Havens | Ellicottville, N.Y.
A Laid-Back Village With Lots of Snow and Comfort
Doug Benz for The New York Times
MAIN DRAW Skiers relax at HoliMont, one of two resorts that are attracting families to Ellicottville, south of Buffalo.
By
WHEN Greg Dekdebrun was a teenager, his mother used to drive him to the Greyhound station in Buffalo on Friday nights in winter and put him on the bus for the 45-minute trip to Ellicottville, where his father, who owned three ski shops in Buffalo, had opened a small shop in the nascent ski resort.
"This was the 1960s, not all that long ago, and it was just a little weekend village here," said Mr. Dekdebrun, who now owns that shop. "I would come down here and sleep on a bench in the ski shop, then do the rentals Saturday morning, then walk out to the slopes myself and ski in the afternoon. My family would come down Sunday.
"It was that kind of place. In some ways, it still is."
Ellicottville may have only two ski areas — HoliMont and Holiday Valley — and a five-block downtown, but it is venerated by its partisans like Mr. Dekdebrun. In the last few years, many of those partisans have come from Ontario, particularly east of Toronto, to buy second homes.
Kieron Hayes, who lives outside Toronto, started coming to Ellicottville five years ago. It's just two hours from his home, even counting delays at the border, and has better ski conditions.
"It is warmer and less windy than Collingwood," he said, referring to a ski area north of Toronto, "and the lift lines are more efficient."
Then came the rise in the Canadian dollar, which gave Mr. Hayes a reason to look at properties. He hasn't found the right place yet, but that's his goal.
"We have a baby, so we're looking at coming here for at least 15 or 20 years," he said. "So buying makes a lot of sense, With the economy down in the States and the dollar so good here, there will be no better time than this to get a place here."
Brian McFadden, executive director of the Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce, estimates that 30 to 40 percent of new buyers of second homes in Ellicottville are Canadian.
"They have always been coming here to ski, but now they are buyers," he said. "We used to be just for people from Western New York, close-in Ontario and out maybe to Pittsburgh and Cleveland's suburbs. Now, people come from a little farther, out to almost Indiana."
Gail and Steve Grillo didn't want to have a long drive to get away from their hectic lives. They live in Bradford, Pa., about 40 miles south of Ellicottville.
"We have friends who have places in the Adirondacks, and it seems to be a chore just to get there," Ms. Grillo said. "My husband and I work really hard, and we know we can get in a car and go an hour and be in someplace where we have no mail and only a cellphone."
They bought a small town house in Ellicottville for less than $100,000 in 1993, when their sons were young. Last year, with their sons in their early 20s, and their town house having more than doubled in value, they moved up to a new $400,000, three-bedroom, four-bath house within a few blocks of downtown.
"At night in the winter, you can see all the lights twinkling from downtown from several levels," Ms. Grillo said, "and the ski slope is just out back."
The Scene
Dina DiPasquale's parents had a second home in Ellicottville in the 1970s, when she was a child, but when it came time for college, she wanted to stray a bit farther from her home in Buffalo.
"I went out to Colorado, basically to ski," she said. But by 1988, she wanted to be closer to her family. "I didn't want to be in Buffalo, so Ellicottville made sense."
She first became a ski instructor, then opened a catering business. Now she owns Dina's, a chic restaurant along Washington Street, the main drag.
"It is an easy place to live," she said. "Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone wants to help each other out."
Ellicottville has become more of a year-round outdoor destination, but its ski slopes are still the main draws. HoliMont is a private ski resort that has 1,500 members who ply 52 runs that are served by nine lifts.
Holiday Valley is similar in size, and sits about two miles south. Since it is in the southern part of the lake-effect region near Buffalo, Ellicottville almost always gets a lot of snow; it has gotten about 140 inches so far this season.
In the last decade, though, Ellicottville has tried to do more when there's no snow on the ground. The walls in Mr. McFadden's office are covered with posters for events like March Mardi Gras Weekend, a jazz festival and the September Rock 'n' Oldies Weekend.
"There is plenty of opportunity to come here, and we find more than enough to do," said Louis Condotta, a construction manager who lives with his wife, Christine, and their two daughters outside Toronto. The Condottas bought a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath condo a mile outside the village two years ago for $130,000.
I had been skiing here for 22 years, so I knew I liked it, and we had a baby, so we knew we were good for coming here for at least 15 more years," he said. "There are parks all over the place, and we can walk to the village to get a quick bite to eat"
Ellicottville is accessible, less than an hour from Buffalo, and within three hours of Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Toronto.
Also, housing prices are low compared with those in similar villages in the Adirondacks, Catskills, Berkshires or Poconos.
Cons
The village is small. And while it has one of everything, there is not much variety when it comes to eating and shopping. The skiing is good and varied, but it isn't Vail or Aspen.
The Real Estate Market
Given the great number of Canadians drawn to Ellicottville, real estate prices have continued to rise. But by the standards of Eastern New York, prices are still reasonable.
Joany Klopp Bund, of Holiday Valley Realty, said a one-bedroom condominium can be bought for as little as $110,000, and that even high-end, three-bedroom condos near the ski resorts will only cost in the $400,000-to-$500,000 range.
"This is a place people go for comfort, for family, not for luxury," she said. "They want a view of the valley or the slopes. They want a place to entertain a bit, but nothing fancy."
Most three- or four-bedroom houses, the average size for second homes here, will go for $300,000 to $400,000, usually on half-acre lots, local real estate agents say. Even in the most desirable areas, near the ski slopes, houses with a view and four or five bedrooms will still only cost $500,000 to $800,000.
The few houses that are for sale at $1 million or more are spectacular, said Cathleen Pritchard of Century 21 Town & Country.
"Someone bought an old chalet on a beautiful lot for $545,000, tore it down and built a 7,000-square-foot log home with seven bedrooms and five baths," she said. "That might be $1.5 million."
LAY OF THE LAND
POPULATION 1,862, according to a 2006 estimate by the Census Bureau.
SIZE 45 square miles.
WHO'S BUYING More and more Canadians, who have long gone there to ski. Historically, most second-home buyers were from Western New York and Pennsylvania, but now people from Ohio and eastern Indiana are arriving.
GETTING THERE Ellicottville is about a 45-minute drive south of Buffalo, on Route 219. Interstate 86 passes near the town to the south. It is also possible to fly into Buffalo Niagara International Airport and make the drive.
WHILE YOU'RE LOOKING Bush Bed and Breakfast (5286 Route 353, Little Valley; 716-938-6106; www.bushbedandbreakfast.com), near Route 242, has rooms with Victorian period furniture for $75 to $125 a night in ski season, and for $60 to $100 in the off-season.
For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: www.chautauqualakehomes.com
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