Steve Thurston (2022)
The walls of Ice Castles grow in the background. The attraction is expected to draw 70,000 or more visitors to Lake George Village in coming weeks.
The Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center is looking for tax incentives on a $2.41 million plan to expand dining at the resort in Lake George Village. The property on the bluff overlooking Lake George would see an upgraded kitchen allowing year-round dining and a “three season porch” that wraps around two dining venues, the Tankard Taverne and the White Lion Restaurant, documents filed with the Warren and Washington Industrial Development Agency say.
The project is also currently before the Lake George Village planning board. The resort plans to begin work in February and finish in May.
Currently, the resort must close food service and the bar in the Tankard Taverne if the White Lion Restaurant, contiguous to the tavern, has a major event such as a wedding, the documents say.
"We would make sure there was a 'satellite' bar someplace,” when scheduling conflicts occured, said Kathryn Flacke Muncil, the CEO of the resort. Losing the restaurant revenue has been tough in those situations, and it does not serve the interests of the guests, she said.
The plan is to turn the Tankard Taverne into a full-time, year-round restaurant and bar, running from breakfast through late-night drinks. Currently it seats about 75. The White Lion Room will become the special events venue or be used as expanded space on busy evenings in the restaurant, she said.
Like other people interviewed recently in the Lake George area, she sees the region turning into a four-season destination.
"We open full time for the rest of the year starting next week,” Muncil said of the resort. This is partly attributed to the Ice Castles attraction that is literally growing at the Charles R. Wood Park in Lake George Village. Part ice sculpture garden, part fun-house, the attraction is expected to draw at least 70,000 people to the area in coming weeks.
Documents say the project should bring on three or four full-time employees after completion, at a salary range would be about $50,000 to $98,000. It’s a number Muncil called "a very very conservative estimate."
She told the WWIDA at a special meeting Monday Jan. 10 that the resort expects at least 25 fulltime jobs, once the project is fully running.
The kitchen is part of the original 1911 building and will be 50% larger than it currently is, with an updated sprinkler system, and it will give the tavern year-round food service. The renovations would provide a view of Lake George even during winter months.
"We want to make Lake George a foodie haven," Muncil said.
If approved, the tax incentives over 10 years would lower expected real estate tax payments, nearly $341,000, on the newly constructed portion of the resort by about $127,000. Sales taxes, estimated at $87,500 on construction materials and equipment, would zero out, and the company would receive a mortgage tax incentive of $16,250.
Taxes on the bulk of the real estate, about $200,000 on the current assessed value of $11.6 million, would remain the same. After 10 years, the entire building would be taxed at its full assessed value.
The tax incentives will help to keep the project on time, documents say. David O’Brien, the chair of the WWIDA, says that tax incentives are often used in exactly this way, to give the developer the impetus to build now, rather than wait.
"We appreciate when the government steps up and works with the private community, and that's what the IDA does," Muncil said.
The WWIDA will set a public hearing soon. They are waiting for the state to pass an extension of the rules that allow online, Zoom meetings, O’Brien said.