A 400-unit apartment complex on the former site of a Ramada Inn in Lake George will, if approved and built, double the number of long-term rentals within the town, increase the number of households by one third and help stabilize a falling population of school-aged children.
And according to Assemblyman Matt Simpson, the complex could be a model for other Warren County communities along the I-87 corridor contending with a lack of housing and declining school enrollments.
“We see these types of developments extending northward from Albany; they’re providing homes for the kind of people that our area needs if we’re to grow,” said Simpson.
The proximity of the site to Exit 21 of I-87 will enable the apartments to serve a wider geographic territory than just Lake George, and its location within the Town of Lake George will make it an attractive option even for those whose workplace is an hour away, said Joe Gross, the owner of the property and its developer.
Gross told the Lake George Planning Board that if he has all the necessary permits in hand by autumn, 2025, he would expect construction to begin in phases in spring, 2026 with renters signing leases and taking occupancy of the first units in 2027.
Gross and his team – attorney Jon Lapper, engineer Brandon Ferguson and project manager Zach Layton – appeared before the board on March 11 to introduce a proposal for a Planned Unit Development, which, if approved, will allow for greater density at the 33.6-acre site than conventional zoning codes would ordinarily permit.
The process of winning approvals for a development of this size is a complex one, requiring multiple studies, detailed plans and public hearings, said Dan Barusch, Lake George’s Director of Zoning and Planning.
In addition to permits from the Town, approvals will be required from the Adirondack Park Agency (APA), the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).
Zach Layton said the team was undeterred by the prospect of a lengthy approval process. “This is a big project for Lake George, and we want to make certain that it is done correctly,” he said.
The apartments, in clusters of three-story buildings, will vary in size from one to three bedrooms, Layton said.
Under the terms of Lake George’s Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance, the apartments cannot be rented on a short-term basis to vacationers, even if the PUD is within a commercial zone.
“These PUDs are meant to be rentals for people in this community,” said Dan Barusch.
That is the apartment complex’s target market, said Zach Layton.
“We’re not interested in building the premium-priced town homes that you will find in Saratoga,” said Layton. “These are intended to be homes for firefighters, nurses, schoolteachers; in other words, homes for the workers who will help this community grow.”
“The last thing we want to see are conditions common in resort areas like Aspen or Lake Tahoe, where people have to drive hours to work here. We want our workers to be locals,” said Layton, a Lake George native and a graduate of Lake George High School.
“My goal is to attract people who are raising children and who may be saving up to buy a house,” said Joe Gross. “It’s difficult in Lake George to find an affordable rental for twelve months of the year.”
Complex Will Serve Local Needs
According to Warren County Planner Ethan Gaddy, the developer’s decision to market the apartments to people who may have grown up in the community, who work in the area and who will send their children to local schools appears to have helped mute opposition to the project.
“People don’t want more housing for its own sake; they want more housing for locals,” said Gaddy.
A number of studies have identified a need for long-term rentals in the Adirondack Park, Warren County and in Lake George for year-round residents, said Gaddy.
According to Warren County’s Housing Needs Study, issued in 2023, the supply of rental units in the Lake George region is limited and comparatively expensive. Rents have increased by 22 to 41% over the past few years.
The 400 apartments in Lake George will, if built, increase the stock of market rate rentals in Warren County by 17%, according to data supplied by the study’s authors.
The Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board’s 2023 analysis, “Building Balanced Communities for the North Country: An Economic Analysis of Housing Needs,” found that the area will need 7500 new housing units over the course of the next decade to support the workforce that the region will require. More long-term rentals will help, the Board’s Senior Planner, Allison Gaddy, said, who noted that the Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board has been awarded a $500,000 grant by The Northern Border Regional Commission to establish a Revolving Loan Fund to construct long-term rental units in Warren and four other counties.
Dan Barusch said his community’s 2023 Workforce Housing Market Study identified a need for more than six hundred long-term rentals to meet its needs.
A Response to the High Costs of Single-Family Homes
According to the 2023 “Housing Needs Study,” a year-round renter in Warren County is likely to pay between $1,000 and $2,000 per month. The median price for a home in Lake George, exclusive of houses fronting the lake itself, is $450,000, placing a single-family home beyond the reach of many working families.
“Lake George is becoming a community of second homeowners,” said Joe Gross. “It’s become impossible for many people to move here. It’s a hard place to start a family.”
“The housing market for families is all but non-existent,” said John Luthringer, the superintendent for Lake George schools.
According to Dan Barusch, a person making $40,000 to $60,000 per year in Lake George, working in retail, health care or in professional services, is unlikely to be able to finance a home in that community. “A person with that level of income is much more likely to be able to afford a rental,” said Barusch, discussing the reasons why Gross’ 400-unit apartment complex will help alleviate Lake George’s housing deficit.
The rents at his complex will be similar to those in other complexes in the area, said Joe Gross.
“If people are to rent here rather than Queensbury or South Glens Falls, the rents have to be attractive,” said Gross. “The price structure has to be affordable.”
The Greying Population
The population of Lake George is greying. The median age is 54. According to John Taflan, Warren County Administrator, the housing shortage in Lake George and other Warren County communities can be traced in part to the aging population. “As people retire, they’re staying put,” Taflan told the Lake George Mirror. “An aging population limits the stock of available, affordable housing for young people.”
That trend is especially pronounced in Lake George, said John Luthringer, “In the past, people might down-size and move away. But Lake George is a place that people love. It’s a wonderful place to live. So they’re staying in their homes and as a result, there is less inventory for families,” he said. Even if new single-family homes could be constructed cost effectively, the lack of available vacant space in Lake George would inhibit that type of development, Luthringer added. And because the housing supply is limited, the competition for existing homes is intense, said Ethan Gaddy, noting that working families are often outbid by those with deeper pockets.
(Though the proliferation of Short-term rentals has had a significant impact upon the stock of available housing in much of Warren County, their impact is limited in Lake George. Of the seven towns that have adopted Short-term rental regulations, only Lake George employs zoning to prohibit them in strictly residential neighborhoods.)
Stabilizing the School Population
Less than 15% of the population of Lake George is school-aged. The Lake George schools now have a population of 630, a 42.7% decline over a twenty-year period.
“Lake George has the best school district in the entire region,” said Joe Gross. “We just need to get more children here.”
School superintendent John Luthringer believes Gross’ apartment complex may do just that: “get more children here.”
“This very well could be the game changer for this school district,” said Luthringer. “If we get even one hundred students, the school population will stabilize instead of dropping every year or so.”
Utilizing Grants and Incentives
The complex will be served by the Lake George Village Wastewater Treatment Plant and, ultimately, the Lake George Water District.
According to Ethan Gaddy, the cost to bring municipal water to the apartment complex is likely to exceed $1 million. He said Warren County’s Department of Planning and Community Development is actively engaged in identifying grants that could help defray those costs.
“The lack of adequate infrastructure is one of the barriers to the production of housing,” said Gaddy, noting that new funding is available from the state to help counties pay for infrastructure that will facilitate the construction of affordable housing.
The developers have also discussed available incentives with the/Washington Industrial Development Agency and the Warren County Economic Development Corp (EDC) that could limit the project’s tax liabilities.
“The cost of engineering and securing permits is substantial; before you even put a shovel in the ground you’re looking at a significant investment, so the assistance of these agencies is vital,” said Layton. “Many of these projects wouldn’t happen otherwise.”
In return for some tax breaks, developers agree to cap rents for individuals or families whose incomes fall within or near the median range, said Ethan Gaddy.
(The Area Median Income (AMI) for a Warren County family of four is $92,000 per year, according to information supplied by Gaddy.)
“We have to Start Somewhere”
While 400 new apartments, even three-bedroom apartments designed for families with school-aged children, will not solve Lake George’s housing crisis, “it’s a start,” said Joe Gross.
“As of now, we have nothing. We have to start somewhere,” said Gross.
