Mark Bergman

Buyers Wanted - Foreign Investment Encouraged!

  By PAUL GRONDAHL, Staff writer
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First published: Sunday, July 27, 2008

 

LAKE GEORGE -- Alas, $1 million doesn't buy much on the Queen of American Lakes anymore.

"It boggles my mind when I give a client a monthly bill for $500,000 and they just open their checkbook and write me a check without flinching," said Dean Howland. He's been building high-end custom homes on Lake George for two decades and recalls only a few buyers who took out a mortgage.

Howland is finishing work on a six-building compound on three acres with 300 feet of lakefront near Diamond Point. With an estimated value of $10 million, it's fashioned after the Adirondack Great Camps of yore.

The new Gilded Age mansions -- with their jaw-dropping boathouses, pool cabanas, saunas, steam rooms and wine cellars -- make it clear that even the exceptionally wealthy face their own version of inflation. On Lake George, $1 million is the new $100,000.

Howland is building the Assembly Point complex for a Westchester County family in the construction business downstate. The owners, who asked that their names not be used, paid more than $1 million for an undistinguished house on a waterfront lot just south of Diamond Point on the lake's west side. They tore down the old house and paid $500,000 to blast 10 feet into bedrock for a foundation, terrace the steep slope to the lake and truck in tons of gravel for a storm water management system. An adjoining parcel came up for sale. They bought that, too.

The couple's 21-year-old daughter desired privacy, so they built a cottage with a loft, deck, gourmet kitchen and bath with Italian glass tile.

A partial tally of their lakefront compound reveals: 15 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, 18 plasma TVs, eight security cameras, one infinity edge pool, one sauna, one steam room, one boccie ball court, one Hummer, one Corvette, one Harley, two horseshoe pits, five kayaks, three Jet-Skis, two canoes, three golf carts and a boathouse with four motorboats.

"If there's a toy, they've got it. The whole place is designed for maximum fun," Howland said.

The highest-priced site for sale on the lake is Wikiosco, an 1895 Tudor revival built for Royal C. Peabody, founder of the Brooklyn Edison Co. and the Combustion Engineering Co. The 11,000-square-foot stone home, just south of the Hearthstone Point state campground, is owned by Dr. Stephen Serlin, a Glens Falls obstetrician-gynecologist. It boasts seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, seven fireplaces, staff quarters, a guest cottage and a 20-car garage. The asking price is $17.9 million.

"Dr. Serlin's property is going to set a new level for the upper-range prices on Lake George and everyone's watching what it sells for," said Realtor Lonnie Lawrence, 60, who's sold high-end lakefront properties for 32 years for Robert W. Leavitt Inc.

Bragging rights for most valuable property on the lake probably belong to Phillip H. Morse, vice chairman of the Boston Red Sox, who amassed a fortune developing cardiac catheters. He has homes in Boston and Jupiter, Fla., and owns a Gulfstream jet.

Morse's newly completed estate on the northern tip of Assembly Point on the east side of the lake is estimated to be worth more than $20 million. The main house exceeds 10,000 square feet.

These high-net-worth individuals do not quake at the notion of paying $25,000 to $50,000 a year in property taxes, not to mention up to $50,000 in annual maintenance costs for a grounds crew and winter caretaker.

Welcome to the new Millionaires' Row, a contemporary twist on the shingled lakeside manses of the 19th-century titans of industry who sought an elegant Adirondack retreat that brought Fifth Avenue sophistication to the wilderness.

Fast-forward a century and Lake George in 2008. Today's buyers typically come from the New York metropolitan area and often own their own business or amassed wealth as CEOs and money managers.

Plenty of homegrown business titans also own multimillion-dollar Lake George estates. That roster includes Robert J. Higgins (Trans World Entertainment Corp.); Lewis Golub (Price Chopper); John Breyo (Ayco); George Hearst (Times Union); Bob Bailey (Racemark International); and Vincent Riggi (Turbine Services Ltd.).

"People are willing to pay almost anything to have a home on this spectacular lake, and they've created a unique real estate bubble on Lake George," said Linda Wohlers, creative director of the Warren County Tourism Department.

The new owners are coming from further afield, such as the Dallas businessman who paid $4.5 million for a "scrape-off" property in Bolton Landing. He plans to construct a mansion, guest house, barn and garage as a getaway for his children and grandchildren who live on Long Island.

"Some of these owners only use their Lake George home two or three weekends out of the year," said Lawrence, who for five straight years from 2001-2006 had more than $20 million in sales on Lake George. She conceded to feeling conflicted about selling these properties with enormous carbon footprints on an ecologically fragile lake in an era of global warming.

Diane and Rich Hyman express no such conundrum. They've listed at $4.25 million their 2-year-old, 8,000-square-foot home on 122 acres high above Diamond Point. The 58-year-old retired Realtor and her 64-year-old retired IBM executive husband moved to Lake George from Brookfield, Conn. Now, they want to sell what they called their "dream home" and build a new place on another portion of the 300-acre property off Shaw Road that they bought in 1999.

They're thinking of going in a completely different direction with the new house. "I'm a frustrated architect and interior decorator," she said. "I love the idea of having a blank slate and letting my imagination run wild." Grondahl can be reached at 454-5623 or by e-mail at pgrondahl@timesunion.com. Historical View of Assessed and Market Values of Property in the Towns of Bolton and Lake George Town of Bolton

Over the course of 30 years total market value of property went up 21 times. The number of parcels increased from 2,283 to 3,579, adding 1,296 parcels.

Total Assessed Value ... Total Market Value ... Equalization Rate

1978 ... $56,976,386.00 ... $85,077,477.00 ... 66.97%

2008 ... $1,084,525,359.00 ... $1,792,603,899.00 ... 60.50%

Between 1978 and 2008, the William K. Bixby estate at Mohican Point, 4860 Lake Shore Drive, in Bolton Landing is virtually unchanged. Over that time, total market value of property went up 15.85 times.

Total assessed value ... Total market value ... Equalization rate

1978 ... $234,050.00 ... $349,500.00 ... 66.97

2008 ... $3,352,400.00 ... $5,541,000.00 ... 60.50% Town of Lake George

The number of parcels increased from 2539 to 3417. 1978 total assessed value for Lake George is not available.

Wikiosco/Blenheim, 3232 Lake Shore Drive, Lake George, an 1895 historic tudor revival, is owned by Dr. Stephen Serlin. When Serlin bought the property it was two parcels that included the former restaurant/inn and a cottage. Changes and improvements include restoring the house, adding a pool and a 13-car garage. The two parcels were merged into one for zoning purposes. Over the course of 30 years total market value of property increased by 18.5 times.

Total assessed value ... Total market value ... Equalization rate

1978 ... $177,100.00 ... $299,100.00

2008 ... $3,356,000.00 ... $5,547,100.00

Source: Dave Rosebrook, assessor for towns of Bolton and Lake George; research by Sarah J. Hinman/TIMES UNION