Syracuse, N.Y. -- 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 $3.2 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.
Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
