SARANAC LAKE —
Owners of Sears and the adjoining parking area on Main Street here have put the property up for sale.
The Sears building and its 1.4-acre lot are listed by Adirondack Premier Properties in Lake Placid for $819,000, Margie Philo, broker/owner of the real-estate company, confirmed Wednesday.
“The building is for sale, and the parking lot belongs to the building. It’s all one tax parcel; it’s never been separated.”
Sears franchise businessmen Phil Vivlamore of Potsdam and Larry Mullen of Malone have owned the landmark building, a former J.J. Newberry’s store, for about 18 months.
The parking lot was used for years as public parking in a lease agreement with the village.
But the nearly 100-spot downtown lot was barricaded in August after updated terms for continued lease or sale could not be settled with the Village Board.
Philo said the property owners were ready to divest and focus on other enterprises.
“I think the owners of the building would just like to simplify and move on.”
Despite any unresolved public-versus-private parking dispute, the Sears site has generated a huge amount of interest in a matter of days.
“It was listed Monday, and today’s Wednesday, and I can tell you right now we already have half a dozen people who have either seen or been given information on it,” Philo said.
“This morning, I came in to three phone calls and two e-mails expressing a desire to see the property. I am showing it today, and I have appointments tomorrow. We’ve already had an offer, and it has been turned down.”
The parking lot is part of what makes the site attractive and that has always belonged to the building, she said, of the deed on record.
But for 10 years, prior owners leased the lot to Saranac Lake for $150 per month. The village, in turn, provided ongoing maintenance.
When the lease expired in the spring, Vivlamore and Mullen sought $2,000 per month under roughly the same maintenance terms.
Village officials opted out.
The businessmen then presented the village with an offer to subdivide and sell the lot for a reported $232,000.
An appraisal placed its value closer to $200,000, village officials said.
A number of rights-of-way issues arose in the deal, including access rights to an underground liquid propane tank buried on the edge of the parking lot.
The tank supplies fuel to the building.
Negotiations have since broken down for any sale or lease agreement with the Village of Saranac Lake, and the property is now on the open market.
Concrete barriers remain in place at the parking lot entrance, allowing only patrons with business in the Sears building to park there.
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com