Business sense

Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from UMass Amherst

Master’s degree in Business Administration from Babson College

Doctorate in Organizational Psychology from Alliant International University

Currently: Distinguished professor of Business

Few people could make light of losing a million dollars, but Chandler Atkins, longtime SUNY Adirondack distinguished professor of Business, mentions an investment that left him in the red with as much enthusiasm as he has for his considerable number of successful ventures.

“I never thought I’d make a million dollars to lose,” he said, describing a now-defunct air charter business in Albany he ran from 2002 to 2008. “I took some money out of my 401(k), put another mortgage on my house …

“I was distraught, but then I realized that over that time, I flew more than 200 kids with major medical issues to big hospitals,” he said. “That’s just $5,000 per kid, and that gave me the strength to pull through.”

That optimism could be attributed to the outlook a seasoned entrepreneur needs to continue investing, but a few minutes into talking with Atkins — whose enthusiasm and energy give the impression of a man much younger than his mid-70s — and it’s evident his commitment to the greater good is what fuels him.

“I feel like anything I can do to stimulate the tourism engine is a good thing,” Atkins said. “I keep thinking ‘tourism’ and ‘jobs for locals,’ and ‘bed tax for the counties’.”

Atkins has a long history of building businesses, starting as a boy growing up on a Massachusetts farm. “I was always of an entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.

He went to Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst, then to business school at Babson College. He managed a large apartment complex in Boston, then worked for many years running a chain of discotheques and, in 1976, opened Whimsey’s, the nation’s largest disco (during which time he also worked closely with legendary boxer Mohammad Ali to address issues of discrimination in the industry).

After a failed attempt at getting involved in politics, Atkins started teaching management as an adjunct professor at Holyoke Community College. When he met someone interested in opening a record store in Lake George, he traveled to the region to help and ended up staying.

He secured a job teaching at SUNY Adirondack, one he has held for more than 40 years. “I said to myself, ‘I am always going to work in the community, both in nonprofits and to try to make as much money in the community on side jobs as I do at the college,’ which was $11,000 a year,” he recalled.

When he heard of a family’s devastation after their young son was killed in a bike accident in front of the resort they owned, Atkins made a decision. “Out of that sob story, I decided to take the plunge in 1995 and I bought The Elms Waterfront Cottages,” he said.

“The first year, I lost $17,000 and I thought, ‘I am the stupidest guy in the world,’ the next year I lost $5,000 and I thought, ‘I’m getting better,’ and every year after that, we have been profitable,” he mused. The property offers cottages, the McMaster House and Bay Harbor Suites, as well as a playground, campfires and River Ridin’, a company that rents personal watercrafts, pontoon boats, rafts for a lazy river adventure and other water sports equipment.

But Atkins knew the business could offer more. “For the past 20-someodd years, I thought Lake George should have ATVs,” he said. He made several attempts to rent land for the venture, but nothing panned out. When he saw land for sale close to The Elms, he started researching the property, which included barns and a house.

“I learned all about the history of the property,” he said, chronicling how it was owned by Joseph McCarthy, an award-winning lyricist for shows on Broadway and the Ziegfeld Follies, who purchased it from its original owners, the Ellis family that founded Hadley.

McCarthy’s son, Joseph McCarthy Jr., married Hollywood femme fatale Veronica Lake and, during their short marriage, the pair vacationed often at the rural retreat. The family hosted such guests as chess legend Bobby Fischer, Hollywood royalty Mickey Rooney, Humphrey Bogart and Debbie Reynolds, and famed crooners Nat King Cole and Perry

Como, many of whom flew in on the property’s airstrip.

“From the history of the property, my wheels started to turn,” Atkins said. “I could take the farmhouse, renovate it and turn it into more lodging. I could turn the barns into wedding venues, host movie nights and, with the land, I could offer some to the college for livestock farming …”

So Atkins purchased the 171 acres, and went to work immediately renovating the six-bedroom house. “It’s going to be gorgeous, with a big wraparound porch, a jacuzzi, den, entertainment room,” he said.

He purchased ATVs and plans to groom logging trails for riding and hiking, and preserved a cemetery with 20 gravesites on the property. “In 1790, the original owners opened a sawmill and built their farm, then died and planted themselves here. I want to show the history and preserve it, rather than just run it over,” said Atkins, the third owner of the property.

Longer-term plans for the site, which Atkins — also a licensed pilot — is calling Mountain Airstrip Farm, include offering movie nights and hosting special events in the barns; cross-country skiing and snowmobiling on the trails; and rock climbing and rappelling on Antone Mountain across the street from the six-bedroom McCarthy Farmhouse.

“This farm is a 10-year project,” Atkins said. “I keep plugging along, having fun.”

EVAN SULLIVAN

Associate degree in Liberal Arts from SUNY Adirondack

Bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a doctorate in History from University at Albany

Currently: SUNY Adirondack instructor of European History