TUPPER LAKE - While real estate professionals say the market is improving from where it was a few years ago, some are still concerned that the luxury second homes planned for the Adirondack Club and Resort might be difficult to sell.
The project was first introduced in 2004, when the housing bubble was still growing. State Adirondack Park Agency staff worked with developers through concept approval in 2005, and the application was deemed complete on Dec. 20, 2006.
In 2007 - the year when the housing bubble peaked, according to U.S. census data - the APA issued an order sending the project to an adjudicatory hearing to examine 10 issues with it, but the development group, Preserve Associates, put it on hold to try to negotiate parts of the project with the numerous parties that had concerns about it.
For the next two years, through the burst of the housing bubble in the fall of 2008, ACR developers held mediation sessions and "caucuses" to negotiate changes. In May 2009, the mediation was called off, and then Preserve Associates took another year to submit supplemental application materials to the APA.
That timing allowed the project to work on permitting through the worst of the real estate slump.
But even now that the market is improving, there may not be room for the kind of sales ACR developers are hoping for.
Lake Placid-based real estate broker Margie Philo told the Enterprise she thinks there's a viable second-home market in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, but that's not necessarily the case in Tupper Lake.
"Personally, I think they're going to have a lot of trouble and it's going to be very slow going at the prices I hear quoted, if that in fact is true, for second homes off of the water in a community that is quite quiet during really nine months of the year and doesn't have the infrastructure - restaurants, venues and things people enjoy in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid," Philo said. "I think it will get better as the market improves, but I wouldn't buy a ticket on that one."
Lake Placid real estate broker Roby Politi, who is also supervisor of the town of North Elba, said Lake Placid has the strongest and busiest second-home market right now.
"There's not as much demand for the outlying markets unless it's waterfront," Politi said. "The market is starting to come back, but there's no question now that it's a softer market than it was four years ago."
He said real estate sales are often driven by the political environment, so he doesn't see much of an opportunity for growth in the market until after the next election.
"It's all about consumer confidence," Politi said. "I don't think people have a lot of confidence right now in the world economy."
He said it's unlikely the market will return to the prices houses were selling for in 2005 through '07.
But some still have faith in the ACR project. Mike Damp, real estate broker with Century 21 in Lake Placid, said that with the second-home market slowly on its way back up, the resort could have a chance at being successful.
"It all depends what (2012) brings for sales, but I think your timing is as good as it could be if they get approved and get some money into the ski area and the surrounding area, and they should do OK," Damp said.
He said that as far as he knows, some of the units planned for the ACR would be the only ski-in, ski-out properties available inside the Blue Line, which is the most salable point for the project.
He says the fact that there's very little lake frontage for any property in the project isn't a problem, since Preserve Associates are also redeveloping the former McDonald's Marina so ACR residents and renters can have access to the water. He compared this to the Whiteface Lodge, which has lake access without actual frontage, and he said that property has done OK since it was initiated.
Damp said he hopes the ACR succeeds.
"I think it's great," Damp said. "It's good for Tupper."
Either way, the market could have plenty of time to change before ACR properties go up for sale. Mac Crikelair, project manager for the Front Street development project planned for near North Creek's Gore Mountain Ski Area, said Monday that even though his project got APA approval in 2008, they're just now ready to hit the market.
Front Street developers have been working ever since then to satisfy the conditions of their initial APA permit as well as secure permits from other entities like the state departments of Health and Environmental Conservation and the local planning board.
"I'm happy to have been working on permits during the real low portion of the economy," Crikelair said. "I'm happy to be able to start selling some houses and townhouses, single-family homes, happy to start selling those now."
He said the project has been drawing a lot of interest from potential buyers now that developers are near the point of selling units.
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Senior Staff Writer Chris Knight contributed to this report.