A rumor has sprung up that the buyer plans to replace the mobile homes with condos. This is not substantiated, though, and owners of the company say they have no such plans.

Cascade Acres is currently owned by M.H. Communities Ltd., a mobile home park owner based in Nashua, New Hampshire. In March, residents learned of plans to sell the park to the private equity firm Crown Communities LLC for $6.5 million. Crown is buying a number of M.H. Communities’ parks around the northeast in a package deal totaling $87.5 million.

Cascade Acres resident Ryan Preston is concerned the new company is one that “buys moderate- to low-income housing, jacks up the rent and does zero infrastructure upgrades.”

“There’s no guarantee either way, but, there’s no guarantee either way,” Preston said.

The Cascade Acres Post Office, which is a repurposed warm-up hut from the 1932 Olympic Winter Games, is a historical gem on the park’s property that has largely fallen into disrepair, shown here on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

With just days left until he hears the contract is supposed to be signed, Preston said they are trying to take their park land into their own hands. They set up a homeowner’s association and secured state funding to nearly match Crown’s offer.

There is a $1.1 million gap in the financing needed for the HOA to attempt to purchase the park. After a discussion Monday afternoon, Lake Placid Deputy Mayor Jackie Kelly told the Enterprise the village is “looking at all possibilities” for a resolution.

At a village meeting Monday night, Mayor Art Devlin said “Things look a lot better after today then they did at the beginning of today.”

Brandon Montag, who owns the Birch Park Community mobile home park in Lake Clear is the “executor” for the HOA, Preston said, and is in charge of securing the rest of the funding. Preston is hopeful they can enter an agreement before the end of the week, before Crown signs the closing documents with M.H. Communities.

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Brenda Jock’s award-winning garden, shown here on Monday, is her contribution to the beauty of Lake Placid. A long-time resident of Cascade Acres, she hopes that whoever buys the property will help residents take care of it. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

Condo rumor unsubstantiated

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Preston alleged that Crown “has zero intentions of keeping Cascade Acres a manufactured home park” and is planning “multi-million dollar condos in its place” in a social media post.

“We have never had any plans to redevelop the property,” Crown co-owner Alex Cabot said in an email to the Enterprise.

In the announcement of the contract, Cabot signs that he has “no intention of changing the use” of the park within 60 months of the sale.

Brenda Jock’s border collie-blue heeler mix, Bessie, wanders the yard as Jock works in her award-winning garden on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

“Crown … intends to continue to use the land … for manufactured home lot rentals,” the announcement says.

Preston said the idea of condos replacing the mobile homes is speculation, but it may be possible after the five years are up. Also, “intentions” are not the same as guarantees, he added.

He said the new owners could do things to push people out — raise lot rents, not maintain infrastructure — to make it difficult for residents so they move out on their own.

State law says manufactured home park owners cannot raise lot rents more than 3% a year, unless they can prove they have valid and required operating expense increases — mostly related to tax increases or infrastructure improvements. The maximum cap is at 6%.

Preston’s neighbor is retired and works on the side. Preston said this neighbor sometimes has $40 left at the end of the month. They cannot afford even a minor rent increase, he said. The majority of the residents at Cascade Acres are in similar positions, he added.

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Crown

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Crown is based out of Wyoming, but its real home is Ignite Mobile Home Communities, based in California. Ignite is also associated with Kodiak Property Management. These companies are co-owned by Cabot and Heath Biddlecome.

Cabot said he did not have any comment for the record other than a reminder of New York’s 3% lot rent increase limit.

When Preston learned of the potential sale this spring, he looked into Crown.

In July, residents of a Crown-owned park in Oelwein, Iowa told a local television station about how they were selling their mobile homes because it became too expensive to live there. One resident said his lot rent had gone up three times in two years.

A park in Mahomet, Illinois Kodiak purchased in 2021 increased lot rents from $290 to $340 by 2023 with a lease saying they would be paying $525 later on.

Crown took ownership of a park in Cheshire, Massachusetts, in 2021. Residents there complained of pre-existing infrastructure problems — including severe septic issues — being neglected. Residents said they paid for their own repairs when raw sewage backed up into their toilets and tubs. Earlier this year, Crown started addressing these improvements. This was followed by an effort to raise lot rents to “re-capture the expense.”

Preston said the Cascade Acres neighborhood is home to — by his estimate — 200 employees, 30 seniors and veterans and 5-to-7% of the school district’s students.

Lake Placid has an affordable housing shortage. Preston said Cascade Acres is one of the only properties with the ability to increase affordable housing in the village. He said there are 10 vacant lots and five trailers that need to be pulled out.

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The HOA process

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The contract residents were mailed on March 10 started a clock of 60 days to use their first rights of refusal and a second clock of 140 days to enter a sales contract.

State law gives mobile home park residents the first rights of refusal when the park is sold.

Preston and other residents organized an HOA and got more than 50% of residents to agree to be members. More than half of the residents qualify for free legal aid through the state, so they are represented by the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York. They got the property appraised and did environmental studies.

They were banking on the state providing the financial backing. New York has an interest in preserving mobile home parks.

But, one week ago, they learned the state cannot buy the property. The appraisal for the 52-acre property came back $1.1 million below the $6.5 million offer from Crown, Preston said. By law, the state cannot pay more than the appraised value.

M.H. Communities could also take the $5.4 million deal with the state and HOA.

There have been efforts from other communities to form HOAs and purchase mobile home parks out from under Crown. Residents at a park in Gorham, Maine started the process this spring. This park is part of the same package as Cascade Acres. Reports on that process say it is more difficult because there are several parks involved in the package.

In 2019, Crown tried to buy a park in Pocasset, Massachusetts, which led to residents attempting to assert their right of first refusal. Crown brought them to court and after a five-year legal battle, the residents won the right to purchase the park this spring.

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A 46-year resident’s take

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Brenda Jock was one of the first residents at Cascade Acres, having arrived in Lake Placid in 1979 just before the Olympics. She had to work through the Games and didn’t get to any of the events, but does remember some dejected Canadian speedskaters who had lost to Eric Heiden, and some Canadian hockey players determined to have as much fun as they could after they were eliminated.

Her years in Lake Placid have been spent working a variety of service industry gigs, including at the Lake Placid Club. The affordable housing situation wasn’t as bad when she moved here as it is now, Jock said, but because many of the service industry jobs were fully seasonal, she needed to live somewhere that would allow her to weather the off-seasons.

Jock put herself through school to earn a master’s degree, eventually working at Lake Placid Central School as a teacher aide. At the same time, she was raising a daughter as a single mother and always had to work several jobs — waiting tables, bartending, catering — to be able to afford life here. It was always worth it.

“It’s too beautiful not to live here,” Jock said.

With a vast garden that has won five Garden Club awards, Jock spends a lot of time keeping her corner of Lake Placid beautiful. She wishes the owners of Cascade Acres would do the same. The park has a large book of bylaws regulating everything from the appearance of homes, putting out trash and picking up after dogs. She said the current owners do not enforce these rules very well and are not very responsive to tenants.

Cascade Acres had fairly nice amenities when Jock moved in. However, the tennis court has been left in ruins and the pool was filled in a few years ago. Even the property’s old Post Office — a repurposed warm-up hut from the sliding events at the 1932 Olympic Winter Games — has fallen into disrepair.

“It’s the best thing in this park, and they’re letting it fall apart,” she said.

Jock isn’t sure what the fate of Cascade Acres will be. She wishes the residents had the opportunity and means to buy the property themselves — she certainly would, if she had the chance. She only hopes the management situation will improve with any new owner.

“It could be a really lovely place if it’s managed properly, by someone who really cares,” she said. “That’s what I’d like to see.”