Whitney buyer says New York shut out of Adirondack Park land deal

Texas developer under contract to buy Whitney estate says he’s open to exploring easement opportunities

By James M. Odato

New York State was ineligible to buy the 36,600 acres of Whitney Park, according to the man who signed a contract to acquire the matchless wilderness terrain of lakes, ponds and forests.

Shawn Todd, chairman of Todd Interests, said New York was prohibited from purchasing the Adirondack Park property of John Hendrickson based on “a perpetual deed restriction preventing the state from ever obtaining the property.” His development company based in Dallas, Texas, is looking at ways to develop the property as it works toward concluding the purchase.

He secured a contract to buy Whitney Park from the estate of the late John Hendrickson, which had recently put the Hamilton County real estate up for sale at an asking price of $125 million. Net proceeds will go to the town of Long Lake, according to the wishes of John Hendrickson.

“The state can’t buy the property,” Todd said, revealing another wish of Hendrickson. He added: “We  didn’t buy this with the intent of selling this to the state.”

Asked about the deed restriction, Edward Hendrickson, the executor of the estate, declined to confirm such language in estate plan documents concerning the property.

“It’s a moot issue,” he said, because the state never bid on the property and it’s under contract for sale with the private developer. “I want to keep the focus on John’s tremendous gift to the people of the town of Long Lake.”

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The matter is of significance because environmental organizations and individuals have criticized New York for not acting to secure one of the last expanses of uninhabited woodlands available to add to the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

Edward Hendrickson, who lives in Alaska, said he expects the deal will close in the fall. He is in charge of the trust holding the assets of his late younger brother.

Conservation easements still an option

Others hold out hope that Todd Interests would consider conservation easements that would protect acreage from development. The company is looking to develop lodging, a golf course and restaurant for a resort business at Whitney Park.

Todd said “we’re fans of conservation easements,” noting that he has entered into them on some of his farmland. “I’m sure things like that will be part of the conversations.” He said that he has found that most entities interested in easements lack the capital to make them happen.

Pete Nelson, of Adirondack Wilderness Advocates, said the state Department of Environmental Conservation has the ability to enter into conservation easements and has done so with some small and large properties in the Adirondacks. “A conservation easement could help protect a lot of that land,” he said about Whitney Park. “If the developer’s interested in doing it, financially and otherwise, it could be a good deal.”

The department does not discuss land negotiations, a press officer said. “The Whitney Park property is a high-priority land conservation parcel as identified in the State’s Open Space Plan,” a DEC official said. “In general, DEC meets with landowners who are interested in exploring conservation outcomes for their properties.”

A development project in Texas

Todd Interests has proven to be a good corporate neighbor since acquiring parkland in Texas for development, said Freestone County (Texas) Commissioner Lloyd Lane. 

All four county commissioners supported the company’s private land rights arguments after securing a $105 million contract to buy 5,000 acres that had long contained a Texas state park. The land was put up for sale by the power company that owned the property and Texas did not bid and later tried to seize the land through eminent domain before dropping the matter.

“They’re out of sight, out of mind,” Lane said about the 300-site lakeside development. The project includes a golf course and restaurant. It is under construction less than 100 miles south of Dallas.

“They’re providing us a tax base I think will help us stay a happy little town,” Lane said. He said the appraised value of the development will reach $1 billion when all the resort homes are built and sold for a few million dollars apiece, mostly as second homes. The site includes Texas’ largest private lake.

Lane said he has seen no environmental harm from the project. “I would want to point out that the lake itself was utilized for a coal-burning electrical generating plant; so I think having 300 houses around a large body of water is less impactful than having a coal-fired electric plant on the lake.”

An estate 125 years in the Whitney family

Edward Hendrickson said Whitney Park will be better off in private rather than public hands, pointing to 125 years of ownership by the Whitney family.

He said he is confident Todd Interests will be good stewards of the land, great camps and lakes. “Shawn has told me it’s going to be managed similarly,” he said about Whitney and Hendrickson stewardship. “They’re going to protect it.”

John Hendrickson was the widower of Marylou Whitney, who inherited the assets of her late husband Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney.

Edward Hendrickson said the state already owns 15,000 acres of the original Whitney Park, purchased some 20 years ago. The state’s stewardship irked John Hendrickson, who didn’t like that bass got into Little Tupper Lake, threatening the trout population.

Todd Interests is also under contract to purchase Cady Hill, the Saratoga Springs mansion that was the residence of John Hendrickson and the Whitneys. 

The company intends to develop the 120-acre site as well, adding a restaurant and marketing it for lodging. Cady Hill was listed for sale at $12.9 million.