the property. The local governments have wanted to acquire the mountain by covering unpaid taxes, almost $300,000.
The four parcels up for auction were once part of the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort, the biggest real estate development ever proposed in the Adirondacks.
Big Tupper could be a large sale
The option to allow the municipalities to gain the site of Big Tupper on Mount Morris at a discount is no longer in play because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning the forfeiture of property.
The ruling held that after recovering taxes owed and related costs a county must provide excess funds to the original deed holder. In this case, the original deed was held by the developers who failed to pull off the biggest project ever permitted in the Adirondacks.
The Adirondack Explorer thanks its advertising partners. Become one of them.
The developers’ tax liability on the mountain alone is about $450,000, including penalties and interest, Perry said. She said the foreclosure sale will be the biggest she is aware of in county history.
Town of Tupper Lake Supervisor Rick Dattola said he was briefed by county officials about the fall foreclosure auction that would not allow the town to proceed with its plan to obtain the real estate.
“It was discouraging,” he said.
He said the town doesn’t have the funds to bid.
The Adirondack Explorer thanks its advertising partners. Become one of them.
“We’re hoping there is somebody who is going to buy it as a ski center and we’ll help him where we can,” he said. “We haven’t given up.”
A shift in plans for Tupper Lake community
Big Tupper, a one-time recreation destination and source of community pride, has been closed since 1999. It would need millions of dollars in upgrades, including snowmaking equipment, to return to service.
County Court Judge Craig Carriero ruled that the foreclosure could move forward, but the county has to abide by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibits the kind of deal Tupper Lake officials had in mind. Perry said the county can proceed once 30 days have expired after stakeholders have been served notice of the order.
The notice was served on July 16 and a notice of appeal was entered on Aug. 13 by the biggest creditor of the development firms that battled lawsuits and won permits for the resort and residential community envisioned to surround Big Tupper.
The Adirondack Explorer thanks its advertising partners. Become one of them.
The Supreme Court ruling requires the county to auction foreclosed parcels to the highest bidders and place surpluses in escrow for the original landowner and for creditors to pursue.
“It took us by surprise,” said Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties. “It disrupted the entire state foreclosure system. Counties lost significant amounts of revenue.”
He said the requirement is the result of a high court ruling last year on a Minnesota case involving just compensation for the taking of property through foreclosure.
An adjoining 5,800 acres of land that was part of the Adirondack Club and Resort project is the subject of a separate set of complications. Investor Stanley H. Rumbough III is attempting to acquire that acreage to develop residences.
The land is tied up by lien holders who appealed a court ruling that would have freed it to be sold by the county through foreclosure.
Support Adirondack Journalism
Adirondack Explorer is the only nonprofit, independent media organization solely dedicated to covering the Adirondack region in northern New York state. We provide our stories online free for all, but rely on the contributions of readers to help power and expand our work. Will you join the community of people who support this reporting?
It would be really great if Big Tupper could be returnede to service and even better if it could be run by the town or countyor some not-for-profit entity, to provide employment and keep the ticket prices low for the benefit of local skiers as well as to compete with bigger ski area inclluding state-run Whiteface and Gore and attract tourism business to the community. As much as I would preferto not see the state get it and run it, that would be preferrable turning it into exclusive luxury vacation estates.
For 25 years environmentalists have tried to destroy Big Tupper. There was a plan to make the ski resort open again by selling land around the ski resort. All that has been accomplished by these foolish people is to break up Big Tupper and make it impossible to ever open again. Tupper Lake will slowly die.
Everyone needs a boogey-man to blame. Never mind the facts.
Yep and so will many other communities within and also outside of the Blue Line. No wonder why so many people, including me, have left New York State for other states like Florida, Texas and Tennessee where the weather is warmer, the cost of living is lower, the job market is better and the real estate market is strong. I’ve never returned to NY since leaving over two years ago and except to see the one older family member who still (unfortunately) lives in New York I would never return. As it is I do not expect to return after my next visit.
Local municipalities are not “losing” money because of the recent US Supreme Court decision. Since the purpose of holding tax sales is to get the real estate taxes paid, as opposed to confiscating all of the owner’s equity, the town or county had no right to keep the excess bid monies in the first place.
Although I am not normally in favor of a town operating a ski area, I have to admit that Lackawanna County (Scranton, Pa.) has done a pretty good job running Montage Mt. Ski Area for the last 25 years or so. The County took it over after the original owner defaulted on loans that he had received from the County to build it.
Whatever happens, I hope they don’t remove the fire tower. It would be great to see it preserved and added to the fire tower challenge, although that would require relocating the cell equipment from it to another tower.
For those of us that have a little grey in our beards this hopeful sale reminds me of Lowenberg Mountains Ben Clutes attempt to create a skiing and boaters paradise on the East side of Lyon Mountain abutting Chazy Lake back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. The multitude of individual land owners surrounding the property created what turned out to be a litigious nightmare for investment groups that saw the need for an all encompassing resort that would have had skiing , boating and golfing just minutes from Plattsburgh which eventually developed the International Airport. Looked like it couldn’t fail . The only thing left is a few ski lift poles slowly rusting back into the mountain. Lets hope Tupper can be pulled back to life . Only time will tell. Good luck.
In news from ARTnews.com about a ski resort in Utah with a similar situation:
The Big Number
$100 M.
That’s how much debt Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings inherited when he bought Utah’s Powder Mountain ski resort in 2023. It’s unclear how much Hastings paid for the resort, but what people who own houses nearby will have to pay to use the slopes is crystalline: an annual fee of between $30,000 and $100,000. Since he restricted access to 2,000 acres of the mountain for his well-heeled neighbors, Hastings decided he would share the rest of his mountain. He recently announced that Powder Mountain will develop a public art park, set to open in 2026, that will be filled with large-scale sculptures and land artworks by the likes of James Turrell, Nancy Holt, Jenny Holzer, and Paul McCarthy.
Taxpayers can’t afford another taxpayer paid-for ski area. NY State agency ORDA, which owns and operates White Face, Gore & Belleayre ski facilities reported an annual operating loss of $47 million after investing a reported additional $80 million in infrastructure upgrades. In a state where taxes are amongst the highest in the USA, where a population drop of 1.1MM people has occurred in the last 3 years and with an unsustainable burgeoning state budget that increased yet again to $239 billion , hoping any government agency takes this over is a terrible plan. There are 50 ski areas in NYS, 45 are privately/ corporate owned. They all pay property, income & sales taxes, employee residents, offer skiing. Asking residents locally to add another burden isn’t fair or smart. Asking the State to run yet another ski area at their demonstrated inability to run anywhere near a breakeven isn’t fair to state taxpayers yet again. Let the highest bidder invest their own monies, pay property taxes, present a redevelopment plan if that’s their goal, make it productive. But more government run costly recreational facilities aren’t in the best interests of anyone.
I’m saddened that legalities and politics are getting in the way of such a potentially economic benefit to the area but what’s new. Thanks
I don’t mean to sound flippant, but can the County resort to crowd funding? I would rather see the County take it over than a foreign developer like what happened at Jay Mountain in VT. Corruption was a major problem.