BY R.J. DELUKE
Work on modernizing and expanding the
Surfside On The Lake resort at 400 Canada
St., Lake George, into a three-story hotel
with meeting rooms and extra amenities was
postponed a bit, due to the complexities in
planning and designing.
But once the current tourist season dies
down, sometime after Labor Day, owner Salim
Amersi said the project will take off.
“We will be on a very aggressive schedule”
to try and get the facility finished by Memorial
Day of next year. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
The project calls for 50 current rooms to
be demolished and 50 new rooms to replace
them. The new rooms will be bigger and include
luxury features.
Amersi said each of the rooms will have
private balconies. There will be underground
parking and all new administrative offices for
management and staff. The lobby will also
be new.
The facility “will be much more accommodating”
for guests, he said. And there will be
two meeting spaces–one with a capacity of
85 people and the other 180 people.
“It’s going to be a unique building, one of
a kind,” he said. “This will put us in a good
position to compete [with other area hotels].
It will put the Surfside on good footing for the
next 15 years and on.”
Amersi did not specify, but said he was glad
to have funding from local banks.
Open May through October in the past, it
will be come a year-round hotel, Amersi said.
It has 154 rooms. The 50 that will be demolished
and replaced are oldest units.
“There will be quality materials throughout,
from the finishing on the exterior, to the interiors,”
said Amersi, adding that “it is going to
be very efficient. Low-cost cooling and heating
will be emphasized. It costs more up front, but
there is a long-term gain.”
He said the historic roadside Surfside sign
will remain. It dates back to its origins as a
cabin motel in the 1940s.
Amersi has owned the Surfside since the
1980s.
Amersi at one point had plans to build a six story
hotel on the site of his current business.
A zoning change in the village allows for taller
buildings in one area of downtown, including
the other side of Canada Street where a Marriott
Courtyard Hotel is being built.
However, the zoning change did not extend
to Amersi’s property. The zoning rules where
his property lies do not allow a building that
tall. The Surfside property and most of the
east side of Canada Street were excluded from
the new district because of their proximity to
the lake shore.
His revised project gained approval Oct. 15
from the Lake George Village Planning Board.
Michael Consuelo, executive director of the
Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce,
said the Surfside project is a “totally different
concept” for the village. “Unique and different”
it will be “an attention grabber.”
He said with the Surfside being on the other
side of the street from the new Marriott, it will
benefit by getting “overflow” when Marriott
has major meeting events.
About both projects, Consuleo said he
hopes it will spur existing businesses in Lake
George to upgrade their businesses, as well
as attract developers with interest in new
projects.
“We’re on the verge of new and exciting
things” in Lake George, which opens exciting
prospects for the future, he added.
MLB Construction of Malta is the general
contractor for the Surfside. The architect
is David Neary of Saratoga Springs. WPS
Consulting Engineers of Glens Falls is the
mechanical engineer, while Hutchinson Engineers
of Queensbury is handling the civil
engineering and Bill Barry Engineers and
Constructors are the structural engineers.
Photo Courtesy Surfside On The Lake