The decline of Lake George’s tourism-based businesses – a trend that began in 1999 with the shuttering of the last attraction at Gaslight Village and includes the demolition of Waterslide World and the conversion of the Lake George Forum to a boat dealer’s showroom – appears to have reached a nadir with the announcement that Magic Forest and its successor, Expedition Park, will be levelled and replaced by apartments, multifamily buildings, senior housing, commercial space and self-storage facilities.
“We know the amusement park will be greatly missed, but housing is so needed that we feel we are making a difference for the future of Lake George,” property owners Reuben and Danna Ellsworth said in a prepared statement. “We love it here and we want our children to be able to love it as much as we do.”
The Ellsworths purchased the 56-year-old Magic Forest in 2018 and replaced the theme park with an attraction of their own, which opened in 2019. They put the business on the market in 2025, but apparently were never tendered a viable offer.
Dan Barusch, the town’s Director of Planning and Zoning, said Lake George’s transition from a tourist town to something else – an extension of the Albany-Saratoga suburban corridor, perhaps – ought to take place by design or with intention rather than by accident or through inadvertence.
“Tourism has been the lifeblood of this community. If we get to a point down the road – even if it’s 50 years down the road – where we truly are a bedroom community and visitors no longer stay here, our residents will feel the impacts. We need a vision for the next twenty years, one that could emerge if we were to update the comprehensive plan.”
370 New Housing Units
According to documents submitted to Lake George’s Department of Planning and Zoning, the Ellsworths are proposing a mixed-use, high-density Planned Unit Development that would include 180 apartments in two three-story buildings, 40 multifamily quadplex units, a three-story building containing 100 senior housing units and a mixed-use building with approximately 10,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space and 20 residential units. A residential portion of the project lying within the 61.5-acre parcel but outside the PUD and in the town’s Residential High Density zoning district would add 34 to 36 two-family dwellings.
The two-family homes outside the PUD in the Residential Zone would be built to be sold; all other units would be rentals, Jon Lapper, the Ellsworths’ attorney explained.
“Those are two very different markets,” said Lapper.
The Ellsworths said the variety of housing that would be offered through the development would accommodate any number of lifestyles and appeal to a range of consumers – first time home buyers, professional couples wishing to live near Lake George, families with school-aged children and senior citizens.
“There’s definitely a need for more long term, market rate rentals in Lake George,” said Jon Lapper. “These would be for families. It’s important that we bring more kids into the school district.”
Lake George is especially in need of housing for families whose children will enroll in Lake George schools, affirmed real estate broker Dan Davies, who attended a preview of the development at an August 11 meeting of the Planning Board.
For Dan Barusch, the question is not whether more housing is needed, but, rather, whether the housing being proposed for Lake George – at Magic Forest and elsewhere – will attract the population the community believes it needs to prosper.
“Until a housing project is completed, it’s tough to say who, precisely, will utilize it,” he said. “Until then, we won’t know if it will help (the deficit in available and income-appropriate housing).”
Waterkeeper’s Concerns
Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky has concerns of his own – such as the wastewater treatment plant’s capacity to serve the Magic Forest development, other new housing projects in the pipeline and expanded sewer districts, such as those proposed for the Lake Shore Drive corridor.
“I’m also concerned about the project’s impacts on the environment,” said Navitsky, who noted that the project lies within the watershed of East Brook.
“From our studies and those of the Jefferson Project, we know that East Brook is one of the tributaries of the lake most impacted by development. How will that be protected?” Navitsky said.
Navitsky noted that the town’s 2021 ordinance authorizing PUDs “encourages” the application of Low Impact Development (LID) principles when developing or redeveloping properties.
“The biggest threat to the water quality of Lake George is stormwater runoff; LID responds to that by incentivizing developers to work with nature rather than against nature,” said Navitsky. “I will be reaching out to the Ellsworths to encourage them to incorporate those principles in their design and construction.”
According to Jon Lapper, the Ellsworths would welcome such a conversation.
The project’s design team is also accustomed to working with strict development standards, he said.
Phased Construction
According to Lapper, applications to begin construction of the two-family units outside the PUD could be submitted to the town as early as this fall, contingent upon the completion of engineering plans.
The PUD, which will trigger an analysis and assessment by the Adirondack Park Agency and require its approvals, will be reviewed at a later date, Lapper said.
In the mwan time, the theme parks will operate as usual, the owners said.
The Rise and Fall of Magic Forest
Magic Forest was one of the last of the many theme parks that once dotted the Adirondack landscape, from Story Town and Animal Land, Gaslight Village, Time Town and Indian Village in the Lake George area to Frontier Town, Land of Make Believe and Santa’s Workshop north of Lake George. It opened in 1963 as “Christmas City USA, featuring a Santa’s Village” on 24 acres west of the Delaware and Hudson tracks, on Route 9, at the time the busiest highway from New York to Montreal. It also came to incorporate Indian Village, a Lake George attraction that opened in 1952 and closed after a 1958 fire.
Owner Jack Gillette considered the park’s evergreen forest one of its greatest assets.
“I never cut a tree to make room for a ride or a figure; I cut as few branches as I can,” Gillette told the Lake George Mirror for a 2017 profile.
Even then, he believed the park’s days were numbered.
“Families are just smaller than they once were,” he told the Mirror. “A family’s time with young children is shorter today than it was when there were four kids or more ranging in age from two to twelve.”
The Mirror’s profile concluded, “You may want to visit Magic Forest before it disappears.”
