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Given the number of trucks that have hit the railroad bridge above it and the potential to loop the lake, I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens…County Executive pitches idea of shutting down Onondaga Lake Parkway to all traffic: https://www.localsyr.com/the-parkway...o-all-traffic/
From the article: " An Albany-based builder is proposing a residential development with a mix of nearly 600 apartments, townhouses and single-family homes in Lysander north of the Seneca River.
If built as proposed, it would rank as one of the largest proposed housing projects in Onondaga County in recent years, said Dan Kwasnowski, director of the Syracuse Onondaga County Planning Agency.
Lysander Town Supervisor Robert Wicks agreed it’s the largest he’s seen. He says the mix of housing proposed in this development is a sign of changing housing trends.
“The demand for 3,000-square-foot colonials is changing as people want more apartments, patio homes and townhomes,” he said. “And we need that here.”
Melvin Farms would be located on 292 acres of what is now vacant land at Hayes and Cold Springs roads in Lysander, off Route 370. Senior housing is also a part of the proposal.
Part of the project also includes more than $2 million in public sewage improvements — paid for by the developer — that would reach beyond the proposed development, according to the town supervisor. It would bring sewage infrastructure to two other housing developments and a nearby elementary school, according to Lysander Supervisor Roberts Wicks.
Another project proposed for the land in 2015 was rejected. It called for more than 400 single-family homes, and residents expressed opposition, in part citing increased traffic.
This proposal calls for more mixed-use housing and more dense housing as the region faces a housing shortage even before Micron Technology plans to build a giant computer chip fab just one town away.
The project calls for 590 housing units of varying styles, including 134 apartments designated for seniors, 168 garden apartments, 164 townhomes and 17 single-family homes.
The senior apartments would be in four, three-story buildings with about 30 units in each, according to plans submitted to the town. All of the new homes would rent or sell for at-market rate in the new development, which is east of Baldwinsville and about a mile from the Northwest YMCA.
The garden apartments would be in 24 buildings with about seven units each. Each building would be 2 1/2 stories high. The townhomes would have garages, and the development would include a swimming pool and clubhouse.
The size of the future development – and the number of housing units – is bigger than many others proposed over the past couple of years. Developers of ShoppingTown and Great Northern malls are promising upwards of 500 housing units each. Proposals to build housing near the current Lake Shore Country Club and another called LoSo near Oneida Lake – both in Cicero – also have fewer than 600 units.
Wicks said he still expects public opposition to the large-scale project. But he sees it as a bonus to residents. “The residents in that part of town really deserve to have sewers,” he said.
The target is to have the public sewers in by the end of 2024 or early 2025, Wicks said.
A public hearing on the $150 million proposed project is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lysander Town Hall. The hearing is required as part of the process for making the town the lead agency for environmental review purposes. More hearings will be held down the road.
Wicks said the property is zoned as “incentive zoning.” That’s a type of zoning in which a municipality will approve a specific feature — such as a tall building or dense housing — if the developer agrees to include public improvements as part of the subdivision.
In this case, Lysander would allow more density while the developer, Landmark Challenger LLC, would invest $2 million in infrastructure improvements, Wicks said.
That’s key to this project, Wicks said. He said the town has been negotiating and working with the developer for more than three years before the two agreed on a formal proposal. Covid also put the brakes on plans to move forward.
The 800 feet of sewer lines the developer will run, which the school and two neighborhoods can hook into, are all extras that Landmark doesn’t need for its housing development, Wicks said.
That area of the town doesn’t have public sewer lines, Wicks said. Two developments, Brickwalk and Amelia Park off Hicks Road, have dry sewers, which are not connected to a public system. This project would give them access, Wicks said.
Palmer Elementary School, which serves 500 students and is on a septic system, also could hook up, Wicks said. If Palmer Elementary wanted to hook up to existing sewer lines, the school would have to go north on Route 370 and spend nearly $200,000 to do so, Wicks said.
Landmark would need a pump station and plans to build one, Wicks said. Other neighbors, including the school, will benefit from the new station, he said.
The pump station would be on Hayes Road, and the lines would run north and south from 370 along Hayes Road to where the road bends, Wicks said.
Mario D’Arrigo, a lawyer hired to represent the developer, said the property is separated by Hayes Road. It runs along both sides of the road.
The project would help housing for seniors, and also give people working at Micron places to live.
“We need senior housing out there,” he said. “Also, there’s a shortage of housing, and this would definitely help.”
D’Arrigo said the developer would like to start work in the next several months, once the project is approved by the town.
D’Arrigo said he doesn’t know if the developer would ask for any tax breaks from Onondaga County, but said the developer “isn’t eliminating the possibility” of doing so.
Before final approvals, the developer must undergo a site plan review with the town’s planning board. No zone change is needed for the housing development."
"Less than two months after Micron Technology announced plans to build a mammoth semiconductor plant in Clay, a Texas group scooped up a closed Syracuse country club for more than $3 million in hopes of cashing in on the project’s impact on Central New York’s housing market.
The Frisco, Texas, group bought the former LaFayette Hills Golf & Country Club from local real estate investor Mike Muraco on Nov. 22, according to records filed with the Onondaga County Clerk’s Office.
That was just seven weeks after Micron picked Central New York as the future home for thousands of expected computer chip-making workers.
John Christopher, the listing broker on the LaFayette Hills transaction, said the buyers are investors who acquire land around the country and then sell it after preparing the properties for redevelopment.
The group bought the 158-acre former country club along Lafayette Road after learning of Micron’s plans for the region, Christopher said. They see the hillside property as an ideal location for homes and apartments that could help meet the housing demand Micron is expected to create in Onondaga County, he said.
“They jumped right on it as soon as they heard about Micron coming here,” he said.
Already, the group of out-of-state investors is looking to cash in by getting the land ready for residential development and flipping it to a developer or builder. They have listed the site for sale, with a heavy focus on Micron’s expected impact on demand for housing.
“MICRON COMING TO CENTRAL NEW YORK !!!!!!!! Demand for housing will be HUGE. Rare opportunity to purchase one of the largest tracts of land in Onondaga County,” a listing on LoopNet states.
The Texas group’s purchase of the shuttered golf course could be a sign of things to come.
Mary Thompson, executive officer of the Home Builders and Remodelers of Central New York, said she expects to see more investors from outside the area buy up land in hopes of cashing in on Micron’s arrival.
“I do think we are going to see some of that, and it’s disheartening because we have so many local developers who know how to develop land and they also build,” she said.
She said outside investors may have an advantage over local builders in acquiring large tracts of land.
“A lot of the out-of-town folks have very deep pockets,” she said.
On the other hand, outside investors may not realize how time-consuming and costly it can be to obtain zoning, site plan, traffic, environmental, utility and other municipal approvals needed to build a housing development in New York, she said. That’s especially true when a proposed development, particularly one that includes multi-family housing, draws opposition from neighbors, she said.
But Lynnore Fetyko, CEO of the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors, said out-of-town investors are a good thing for the area because their money can help speed up the building of housing that will be need by the workers Micron will attract.
“Quite frankly, we’re going to need the help from outside investors,” she said. “I don’t see a downside to any of this.”
She said that’s true even for investors willing to put in the time and money required to prepare a property for development, even if they do not plan to do the building themselves.
“That’s the grunt work,” she said. “It’s not easy.”
LaFayette Hills is the second closed golf course in Central New York that has been purchased by investors looking take advantage of Micron’s impact. Billionaire scrap dealer Adam Weitsman and business partner Jeff Knauss recently bought the Caughdenoy Links Golf Course in the Oswego County town of Hastings, just seven miles from the planned Micron site.
Caughdenoy Links closed last year. Weitsman and Knauss said they have no specific plans for the land but said it would likely provide housing or business space as Micron opens and grows.
The Texas investors group wasted no time getting into the Central New York real estate market following Micron’s announcement.
It formed a limited liability company, Estates at New York, on Oct. 13, just one week after Micron announced it had picked the Syracuse suburb of Clay for a massive semiconductor plant. The new company closed on the golf course just a month later, according to a deed filed with the county on Dec. 20.
Micron, the biggest U.S. memory chip company, said the plant will cost up to $100 billion to build and will create up to 50,000 direct and support jobs over the next 20 years.
The project is expected to drive demand for new housing for years to come. Onondaga County has created a $10 million fund to support new housing development.
Estates at New York acquired the former LaFayette Hill country club. Public records list its principal as Raju Padigala. Christopher said Padigala is part of a group of investors.
The group also recently purchased about 90 acres on Howlett Hill in Onondaga and is looking at land in nearby Oswego County, also with the idea of preparing them for housing developments, he said.
On the same day the investors formed Estates at New York, they formed another limited liability company named Estates at Micron. Public records do not show that entity associated with any properties yet.
The northern half of the former LaFayette Hills golf course is in the city of Syracuse and the southern half is in the town of Onondaga. Christopher said the Texas group has held preliminary discussions with city and town officials about building single- and multi-family housing at the site. Specific plans are probably six months off, he said.
The group likely would not develop the housing itself, he said. Rather, it would obtain the necessary municipal approvals, make the site shovel-ready, then flip the land to a builder, he said.
The former golf course is 18 miles south of White Pine Commerce Park, where Micron plans to build its mammoth semiconductor plant.
Muraco bought the country club in 2006 for $2.4 million and closed it in 2013. He blamed the closing on financial problems that followed the departure of his clubhouse tenant, Joe’s Restaurant, in 2011 and the lingering effects of a property tax dispute with the city of Syracuse and the town of Onondaga.
Muraco transferred the property to a trust, Royal Holdings DE LLC, in 2016.
In 2017, a Florida company considered building a factory that would make electricity-generating glass at the shuttered golf course, but it never followed through on the plans.
Since the country club’s closing, nature has reclaimed its lush fairways and vandals have wrecked its clubhouse, which once hosted weddings, proms and other events.
Christopher said the Texas group will soon demolish the clubhouse as part of its effort to prepare the property for redevelopment."
I also would not be surprised if another former golf course across Molloy Road from the Air National Guard Base down the road from Mattydale becomes developed with new housing or into a mixed use space as well in the near future.
“Clay, N.Y. - A developer is proposing to build a large apartment complex off Route 31 in Clay, with a portion of the property devoted to commercial/retail use.
That’s a change from what was first proposed by the developer for the 45 acres back in 2018. At that time, the Widewaters Group wanted to build a 100,000-square-foot-plus retail complex with restaurants and stores on the north side of Route 31 in Clay. There was no residential component at the time.
Now, Route 31 Widewaters/Whitestone Development Partners is proposing a commercial/retail section in the front part of the project, at 3715 Route 31, with apartments in the back. About one-third or a bit more would be devoted to retail, according to town officials.
The proposal calls for five four-story buildings with 220 units total, according to the proposal presented to the town of Clay planning board. The units would be one and two-bedroom units, although that could change as the proposal moves through the approval process, said Mark Territo, town of Clay planning commissioner.
Plans for the full retail complex never progressed, and then Covid delayed the project, Clay officials said.
The project is west of the existing Kohl’s plaza, and is located on land between Kohl’s plaza and Sharon Chevrolet. It’s about five miles from Micron’s future site.
The developer needs a zone change from the town to move forward with the apartments. The planning board has recommended the change, and now it’s up to the town to decide. If that goes through, site plan review would begin.
The developer could not be reached for comment. James Trasher of Clough Harbor Associates, representing the developer, told the board recently that sewers have been extended for the project. Trasher did not return calls from Syracuse.com”
So, it would be in the Liverpool SD, in between the Micron site and the village of Baldwinsville, with plenty of big box shopping nearby.
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