Saddle Up Stables, the Diamond Point horseback riding attraction owned by the same family for more than eighty years, has been sold to Bolton Landing investors and entrepreneurs Joe Russell and John LaSalandra for roughly $4 million.
The transaction was completed on Wednesday, June 10, said Russell.
According to Russell, the property, estimated to encompass 120 acres, “is the largest piece of mostly vacant, developable property on the west side of Lake George. It’s the last of its kind.”
The property also contains several buildings and more than a quarter mile of frontage along Route 9N/Lake Shore Drive. It is zoned for both commercial and residential uses.
The buildings include a delicatessen with second floor living quarters, a single-family home, three cabins and a series of barns and corrals.
Although it is unlikely that a riding stable of Saddle Up Stable’s size and scope will ever occupy the fields and wooded hillside again, as yet, the couple has no definitive plans for the property, they said.
“We can say that we have no plans to alter it radically. We don’t want to see 75 or 80 homes there,” said LaSalandra.
“We have several possible concepts in mind, none of which would despoil the property,” said Russell.
In the meantime, the couple are willing to entertain offers to lease the delicatessen and even the horseback riding infrastructure, at least on a limited scale, said LaSalandra.
“We love that legacy and we don’t want to see it disappear entirely,” said LaSalandra.
Saddle Up Stables traces its origins to the 1930s, when two horse-traders from North Carolina began leasing horses to childrens’ summer camps throughout the Adirondacks.
Until recently, the 50-horse stable and horseback riding attraction was owned and operated by the third generation of the Follette family, assisted by their children.
Buzz Lamb contributed reporting.
