SARANAC LAKE – In one of the biggest commercial real estate deals the village has seen in years, local businessman and restauranteur Paolo Magro has bought the Saranac Lake Shopping Center on Lake Flower Avenue.

He paid $5.4 million for the 7-acre property in a sale that closed on Tuesday, according to the Essex County clerk’s office. The shopping center, which many locals still refer to as the old Ames plaza even though Ames closed 13 years ago, is currently home to Coakley High Peaks Ace Hardware, a Tops supermarket, Dollar Tree, Advance Auto Parts, Rent-A-Center, Radio Shack, Verizon Wireless retail store, and a Dunkin’ Donuts in a separate building in the parking lot. Vacancy has not been a problem in its stores.

Magro bought the property under a company named Magdi SL Plaza LLC, which was formed under his name in February of this year, according to the Department of State’s Division of Corporations website. The seller was Saranac Lake Plaza Associates LP based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Magro said he didn’t have time to talk about the sale when contacted by the Enterprise Friday, but his real estate agent, Cherrie Sayles of Saranac Lake, confirmed the deal.

“He got a great piece of property,” she said. “He just wanted it, and he bought it.”

The sale price is more than one-and-a-half times the property’s current assessed value of $3,569,000, according to Essex County property tax records

Sayles described the sale as “a simple transfer,” but the dollar amount involved puts it at the top of the list of commercial transactions in the village’s recent memory. It’s almost four times the price of the Hotel Saranac, which the Arora family sold to New Hampshire-based Roedel Companies for $1.4 million in December 2013.

“That’s a big one,” said Jeremy Evans, the village community development director. “That’s a big chunk of change.”

Evans said he had heard rumors that the property was being sold but knew nothing official until the Enterprise contacted him.

“There’s always a kind of mystery when out-of-town buyers buy something, but everybody knows Paolo,” Evans said. “He’s been around the area for a long time.”

Magro, a native of Sicily, moved to Saranac Lake from Keeseville in 1999. He first opened Little Italy, a restaurant and pizzeria at the corner of Main Street and Broadway, then bought the former Alice’s Restaurant building at Broadway and Main Street in 2002 and refurbished it. (It’s now home to Cape Air ticket office.) He later converted the former Burger King on River Street into a more upscale Italian eatery called Nonna Fina, which opened in 2009.

Four years ago, Magro bought the Sears building and its adjacent parking lot in the heart of downtown for $770,000. More recently, he purchased the former Alpine Air Motel on Saranac Avenue in Lake Placid and has been renovating its rooms into vacation rental units.

“He’s been very good for the area, and he loves the area,” Sayles said. “Every time he invests, he improves things. He’s made Saranac Lake his home. I think Paolo is Saranac Lake’s best friend.”

The Enterprise spoke with the managers and employees of several of the shopping center’s businesses Friday. None of them knew about the property changing hands, but they all said they were happy to hear its new owner lives in Saranac Lake.

“I’m glad to see it’s somebody local, because if we do have issues sometimes, it’s a chore getting in touch with the prior owners,'” said Laura Wood, manager of Advance Auto Parts.

Wood said the company that owned the shopping center before Magro was based in Canada, although it had a property management firm that took care of the plaza.

Wood said this is the third time in the 10 years since her store has been open that the plaza has changed ownership.

“I hadn’t heard about it,” said Tops manager Ken Bowlby. “I think it’s a good thing. (Magro) is local, as opposed to somebody in Toronto owning it.”

John Chesbrough, manager of Rent-A-Center, said some people came to the plaza not long ago to look at the inside of the stores.

“I didn’t know anything about them selling it yet,” he said. “I thought it was going to be a longer process. Hopefully (Magro) keeps up with the maintenance on the building.”

Sayles said the property is changing ownership, but that’s about it.

“(Magro) has no big plans,” she said. “Nothing’s going to change for the businesses.”

Evans said the shopping center seems to be performing well.

“The businesses there seem to be pretty strong, and we have a real need for them in the village,” he said.