Tupper Lake’s transformation

New Big Tupper owner set to acquire longtime tavern, amid other projects in motion in the village

By James Odato

It is not every day one of Tupper Lake’s watering holes draws an investor with aspirations of building a sit-down restaurant with a rooftop lounge.

So, an abundant reaction resulted after news spread in March about the future of Trails End Tavern: A man who last fall purchased Big Tupper, the shuttered ski mountain on the edge of Tupper Lake, is in the final stages of purchasing the roadhouse.

Much of the response came from Tupper Lake boosters who consider Martin Schapira’s purchase of the Route 30 landmark a sign the village is on the cusp of greater prosperity.

“We’re hopefully on the verge of getting back on track in Tupper—we’ve been up and coming for a while,” said Sara Barrington, a member of the town planning board, which unanimously approved the proposed design of a rebuilt Trails End.

She said the plan presented to the board, described as a “starting point, not final,” required approval for the purchase to go through.

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An early conceptual rendering of a planned redesign of the current Trails End Tavern in Tupper Lake. Image provided

The concept

The board was presented with a conceptual plan for three stories with 4,000 square feet of bar and restaurant space and a rooftop lounge for people to look out at the Adirondacks, including Mount Morris, where Big Tupper once drew skiers to Tupper Lake.

“We need more restaurants in Tupper Lake,” Barrington said.

Indeed, some days, locals must leave town to go out to eat, said Mark Moeller, a retired local banker on The Tupper Lake Business Group, which is helping the town supervisor with economic development initiatives.

The Trails End deal, he said, has made his group “enthusiastically optimistic” because it comes after Schapira and his business partner, Josh Parnes, acquired Big Tupper and some adjacent land in a foreclosure auction, almost 500 acres, for $865,000.

They hope to build luxury homes near the closed ski facility and to make the mountain accessible to the public for recreation, if not downhill skiing, again.

Schapira and town officials have held ongoing discussions about a potential public/private partnership but have yet to arrive at a plan, according to Moeller and Schapira.

The Trails End deal, however, shows Schapira is thinking about broadening his Tupper Lake investments, which includes the home he built on a Tupper Lake island.

He said he intends to improve the 77-year-old tavern off state Route 30 but is unsure of the dining style and amenities.

Longtime legacy

The tavern, open seven days a week and until 3 a.m. on weekends, has been owned and operated by Mark “Beard” Sutliffe for nearly 40 years, and before that by his mother. Sutliffe, 72, said he is ready to reduce his workload.

The plan is to sell the building to Schapira and continue running the bar under his liquor license during 2025 while Schapira works out a new look. “It’ll be fancy,” Sutliffe said. He said he expects Schapira to break ground next year.

“It’s the nicest commercial view in the park,” Schapira said. “I’m looking to take what he had and make it a lot nicer in the future.”

The planning board issued Schapira a special permit for the expansion plan in February with the condition any exterior lighting plan fits with dark sky standards.

Schapira is also developing plans for Big Tupper’s ski lodge while mulling trail uses.

“Tupper is on a nature preserve and has a tremendous amount of potential and is being underutilized,” he said. He said he intends to make any project he develops in the region, including housing on the acreage around Big Tupper, “beautiful.”

‘Building upward’

Trails End would be enhanced, he promised, if he builds upward.

“You go into the bar now, you’re looking at the highway,” he said. “If you go up higher you see the beauty that God or nature created.”

He and Parnes, of New Jersey, follow another part-time Tupper Lake resident who has been investing in the region, Stanley Rumbough, who also bid on the Big Tupper property.

Rumbough previously purchased the Blue Jay Campground & Marina on Tupper Lake and has upgraded it with plans to offer 101 sites for campers this summer.

He also purchased the mortgage on much of the 6,400 acres that were supposed to be the site of a giant residential resort community development in Tupper Lake known as the Adirondack Club and Resort.

Rumbough may attempt to get some of the project accomplished, but the property remains tied up from legal issues raised by lienholders. These investments come on top of other signs of progress, Moeller noted.

The developer of the empty Oval Wood Dish factory in downtown has envisioned starting construction this spring after receiving another $3 million in state commitment toward the more than $20 million housing project.

New visitors

Further, the completion of the final leg of the Adirondack Rail Trail, which will connect Tupper Lake to Lake Placid through Saranac Lake, is slated to happen this fall. That may bring hundreds of new visitors to the village, including those camping near the trail at the Fish Creek Pond Campground only about 10 miles away, Moeller said.

He hopes the on-again, off-again plans for a hotel in the village will be on again once investors see the number of visitors attracted to the bike trail as well as the train from Utica.

The excursion train will be able to discharge passengers at an improved depot and they may be able to eat at a new café being built next to the Adirondack Store in downtown.

The rail trail is allowing small businesses to gain state grants to encourage bikers to shop locally, added Jeremy Evans, Franklin County’s economic development director. A total of $200,000 in grants is available for Tupper Lake businesses, he said, with a similar sum available to town of Harrietstown businesses.

Small investments, he said, add up.