Josh Parnes, left, and Martin Schapira stand on a frozen Big Tupper Lake, with Mount Morris — on which the Big Tupper ski area is built — in the background on Feb. 14, 2021. The two own property on Big Tupper Lake and have been coming to the town for the past seven years. They purchased the Big Tupper ski area at auction for $650,000 on Tuesday. (Provided photo — Martin Schapira)

MALONE — The Big Tupper Ski area and three smaller nearby parcels were sold at auction by Franklin County here on Thursday.

Josh Parnes and Martin Schapira, two longtime friends who both live in Jackson, New Jersey, were the highest bidders for the Big Tupper Ski area, as well as parcels on Cranberry Pond and 1715 state Route 30.

Parnes and Schapira plan on restoring the ski area for public access, without overdeveloping it. Parnes was happy and relieved when they learned they had the high bid for the ski hill.

“Our biggest fear, in talking to the town, was that we were going to have someone come in, not understand the local community,” he said. “Not understand the actual mountain and the physical beauty of it, and have a big developer come in and really screw it up.”

The Big Tupper Ski area sold for $650,000 after several bids lifted the price from its $468,873.71 starting ask. The initial amount was calculated based on the taxes and penalties owed to the county on the property from previous owners, according to Franklin County Treasurer Fran Perry.

Parnes and Schapira purchased the Cranberry Pond parcel for $45,000 and a separate plot of vacant commercial land on Tupper Lake at 1715 state Route 30 for $170,000. The Cranberry Pond had a starting bid of $15,912.93 and the 1715 state Route 30 land had a starting bid of $148,987.30.

Parnes said the 1715 state Route 30 purchase was unrelated to their Big Tupper ski area plans. He said they bought that parcel to have more direct access to the homes they already own — which are on islands and only accessible by boat.

Anne Klimek — from Monroe, North Carolina — placed the high bid of $50,000 for a 300-square foot waterfront parcel along state Route 30. Parnes and Schapira did not bid on that parcel, and don’t have a connection to her.

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Big Tupper plans

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Parnes and Schapira’s philosophy for Big Tupper revolved around not getting out over their skis.

“Our whole concept is less is more,” Schapira said. “We’re not a fan of overdevelopment. We feel that the whole reason people come to Tupper Lake is its jaw-dropping beauty and nature. We would like to blend it with nature as much as possible. We’re not looking at this as ‘how do we get rich by exploiting the mountain’ type of a deal.”

Parnes, 45, is a healthcare executive, while Schapira works in real estate and property design. Parnes said that their professional successes have allowed them to be in a financial position to purchase the ski area with the intention of having “community, not profit,” as their priority as they work to re-open it.

“One of the reasons we bid it was defensive: we really, really, really did not want it to get into the wrong hands,” Parnes said. “Particularly, a developer that’s not going to do the right thing for the town, the area and the nature of it.”

The duo said they’ve done their research on the mountain’s history, and even reached out to town, county and state officials throughout the past few months, shortly after they learning Big Tupper was going to be auctioned. They askedfor advice on whether this could be a feasible project for them, and what assistance might exist from the local governments.

Parnes said their hope is to potentially operate the ski area as a public-private partnership.

“Obviously, there was only so much they could do before they knew who was actually going to win the auction, but they’ve all been great and really helpful so far,” he said.

Parnes worked with government officials and Rob Gillis, as his real estate agent, and said it was crucial to understanding the mountain’s sentimental value as a source of pride for the community.

“We know there’s a lot of people counting on us to get this done and get this done right,” he said. “We’re going to do whatever we can to make that happen.”

They feel they have a lot of support from Tupper Lake and Franklin County, and will continue to lean on that given they don’t have a background in ski center operations.

“We needed to get up to speed on what went wrong the first time,” Parnes said. “Even then, before we really dug into it, Martin and I kind of had this intuition where ‘That was way too big of a development idea. The concept of revitalizing the area is, of course, great, but it was too much, and I think its failure kind of speaks to that.””

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Community connection

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Parnes and Schapira first became acquainted with Tupper Lake nearly seven years ago when they were vacationing with their families in Lake Placid.

Parnes said they both are avid outdoorsmen who enjoy hiking and fishing, and were looking for the best lakes in the Adirondacks, and were recommended to check out Tupper Lake.

“We really fell head-over-heels for Tupper Lake, both in terms of the natural beauty of its lakes and the character of the town and its people,” he said.

They’ve made several more trips to the town, and eventually decided to purchase second homes. They often come up with their families in the summer, as well as in the winter to ice fish and snowmobile.

“We have a number of kids who are at that age where they just love fishing, hiking, softball games with the Riverpigs, and just the whole vibe of Tupper Lake,” Parnes said.

Parnes and Schapira thought it was important to create a different upbringing for their kids, unlike the one the experienced as children.

“We both grew up in working-class families in Queens and Brooklyn,” Parnes said. We never really experienced the Adirondacks until our 20s, we didn’t have that luxury growing up as kids.”

“Tupper Lake is the perfect place for us,” he added. “It has let us establish roots for our kids to have really fun, healthy and nature-oriented summers.”

Shapira said if it wasn’t for his kid’s schooling, he’d probably be living in Tupper Lake full-time now. He eventually plans to move there.

“I’ve been all over the world, to so many places that are considered to be among the most naturally-beautiful spots to visit,” he said. “I’m going to say something extreme: I consider the Adirondacks and Tupper Lake to be at the tippidity top of that list.”