The $20M mansion on the lake: It’s the new king of Skaneateles’ upscale homes

Skaneateles, NY — It’s first thing Monday morning and master mason Klodian Sadikaj — an Albanian native brought to Skaneateles from Massachusetts just for this project — kneels over a lump of granite with a chisel. He works quietly and alone, chipping away at the lump, hand-carving it into the weekend breakfast nook of Upstate Shredding owner Adam Weitsman.

Sadikaj is just one of many craftsmen brought to the construction site at 45 West Lake St. to create what is likely going to be the grandest and most expensive single-family home in Central New York: a 12,309-square-foot lakefront mansion, estimated to cost $20 million.

“It wasn’t my intention to build that,” Weitsman, 41, said. “I’ll probably live in 400 square feet of it. … As long as I have my XBox, I’ll be all set.”

Weitsman, who lives in Owego in the Southern Tier, won’t talk about the cost of the project, saying that would be insensitive while the rest of the country is in a recession. Several people deeply involved with the project, though, say the tab is coming in at $20 million.

But while Weitsman won’t talk about money, he did give The Post-Standard exclusive, carte blanche access to the project.

The grandest single-family home in Central New York is being built for Adam and Kim Weitsman on West Lake Street along Skaneateles Lake. Weitsman owns Upstate Shredding, a scrap metal recycling company based in Owego with six plants in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York. Phoots of the house were taken March 2.

His general contractor on the project, James Falso, of James V. Falso Construction in Skaneateles, took the newspaper on a tour of the site, pointing out some of the most unusual features:

This house will not have a speck of Sheetrock on the walls, just hand-pulled plaster and black walnut paneling. The glass in the 20-foot atrium window is not factory-made but hand-blown. Copper detailing for the exterior is being pre-aged in a controlled environment so that it will have the ideal green patina. And a horticulturist in Boston is growing ivy so that it can age long enough to be pinned to the house in a year.

Gas-flame lanterns will light the entrances. Hand-turned, stone balusters line a 100-foot-long porch. Mahogany brackets support the slate roof.

“We’ve done beautiful houses before,” Falso said, pointing out other houses around the lake he’s constructed. “But I’ve never done anything as detailed and as beautiful as this.”

Plans for the house

Weitsman bought three adjoining plots on West Lake Street that together total four acres. He purchased the first property at 45 W. Lake St. in August 2007 for $4.9 million. In January 2009, he bought 43 W. Lake St. for $2.1 million. Then, last July, he bought the 10-foot connection between the first two plots. In 2009, he tore down the house at 43 W. Lake St. and all but tore down the 8,679-square-foot house at 45 W. Lake St., save for a few beams. Therefore, it’s technically a remodeling project but, in all practicality, it’s a newly constructed house.

Weitsman hired Meyer and Meyer, a Boston architectural firm, to design the project. Barry Hamel, an independent architect from Aurora, is on site full time to coordinate the plans and their execution with Falso.

Weitsman said the project has been ongoing for two years and is probably another two years from completion. He said he went back and forth among the village’s planning, zoning and historic preservation boards more than 20 times before the final plans were approved last year.

The board’s changes, he said, bettered the project. The house will look historic and fit in with the character of the village.

Bigger than big

“It’s going to be the biggest single family residence on the lake,” said Jorge Batlle, the codes, building and zoning officer for the village.

The 12,309-square-foot house nudges out the Congel family’s 9,856-square-foot Skaneateles mansion at 3150 W. Lake Road in the Sandy Beach portion of Skaneateles Lake as the biggest house on the lake. However, the Congels’ property includes 82 acres of land.That property is assessed at $11.6 million.

Weitsman’s plans, filed with the village, sketch a 714-square-foot fitness and yoga center, a 180-square-foot wine cellar, a 400-square-foot spa with a bathtub surrounded by a curtain of rain, a 616-square-foot media room and a 250-square-foot bar. And that’s just the basement.

The rest of the stone-facade house has a porte-cochere (a covered “coach gate” porch at the main entrance), two grand staircases, a library, two kitchens, four bedroom suites, five fireplaces, staff quarters, a three-story atrium and heated decks that never need shoveling.

The house is about 60 percent complete, Weitsman said.

“This is going to be the last house I ever live in,” he said. “My grave will probably be in there before it gets done.”

Garden artistry

With 4 acres and about 500 feet of level Skaneateles Lake frontage, the property lends itself to master gardens.

The front yard will feature a long, winding driveway that leads through a vineyard, under the porte-cochere and into a two-car, detached garage. A 42-foot pergola, woven with climbing plants and lined with columns, will offer outdoor entertaining space that overlooks a koi pond and water fountain.

A wall of hedges, with archways carved through the middle, will lead to a second garden area with a large lawn that slopes down to the lake. Stone walls and stairs will differentiate the various sections of garden.

Weitsman said his favorite part of the house is the gardens. His wife, Kim, loves wildflowers, he said, so the garden will be filled with them.

Who is Adam Weitsman?

Adam Weitsman might be the richest guy you’ve never heard of. And guess how he made his millions: collecting junk.

Weitsman owns Upstate Shredding, which recycles scrap metal in Owego. His father and grandfather owned Ben Weitsman and Son, also a junk metal scrap company in the Southern Tier. When the elder Weitsman retired, Adam Weitsman merged the companies. He said he works 90 hours a week, running six plants in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York. His newest plant opened in January in Solvay.

Adam Weitsman, owner of Upstate Shredding, is shown at his scrap metal processing plant in Owego.

The company is growing rapidly as recycling and the green building movement becomes in vogue. His company plans to expand north through Upstate New York and into Canada, he said.

He recently married and has an 8-month-old daughter.

This house is going to be his weekend home, he said. Because his work schedule is so demanding, he doesn’t have the luxury of traveling more than an hour away from the nearest plant. So, on Thursdays, he said he’ll come to Central New York to work out of the Solvay plant and spend what little time he has off in Skaneateles.

Weitsman also has a criminal record, for which he openly assumes responsibility. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to federal charges that he operated a check-kiting scheme that illegally inflated the balances in accounts he had at DeWitt-based Community Bank and the former BSB Bank & Trust in Binghamton. He paid a $1 million fine and spent a year in federal prison.

The crime occurred in 1997 and 1998, when he was in his 20s, and he deeply regrets it, he said in an interview last year.

“I was 100 percent guilty, and I shouldn’t have done it,” he said.

The talk of the town

“People on the street are saying, ‘Oh, my God’,” said Linda Roche, a Realtor who lives on the street and sold Weitsman his property.

At first, neighbors were concerned about how the massive mansion would affect the village landscape. But, as the village boards combed through the project and ensured it fit with the character of the village, those concerns were alleviated, Weitsman said.

Roche agreed.

“He’s got an eye for art and detail,” she said. “I think this is going to be a showplace.”

Neighbors, she said, are concerned about what the $20 million house up the street will do to property values. Homes this expensive increase the neighbor’s property values, which means it will likely cause taxes to rise.

Source: www.syracuse.com

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