LAND 112 Acres: 

1. 1,194’road frontage. [3 Road-front lots, for additional businesses]. About 15 acres.

2. Lake View sloping fields for building, recreation, vineyards...  About 60 acres. Pond. 

3. Mature Woods. 30 acres

4. Walnut Seedlings. 10 acres. 

5. Two Entrances. 

6. Substantial Real Estate

7. Fastest growing Wine Trail in the United States.

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House #1  Air B & B * Turn-key * Fully Furnished

7 Bedrms. * 3 1/2 bth.* 4 powder rooms * Sleeps 18.

All rooms Lake view. 1790 Historic registry.

Stone steps to Grand Front entrance * Breakfast deck * Front porch w. ramp for rolling suitcases.

20'x20' fully stocked kitchen. Cherry shipwright built cabinets. 

Covered outside BBQ & dining area with native slate floor, lg custom cedar table & benches. 

Fire sitting area on deck w. Lake view also in Backyard.

Fully furnished. Wood floors throughout

Spacious Outside Staff Laundry * Inside Guest Laundry nook.

Dedicated Parking lot, + extra parking available for race car trailers etc. 

Workshop for onsite repairs & tool storage.

Carport

Customer base: Educational retreats for Wine Reps/NY city w. personal chef.   Family reunions (ramp allows for elders).  Wedding Parties for accommodations, bridal breakfast & getting ready. Multiple couples vacationing together. Race Car drivers w. their families, mechanic team & equipment. 

Rental period: I wanted to have Winters for my children. So I only allowed rentals for Summer-early Fall.   I usually booked 1 yr in advance. If I had less days than a group wanted, they usually would take the lesser days and stay somewhere else until SkyLand opened up. 

Most rentals were back to back. 

Guests always commented that it was much nicer than they could have anticipated. 

HobbyHouse for guests to store bikes and retrieve provided lawn games & toys.

Outhouse from 1790. 

5 fireplaces. Large attic w. stairs. Original Basement for furnace & 2 Hot Water Heaters.

[House was renovated by period-schooled craftsmen, brought in by the previous owner, who owned a marina. Hence the custom cherry kitchen cabinets made by his shipwright.]

 

 

House #2   Residence  or  Air B&B     [not furnished]

6 Bedrms/office *  2 1/2 bath

Full Outdoor Kitchen w. small rotating pizza oven, grill, fridge, stone sink, full kitchen cabinetry, granite Island & dining table. Removable enclosure for 3 season festive entertaining.

Spa-room w Hot-tub. Adirondack style rm off of Master Bed. Bay window overlooking Lake.

Raised Dining Rm w. built-in Walnut & floating Glass Display shelving, Propane fire place. 

Butlers Kitchen w. fridge, countertop, cabinets & sink. 

Bay window overlooking Seneca Lake in living room.

Entire house gutted, renovated & insulated completely w. 3inch thick spray foam for ultimate insulation.

Large sunken Fire/BBQ area, edged w. local stone, circular seating,  firewood storage.

Covered drive through Parking for: From car, to,  front door comfort. 

Additional dedicated Parking behind house.

 

House #3.   Tree Cottage   *  furnished

Spiral staircase leads up to first floor of two story tree cottage. Large covered wrap around deck  w.  Lake view.

Glass French doors lead into 1st floor cozy seating area.

Interior short ladder leads up to 2nd floor,  w. two twin (side by side) mattresses. 

Little desk/writing area by large halfmoon circular window overlooking Lake on 2nd floor. 

Additional Ground-level deck.

 

Large Fire-ring, Grilling, camp fire area    [partially furnished]

Step down, into 26‘ wide Camp Fire Area. Wrap around seating.

Tamped w. gravel. Encircled w. local stone.

Firewood storage on edge.

Intended for "enclosed" large or small BBQ's, Fires, and Fireworks

Located between House #2 and Tree Cottage. 

 

 

Award Winning ART GALLERY; 4500sq ft. Turn Key. Inventory ready. [Fully Furnished]

Art For Living Graciously: 

350 hand-chosen artists. Many semi-exclusive

Price points: $5.- to  $3,500.-

Focus on Handmade Local & NY art, wearables & food items. 

Open 2001-2019   Named jewel of the FingerLakes. Light of the FingerLakes. Countless awards, articles & VIP Destination.

 

1.      High-end Gallery upstairs /separate fine art gallery w. classical & local music.

2.      Garden Art & Sculptures: Hand-blown Glass, metal & stone sculptures. Located in Gardens & around walkways in front of Gallery.

3.      Sm. Commercial kitchen. Separate Delivery entrance, directly to back of Kitchen Area. 

4.      Hussman, Self-Serve Display Gelato Case, aesthetically built-in.

Dessert Display Case, Cooled.

Walk-in Cooler w. Anique Wooden Ice Door. 

5.      Former Café (presently retail) = ideal Tasting room. 

6.      Tiered Deck for 3 season Outdoor Tasting Room. Tiers give all guests unobstructed Lake View. (Ideal of tasting area / café) Formally seating was little sofas, porch swings, iron café tables for cozy seating for hungry guests & patient sleeping husbands, while wives shopped. 

7.      Tasting rm/Café is built around a two-story Oak Tree from property. Spiral Staircase winds around White Oak to second floor of Art Gallery.

8.    Large, 41'x16' ft, shipping, receiving & staging area. This roofed area has a large slider to allow for large shippments to be brought in, and is located on the entire South end of the Gallery. This makes for seamless entry into the store for staging & restocking.

9.      2inch foam board was sandwiched between original tin roof & new mental roof to insulate & preserve the visual beauty of the interior hand-hewn beams. Former Carriage House.

 

Inventory:

SkyLand’s inventory is one of the things that sets it apart from any business I have seen. It has taken years & years of forging special relationships with 100s of artists. It is extremely important to me that, if desired, these relationships can continue to thrive. I therefore have carefully set the gallery up to be turn-key with all inventory in place. The inventory is included. 

 

Accolades & Awards:

1.      National Geographic Traveler: Nominated & Chosen as 1 of 32 total sites to awarded. Award presented, in person, in ceremony by Lt. Gov of NY State in Albany NY.

2.      Book: Top Destinations. Chosen as one of the Top 10, for the region.

3.      AAA Auto Club Magazine

4.      Gourmet Magazine

5.      Countless Newspaper articles. Star Gazette & Ithaca Journal to name 2.

6.      Life in FingerLakes Magazine. And its 3 additional sister Magazines.

7.      Cosco, great-find, great foods

8.      Multitude of Magazine articles. (seemed like there was always someone coming in to do an interview.)

9.      Wife of former United States President: Hosted a 'not-to-be-disclosed to anyone' exclusive half day meeting & luncheon in Gallery. Closed luncheon for Cornell Univ. specialists & NY farming advisors. Personal vetting & security by entourage of Secret service. [I cooked a NY State themed ( rose=NY flower) luncheon for 30 guests].  She, subsequently Shopped at length, in the Gallery assisted by her personal aid. Then spent time w. my daughter feeding goats, until she was ushered back into her motorcade by her secret service. This dignitary asked to be driven 4 hrs out of her way for this, hush, exclusive event, soley at SkyLand.

10.  Corning NY city planners asked for a meeting in the hopes I would duplicate SkyLand on Corning’s Main street.

11.  Miami FL City planners, came to SkyLand in the hopes of creating a version of SkyLand for downtown Miami. 

12.  Daughter of Harley Davidson founder was driven out of her way, to SkyLand, as a must see.

13.   Numerous, Hall of Fame Race Car & Vintage Race Car Drivers made SkyLand their yearly destination to shop & stay.

14.  We frequently saw individuals with measuring tapes, notebooks & video equipment. It is so interesting that so many people wanted to duplicate SkyLand, but still, theft was non existent. 

15.  SkyLand brought out the best side of people. 

 

Bathroom:

Our Bathroom was lauded as a must-see, must-have experience. We made a little "yellow brick road" so customers could find it, (yellow floor stickers). It has a MacKenzie-Childs' fish sink, a pretty rack filled with rolled cloth hand towells, and a LINEUP of Soaps & Lotions. [Often, after our customers had checked out, they would run to our "Necessary Rm" to freshen up, only to return with their hands smelling of their new favorite soap & lotion scent.] Which resulted in a second or third purchase for them, on that day.   [Our soaps & lotions were never pinched. This is indicative of our customer base. I really felt like SkyLand brought out the best in everybody.]

 

Good-Will:

No theft. Zero. -This is unheard of. 

1 bounced check in 18 yrs.

No drunken behavior.

No unruly conduct.

Very, very, very loyal, repeat customer base. 

We heard multiple time/day, “we have been everywhere in the world, and we have never seen a place like this.”  We were told variations of this every single day, day in and day out. 

Word-Of-Mouth.

Our customers planned their vacations around our open days. 

 

Advertising: 

We did not advertise. 

SkyLand can soundly boast that guests pass the word. Our word-of-mouth is par none. And, once a guest has been here, they return, and return, and return. Our customers are our advertisement. We were consistently shown photos or told of seeing photos of SkyLand by people all of over the United States, Europe and Canada, prompting a "must-see visit'.

 

ST RT 414 is a constant stream of cars, Scenic By-Way, and runs North-South along Seneca Lake. 

Since men usually drive, and usually have more of a say as to where to stop, we parked a Model A Ford vintage Car out front. This allowed the men in the car who were new-comers to the area (and who had not yet heard of SkyLand) to stop, look under the hood etc, giving the wives free raign to shop.  Hence, we called the Model A, our "man trap". 

 

Customer Base:

Customers seemed to feel protective of the store & gardens. 

Customers would line up at the register to pet the star cat, Lava, who waited every morning for the onslaught of customers. Customers had their favorite cats and carried them around while shopping. No theft.

Customers planned their vacation around our open hours. 

99.9% of customers made purchases.

The majority of customers brought over 5 items to the register.

Many customers did their Christmas shopping for their entire family.

Because we had such high inventory, bosses, brides etc, would buy 20 or 30 of one item. 

We had wicker shopping baskets placed throughout. 

When a customer’s basket was full, we would swap it out for an empty one, and start packing their “treasures” up to decrease wait time, once they were ready to check out.

 

Surprisingly, husbands/men came back on their own to purchase things for themselves or buy gifts for their loved ones. [Substantial men’s section & gifts for men.]

We snuck many a gift secretly into car trunks while the wives were shopping upstairs.

The Gelato, desserts & couches made it ideal for husbands to nap on the deck while their wives shopped.

We were especially honored when children came to spend their birthdays and birthday money at SkyLand. 

 

Only One SkyLand

The Seneca Lake Wine-Trail is the fastest growing Wine Trail in the United States. There are currently between 50-60 Wine, Beer, Spirit related buisnesses around Seneca Lake alone. There is very little do to in between Wine Tasting. 

We found that everybody had their 3-4 favorite Wineries. [It is near impossible to visit more than 4 wineries... in a day]. But there was only One SkyLand, which offered a much needed break.

A) The customers that frequented the wineries... told us: "We come to our favorite Wineries... and SkyLand". 

      Everybody had a different fav 4. But they all had SkyLand in common !

B) We found that we actually drew customers to the wine-trail. And that these customers were a more sophistacated, high-ticket customer !

C) We also found that many of our customers came to SkyLand only, and did not frequent any of the wineries...

Again, we had zero poor behavior, zero theft, and 1 bounced check. We stood out as highly unusual in that regard. 

 

Open Hours:

From the 1st day we opened, I decided the Gallery would be a big enough attraction that it would only have to be open during peak times. It was a conscious decision in order to balance family with being open. It also created a scarcity & special feeling. Since the Gallery was so large, it could accommodate a lot of people in a short window of time, and create more than sufficient income. 

3 completely different customer bases according to season:

Spring: Open Fri, Sat, Sun  (Memorial Day-end of June) Most customers bought in quantity. 

Summer customers: open Wed-Sun   Almost all customers bought in quantity. (It was a rare, a bizarre event if someone left without purchasing. Just unheard.)  Average ticket between $20-$200. SkyLand brought in as much daily as one of the top wineries down the street who needed a large staff. SkyLand was run so effeciantly that we only needed two people on staff. Two cash registers running. Extremely foot-traffic busy.

Fall-Christmas: Serious buyers who bought high-end, average 15 items. Open only Fri, Sat, Sun.  Customer base more even paced, but most ticket sales between $400-$800. Dedicated, educated, serious buyers who drove every year from as far away as the Midwest and Canada to shop.  

 

Golden Corridor: SkyLand sits in the middle of what is generally referred to the Golden Corridor. This refers to the stretch along ST RT. 414 that is dotted with the most wineries, breweries & distilleries. [Seneca Lake is the Lake to have a business on. The Golden Corridor, is the stretch that is the Hot Spot on Seneca Lake.]

 

Internet:

About 4 yrs ago, Highspeed Fiber Optic Cable was run along ST RT 414, and made available to all business. SkyLand is connected to Highspeed Fiber Internet. 

 

 

TWO Micro Climates:

 

(1) Finger Lakes & (2) Banna Belt:

Due to the multitude of Lakes [10Lakes] & Depth [Seneca Lake is the deepest, 600'] of the FingerLakes, the temperature of this Lake region is quite temperate. Not much snowfall. Warmer Winters, and cooler Summers. The breeze running over the lakes, tempers the air [Seneca Lake does not freeze.] Ie, the weather is akin to a different, more moderated growing zone. Not cold & snowy like Buffalo to the north, nor cold & snowy like Pennsylvania to the south.

       SkyLand Estates is in the center of 2 mircro-climates. A second micro-climate within a  micro-climate: 

# 1.      Regional Micro climate from the FingerLakes, and the Estates close proximity to deepest Lake, Seneca Lake.

 

# 2.      Bannaa Belt: Additional Micro-Climate within the Regional Micro-Climate. This second micro-climate only 4 miles long, and runs along the Center portion of the Eastern side of Seneca Lake. Again, this is a small micro-climate within the larger Microclimate. 

The locals call this coveted 4 mile stretch, the Banana Belt. Skyland is exactly in the center of the Banana Belt /4 mile stretch. This gives the property an even more ideal advantage for stable & temperate growing, above the Region’s advantage.

 

Breeze

Due to the property’s closeness to Seneca Lake, there is almost always a breeze. This almost completely eliminates mold & fungus issues on grapes & fruit. 

 

Horses:

2-3 walk-out horse pastures. We used the lower Bankbarn for the Winter pasture, and the Southern Stall & pastures for the Summer pastures. We also had goats & sheep.

My daughter rode on the 112 acres. Additionally, the National Forrest is around the corner for more horse back riding with Horse trails & horse camping. 

 

Chickencoops:  

The property has two areas for chickens to safely forage outside during the day, and be inside during the night. We found that we could let the chickens run free within the enclosed horses, goats & sheep pastures. [Both chicken coops need updating & general repair.] 

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Spiral Staircase around White Oak Tree:

This talk-aboutable feature sets the tone for the Gallery/Café/Tasting rm. The “tree” is actually one trunk of a giant white oak off of the property. 

This "tree growing inside of the Cafe/Tasting Rm"  says it all for customers trying to describe SkyLand to others. 

The "tree" was carried, with a crane (Silverline), down from the woods, set in place, and then the Cafe/Tasting Rm was built around the tree. Subsequently, holes were painstaikingly drilled horrizontally into the White Oak (hard wood), Iron tubes, with welded stair tread supports, were nudged into the holes, roughcut stairtreads bolted on top, a local pond-silt seasoned grapewine added as railing, and reshaped wire fencing stapled into place under the railing and supports, to meet the 4" spacing safety code. 

 

 

Parking:

1. Two 1/2 Parking Lots with 2 entrances.  An inner drive connects both parking lots for easy in-out parking.

    Event parking for the Gallery. [Grass]

2. Both Houses also have dedicated parking.

3. I have hosted Tri-County Corvette Club events with over 200 cars. Easy, spacious, & showcase parking for all corvettes, in addition to the regular customers. 

4. Even more parking could easily be created by the Upper Barn, if it were to be a Wedding Venue

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Warehouse:

Used to be a Grape Juice Plant. Cement floor, two story, lab room. Board & Batten. Oversize door for large equipment. Cistern.  Railroad ballast driveway to handle heavy trucks. 

 

Bank Barn:

Two story barn. Separate areas for Chickens, goats, sheep, horses on ground floor. 

Second story would be ideal for Weddings since it is its own dedicated space. 

 

Equipment Shed:

Four bay, drive in shed for equipment. One bay has been turned into a stable, and one into a horse grooming/Ferrier area. 2 bays for mowers, hay, wood etc. 

 

Pond:

The pond was stocked 15 yrs ago from Cornell Ag Extension fishlings & not fished, so the fish are sizeable. Currently it is filled with Large, Largemouth Bass, Grasscarp, Bullhead, Sunfish, & Perch. 

One can row small boats on the pond & ice skate on it during, a short stint, in winter.

One could incorporate the pond into a wedding scene if desired due to its closeness to the Barn. Deer come down to drink from the pond. It is a good place to release ducklings, after they have grown a bit.

 

Woods:

30 acres of woods. Amazing deer, pheasant hunting and turkey hunting. 2 Tree stands. 

To the West of the woods, behind the woods, are another 10 acres of an experimental Walnut tree grove, by Cornell Ag.

 

Satellite - Invisible fencing for dogs:

Property has invisible fencing for dogs so they can run “free”. This invisible fencing has no yearly fees & the boundaries can be re-drawn via computer if desired. No underground wires. The antenna linked to the satellite is located in the attic of the Air B&B.

 

Water:

All of SkyLand’s runs off of city water, which comes from Seneca Lake.

 

If irrigation were needed, this property is lucky concerning water. 

Well water is plentiful with many old, hand-dug wells. Also, the water is clean since the property slopes up on all sides, North-to-South, and East-to-West. 

 

Organic:

SkyLand could easily work under Organic Certification since the water is clean, there is no run off from other properties, it has not been commercially sprayed in 30+ years, and the constant breeze prevents stagnant air around the fruit, thereby eliminating the need for high volume spraying. 

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Historic:

The area, and the land SkyLand Estate sits on, was inhabited by the Seneca Indians. (Hence Seneca Lake)

       After the Revolutionary war, many who served in the war, were paid in land. William Wickham chose the tract of land that has been known as SkyLand Estate, for close to 30 years. 

An Official Plaque, across the street signifies that William Wickham, was the first settler in the area. He built the first Cabin in the area. This Cabin, is the 1791 portion of the (now House #1) .  It was a large cabin, with a sleeping loft, a Hearth and the adjoining bread oven. Naturally it pre-dates the distribution of electricity.

        The first Non-Native-American child was born in this cabin, and named Hector. Hence, the Township of Hector. 

        The sleeping-loft, was used as part of the Secret Underground Railroad, smuggling slaves North. The previous owners, 30yrs ago, did not even know this loft existed, since a large armoire covered its entrance. [The sleeping loft is now a spacious bedroom, with a king sized bed, direct lake view, and its own spiral staircase leading up to what we call, The Secret Room.]

       In 1810, the Greek Revival portion of the house was added, with the obligatory ornate parlor, bedrooms, fireplaces, but no bathrooms. 

The 2 Parlor door locks are one-of-a-kind, hand forged, 1810, museum quality, period locks. 

The wooden door leading into the portion built in 1810, is worn where one's thumb must rub, in order to open the period latch. 

The Main Entrance Door lock is also hand forged, period, 1810, quite large, and has a hand-forged giant key.

     House #1 was restored by Craftsmen specializing in period restoration.

     [There large & small old blacksmithing tools in the warehouse]

 

       The Estate served as a summer residence for the oldest family in the area. [Earl of Wickham. Then the former Ely-Wickam place] The Estate boasted fruit orchards and dairy cows. 

 

       The Lehigh Valley Railroad used to pass through the Estate. [Elmira & Seneca Lake Railway Co] The railroad ties have long been removed, making it into a magical, tree shaded walking/riding trail. Previously however, in order to bring the cows down off of the pasture and into the still existing large Bankbarn, a Tunnel was built under the Railroad. This sturdy tunnel still exists. 20' long. 7' high. 8' wide.

Apparently, the train would come to a halt in the middle of the Estate, so the Railway conductor could have his dinner on the estate, since the lady of the house (now House #1) was an extraordinary cook. 

    House #2 used to be the Fruit Packing House and residence for the Farm Hands.

    The current two-story Art Gallery, used to be the Carriage House in which the horses and carriages were kept.

A Sled for ice transport, from an ice transport business up the road, is still on the property.

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Additional Potential:

 

1.      Weddings: I was asked often for weddings in gorgeous, stunning lake view upper floor of the Bank Barn. 

2.      Micro Brewery/Winery/Distillery in the warehouse. 

3.      Camping in the upper fields.

4.      Grape, hops, fruit trees in the fields.

5.      The entire warehouse, or, upper floor of the warehouse, could, with the addition of a large deck off of the upper floor, become a breathtaking, lakeview Restaurant, Bar, Dancing/Entertainment venue. Again, this would be a seperate venue, and not interfere with the other income sources. 

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Pricing:

The price is all inclusive, to the best of my knowledge, and, is inclusive, written above, to the best of my knowledge.

Serious inquiries only, after submitted financials.

Showing by appointment only. 

All inclusive Price $9,230,000.-

Contact us skylandestateny@gmail.com