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Lake Flower Resort owners unveil themselves

SARANAC LAKE – After more than seven months of anonymity, three men trying to build a large, controversial hotel on Lake Flower revealed their identities Friday evening.

Leland C. “Lee” Pillsbury and Mark Pacala own the project, according to a press release emailed by their lawyer. (Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story identified the project’s managing partner, Jacob Wright, as a third owner because the press release listed him under “ownership,” but the lawyer corrected that Saturday, saying Wright is just a manager and has no ownership investment in the resort.)

Although not mentioned in the announcement, the hotel will be called Lake Flower Resort and Spa, according to the website www.saranaclakeresort.com. If approved by state and village reviewers, the four-story building would contain 93 hotel rooms, a spa, conference center and two restaurants on a 3-acre site between Lake Flower Avenue and its namesake body of water. The developers would buy and remove three motels that occupy the site now.

Pillsbury has had a long career as a hospitality industry executive and investor. In the 1970s and ’80s he spent 18 years with Marriott, where he rose to executive vice president, revamped pricing, ushered the company into the time share business and led its acquisition of Fairfield Inn and Residence Inn. In 1991, he co-founded Thayer Lodging Group, a hospitality investment company based in Annapolis, Maryland, and sold it in 2014 to Brookfield Asset Management. He is still its chairman.

“During his tenure as CEO at Thayer, the company built or acquired over $3 billion of hotels, and became one of the most successful privately held real estate investment firms in the country,” Friday’s press release said.

Pacala has focused mostly on health care and senior housing investments. Since March, he has been an operating partner with Pamplona Capital Management, which is based in New York City although Pacala appears to be based in Washington, D.C., managing the firm’s health care investments. He did work in the hotel industry for five years, from 1984 to ’89 with Marriott. He has a vacation home in the Adirondacks, according to the press release, although it didn’t say where. He was a board member of the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy for 10 years, the release added.

Both men have Ivy League college credentials. Pillsbury graduated from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 1969 and is on the Executive Committee of the university’s Board of Trustees. Cornell named him Entrepreneur of the Year this year. Pacala got his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1981, after getting his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hamilton College in 1977.

Wright, the manager, lives in Lake Placid, has taught at Paul Smith’s College and was an investor in the prior incarnation of the Lake Flower hotel project, along with with Chris LaBarge of Malone. When it changed hands last fall, Wright was a leading spokesman for the new ownership, although he said he was a consultant, not an owner.

Wright has been CEO of High Peaks Hospitality, a company that had business interests in hotels and restaurants in the Syracuse area. In 2014, he and his family moved full time to Lake Placid, where they owned what had been a seasonal home. He has also been involved with a project to buy and redevelop the former National Sports Academy in Lake Placid.

“Our manager, Jacob Wright, has been a wonderful leader for this development,” Pillsbury said in the press release. “We have been working together on a variety of projects for over eight years, first when he served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence for five years and lectured at the Pillsbury Institute in the Cornell Hotel School. Jacob took over the Lake Flower project at an early stage, restructuring the ownership and redesigning the project to create a (world-)class resort asset for the community.”

Pacala touted the project’s environmental consciousness in the areas of stormwater management and energy-saving technology.

“We plan to become the first LEED-certified hotel in the Adirondack Park – a perfect fit for this incredible region I call my second home,” he said in the release.

The press release added that “Mr. Pillsbury and Mr. Pacala will not be making any further public comments on the proposed project moving forward.” A phone message left for Pillsbury at his office in Annapolis was not immediately returned.

Saranac Lake community members are divided on the plan. Many welcome such a big business’ economic impact on this village of 5,000 people, but many others have doubts about specifics of the plan. Village hearings and this newspaper’s Opinion page have been filled with people saying the hotel would be too big for the site, that there wouldn’t be enough parking at peak times, that it would create traffic problems at a busy intersection and that the village can’t support it as well as the landmark Hotel Saranac, which is being renovated downtown.

In the press release, however, Wright said, “It is very nice to see that the community has come together in overwhelming support of this project.”

Asked about that, Janis Beatty, who lives near the resort site and has expressed opposition to it, said, “I’m not sure if there is overwhelming support. In fact, it’s less than overwhelming.”

The project is currently under review by the state Adirondack Park Agency and the Saranac Lake Planning Board. The village’s Board of Trustees generally supports the project and rezoned the resort land last year with a special Planned Unit Development District.

Wright, in the release, said that in addition to the APA and Planning Board, developers are “working with our contractors to be prepared to start construction shortly.”

Village Mayor Clyde Rabideau has celebrated the project from its start with LaBarge almost three years ago, and he added a comment to the press release.

“Now we can all see that the owners of this project are world class developers that have completed billions of dollars of hotel development and are now investing in Saranac Lake,” he said. “This is an opportunity for the Village to increase taxes, beautify the main corner, offer modern accommodations and create dozens of well-paying jobs. We are hopeful that our hotel project is treated by the APA similar to the Lake Placid Hampton and Lake George Marriott and we will get quick and efficient approvals so the development team can move forward this year.”

Hotel spokesman John Brodt, of the Albany-based Behan Communications firm, said he was unable to answer questions such as if Lake Flower Resort has any other investors, where in the Adirondacks Pacala’s vacation home is, how these men came to take over this project and why they will not take questions.

The release was emailed to media at 5 p.m. on a Friday, typically a time to make announcements on which the releasers don’t want much comment. But Matt Norfolk of Lake Placid, the developers’ lawyer who issued the release, said the timing was “not intentional or planned.

“I was asked to send out the information a couple of days ago, but just getting to it now,” he wrote in an email.

Lake Flower Resort owners unveil themselves

SARANAC LAKE – After more than seven months of anonymity, three men trying to build a large, controversial hotel on Lake Flower revealed their identities Friday evening.

Leland C. “Lee” Pillsbury, Mark Pacala and Managing Partner Jacob Wright own the project, according to a press release emailed by their lawyer.

Although not mentioned in the announcement, the hotel will be called Lake Flower Resort and Spa, according to the website www.saranaclakeresort.com. If approved by state and village reviewers, the four-story building would contain 93 hotel rooms, a spa, conference center and two restaurants on a 3-acre site between Lake Flower Avenue and its namesake body of water. The developers would buy and remove three motels that occupy the site now.

Pillsbury has had a long career as a hospitality industry executive and investor. In the 1970s and ’80s he spent 18 years with Marriott, where he rose to executive vice president, revamped pricing, ushered the company into the time share business and led its acquisition of Fairfield Inn and Residence Inn. In 1991, he co-founded Thayer Lodging Group, a hospitality investment company based in Annapolis, Maryland, and sold it in 2014 to Brookfield Asset Management. He is still its chairman.

“During his tenure as CEO at Thayer, the company built or acquired over $3 billion of hotels, and became one of the most successful privately held real estate investment firms in the country,” Friday’s press release said.

Pacala has focused mostly on health care and senior housing investments. Since March, he has been an operating partner with Pamplona Capital Management, which is based in New York City although Pacala appears to be based in Washington, D.C., managing the firm’s health care investments. He did work in the hotel industry for five years, from 1984 to ’89 with Marriott. He has a vacation home in the Adirondacks, according to the press release, although it didn’t say where. He was a board member of the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy for 10 years, the release added.

Both men have Ivy League college credentials. Pillsbury graduated from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 1969 and is on the Executive Committee of the university’s Board of Trustees. Cornell named him Entrepreneur of the Year this year. Pacala got his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1981, after getting his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hamilton College in 1977.

Of the three, Wright is the best known locally. He lives in Lake Placid, has taught at Paul Smith’s College and was an investor in the prior incarnation of the Lake Flower hotel project, along with with Chris LaBarge of Malone. When it changed hands last fall, Wright was a leading spokesman for the new ownership, although he said at the time he was a consultant, not an owner. Friday’s press release identified him, Pacala and Pillsbury as “ownership.”

Wright has been CEO of High Peaks Hospitality, a company that had business interests in hotels and restaurants in the Syracuse area. In 2014, he and his family moved full time to Lake Placid, where they owned what had been a seasonal home. He has also been involved with a project to buy and redevelop the former National Sports Academy in Lake Placid.

“Our manager, Jacob Wright, has been a wonderful leader for this development,” Pillsbury said in the press release. “We have been working together on a variety of projects for over eight years, first when he served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence for five years and lectured at the Pillsbury Institute in the Cornell Hotel School. Jacob took over the Lake Flower project at an early stage, restructuring the ownership and redesigning the project to create a (world-)class resort asset for the community.”

Pacala touted the project’s environmental consciousness in the areas of stormwater management and energy-saving technology.

“We plan to become the first LEED-certified hotel in the Adirondack Park – a perfect fit for this incredible region I call my second home,” he said in the release.

The press release added that “Mr. Pillsbury and Mr. Pacala will not be making any further public comments on the proposed project moving forward.” A phone message left for Pillsbury at his office in Annapolis was not immediately returned.

Saranac Lake community members are divided on the plan. Many welcome such a big business’ economic impact on this village of 5,000 people, but many others have doubts about specifics of the plan. Village hearings and this newspaper’s Opinion page have been filled with people saying the hotel would be too big for the site, that there wouldn’t be enough parking at peak times, that it would create traffic problems at a busy intersection and that the village can’t support it as well as the landmark Hotel Saranac, which is being renovated downtown.

In the press release, however, Wright said, “It is very nice to see that the community has come together in overwhelming support of this project.”

Asked about that, Janis Beatty, who lives near the resort site and has expressed opposition to it, said, “I’m not sure if there is overwhelming support. In fact, it’s less than overwhelming.”

The project is currently under review by the state Adirondack Park Agency and the Saranac Lake Planning Board. The village’s Board of Trustees generally supports the project and rezoned the resort land last year with a special Planned Unit Development District.

Wright, in the release, said that in addition to the APA and Planning Board, developers are “working with our contractors to be prepared to start construction shortly.”

Village Mayor Clyde Rabideau has celebrated the project from its start with LaBarge almost three years ago, and he added a comment to the press release.

“Now we can all see that the owners of this project are world class developers that have completed billions of dollars of hotel development and are now investing in Saranac Lake,” he said. “This is an opportunity for the Village to increase taxes, beautify the main corner, offer modern accommodations and create dozens of well-paying jobs. We are hopeful that our hotel project is treated by the APA similar to the Lake Placid Hampton and Lake George Marriott and we will get quick and efficient approvals so the development team can move forward this year.”

Hotel spokesman John Brodt, of the Albany-based Behan Communications firm, said he was unable to answer questions such as if Lake Flower Resort has any other investors, where in the Adirondacks Pacala’s vacation home is, how these men came to take over this project and why they will not take questions.

The release was emailed to media at 5 p.m. on a Friday, typically a time to make announcements on which the releasers don’t want much comment. But Matt Norfolk of Lake Placid, the developers’ lawyer who issued the release, said the timing was “not intentional or planned.

“I was asked to send out the information a couple of days ago, but just getting to it now,” he wrote in an email.

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