Developer Joseph Barile stands with a design of the Peaks at Lake Placid project on his Barn Road property in October 2021. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

LAKE PLACID — A property on Barn Road where a local developer planned to build a large-scale housing complex is now for sale.

The property, which housed the former W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, has been listed for $17.5 million by commercial real estate firm CBRE Upstate NY — an affiliate of the broader CBRE, Inc. — with offices in Albany and western New York.

The Barn Road property was purchased for $5.3 million in 2021 by local developer Joseph Barile, a 1988 Olympic doubles luge athlete who has been involved with the construction of many properties in Lake Placid, including the Whiteface Lodge and the Outpost Shopping Plaza. He hoped to transform the property into what would have been one of the largest housing developments to ever be built in Lake Placid, and what he believed would be one of the largest residential green energy projects in the country.

A developer who purchases all or part of the property could — with approval from the town, village and APA — build something else. No new buildings have been constructed on the site yet.

CBRE Associate Brokers John MacAffer and Ann MacAffer are the listing agents. The property went on the market in the third week of June, according to John MacAffer.

“We’re excited to be marketing for the owner,” he said.

It was not immediately clear by press time Monday why Barile chose to list the property for sale. Barile could not immediately be reached for comment for this story.

The listing for the Peaks property can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/2ccb8vxa.

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What was planned

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The Peaks was expected to include 265 apartments for rent and 90 condominiums. The apartments would have been income-restricted: Thirty-seven would’ve been rented at a price considered affordable to someone making 120% of Essex County’s area median income, which would mean rents up to about $1,100 per month based on the county’s 2020 AMI of $73,700. The other 228 would’ve been rented at a price affordable to someone who makes up to 150% of the county’s AMI. This development was expected to have amenities such as a clubhouse, fitness center, swimming pool, day care center, recreational fields, community gardens with greenhouses and underground parking garages for the residents to use.

Barile also hoped his Peaks at Lake Placid development would be a model for sustainable building practices. He planned to have the complex run largely on solar energy. He had a goal of an 80% reduction of the carbon footprint, and at one point intended to keep 25 of the 34.5 acres as green space.

The process of planning the Peaks at Lake Placid development started in 2019. Plans for the project became public in early 2020, after the North Elba Town Council agreed for the town to temporarily hold the exclusive option to buy the property. The town took this unusual step in an effort to pave the way for a developer to take on this project and eventually build housing there, but it also let the town set conditions. One of those conditions was that the housing units would not be used as short-term vacation rentals. The town then transferred its option to buy the property to Barile, and the property sale was finalized in 2021, according to county tax records. The hope was that a portion of the project could first be used as athlete housing during the 2023 World University Games in January, then be turned over for use by residents.

In March 2021, after a nearly seven-month-long review process, Barile got approval from the Lake Placid-North Elba Review Board to move forward with the project. Approval from the Adirondack Park Agency followed. In the months following the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, Barile — much like many other developers and construction companies throughout the country — contended with skyrocketing material prices and funding challenges. Barile told the Enterprise in 2021 that the project was costing about 30% to 35% more than originally planned due to construction material costs, citing construction supply chain disruptions because of the pandemic as major problems.

The town of North Elba and village of Lake Placid — much like municipalities across the country — are facing a dire affordable housing crisis. A 2020 housing needs assessment study commissioned by the town and village found that with a target of 50% of the local workforce living within the community, North Elba and Lake Placid have a need for roughly 1,534 “workforce and affordable level” housing units — the majority, 1,013 units, for those who make less than $35,150 per year.

The Peaks development was one of three housing complexes proposed in Lake Placid within months of one another, and many community members had hoped that these complexes could help mitigate the local housing crisis. The other two developments, both on Wesvalley Road, have now been built. One of them, MacKenzie Outlook, is a 60-unit affordable housing development. The other is Fawn Valley, with 22 units.

Asked for a response to the property being listed, North Elba town Supervisor Derek Doty declined to comment at this time.

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The listing

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The Peaks property listing gives four options for purchasing the roughly 34.5-acre property: $17.5 million to buy the whole thing, $8.5 million for around 17.2 acres, $2.95 million for around 8 acres or $7.95 million for around 9.1 acres.

The 17.2-acre option, “Option A,” would include Phase I and Phase II of Barile’s planned apartment buildout: A total of 183 units and a clubhouse. The 8-acre option, “Option B,” would include Phase III — a total of 82 planned apartments. “Option C,” roughly 17.2 acres, would include only the planned condos.

These options were laid out because apartment and condominium developers aren’t necessarily the same buyer, according to John MacAffer. He noted that part of the property’s value is reflective of Barile having already gone through the planning and permitting process with the village of Lake Placid, town of North Elba and the APA.

The property is not yet subdivided into three different properties, according to county tax records.

The property is within the town of North Elba, but outside of the village of Lake Placid boundaries. However, the property uses the village water and sewer system. The property was assessed at $1.85 million this year, according to county tax records.

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article included incorrect acreage for options A, B and C.