Windham Farms

By Jonathan Ment

There is in certain circles a demand for spacious modern farmhouses and mountain homes set on large lots in smaller subdivisions. That’s what developers Jim MacDonald and his son, Jack, are banking on for the piece of the mountain they’ve been cultivating at 281 Old Road in Windham, NY for close to a decade.

Years in the making, construction is currently underway on the first of as many as four new homes at the property they named “Windham Farms” after purchasing the parcel in 2016.

In an era of tiny homes and mansions squeezed onto inadequate lots, this sort of thoughtful development feels most welcome; and more in line with the original character of the historic town of Windham, NY

“Because there’s no formal zoning in the town right now, it was important for me in order to maintain this (feel) … to create covenants and restrictions on the deed that prohibit you from doing certain things to the property … creating any further subdivisions or operating certain types of commercial business,” explained Jim MacDonald during a conversation ahead of showing me the property first-hand aboard his all-terrain vehicle.

“You can’t buy a lot and further divide it to build two homes. I want to maintain control of what’s created. … That was important to me,” he said.

“We’re advertising it as a planned luxury home development with vision,” said Jim, adding “I wanted to maintain the character. … Modern farmhouses have become extremely popular, similar to the Hamptons and areas along the North Fork of Long Island and Shelter Island (where Jim and his family have spent many summers). “You would think they were there for 100 years but they’re new construction,” he said.

Improvements can be seen across the roughly 20-acre subdivision, from the landscaped entrance road and tree-lined driveways onto lots two and three, to paddock fencing around roadside meadows and along the entrance, a newly cleared home site and a pond on lot #1 near an existing home the MacDonalds have used but plan to raze. There are also upgrades you cannot see, including electric and communication infrastructures installed underground.

The Morton Building’s six-stall equestrian stall barn will most certainly remain, but close to a decade after purchasing the property, you could say the horses have left the gate on this project.

“We purchased the property in 2016 as an investment,” said Jim, adding “It was owned by the Detmar family and to this day, all of the surrounding acres are owned and maintained by the Detmar family whose ownership dates back to 1928,” said Mac-

Donald, adding “Bruce Detmar, who I purchased the property from, was a breeder and shower of Peruvian horses on his portion of the property. It was his … secondary … home but that was his passion.”

Cleanup and improvements were the order of the day while the MacDonalds sought approval for their subdivision, which once approved triggered the creation of Windham Farms Road built to town specifications and required with the sale of Lot #3, where a home is being built by Eric Vaughn/Vaughn Construction. (See more information at vaughnhomeconstruction.com.)

During the ride-through, Jim and I encountered a woman sitting beside a high window in the home currently going up on Lot #3. She identified herself as the designer, “taking advantage of the quiet” to focus on her vision for the 3,100-square-foot custom house. Jim, whose day-to-day work is in the large-scale commercial real estate sector, said this was his first foray into residential subdivision. Meanwhile Jack MacDonald, who graduated from Windham-Ashland-Jewett CSD, formed his own landscaping and lawn maintenance business early on and then built that into a heavy equipment and excavation/site preparation firm, JDM Land Services, capable of handling many of the needs of the Windham Farms project. Aside from his business, Jack maintains a strong connection with the Town of Windham as an active member of the Windham Hose company.

“I know my way around large commercial projects … assembling large parcels and adding value—whether it’s an ambulatory surgical center or medical office building or warehouse distribution facility,” said Jim, adding, “(That’s) my career and this is a residential project that my son and I are creating.”

“On a personal level, the time was right and as business people you want to make sure the market conditions are also right,” said Jim. “The market seems to be right,” he continued. “There are some wonderful things happening with the mountain (Windham Mountain Club, formerly Ski Windham/Windham Mountain) which I think has the potential to fuel the market to a certain degree … I feel that’s going to be very positive for the town … confident that it’s going to be ok with a nice blend of mountain and locals and community and everyone is going to prosper.”

Walking through the aforementioned former stable on a September afternoon when the sun shone brightly the way it does, and views of a nearby mountain peak were hard to avoid, MacDonald said the structure could house horses again but he could also envision a repurpose of the structure for a car collector or as a man cave, or perhaps reimagined through the eyes of one planning a mixed use “barndominium”-type project.

“It lends itself to a conversion to whatever you want to do,” said Jim who restored the already solid structure, built for the previous owner in the 1990s.

“This is not about going out back or on the deck and staring back at the ski trails you just spent six hours on,” said MacDonald, although the slopes are visible from parts of Windham Farms.

“Not everybody wants a ski-on-ski-off home … Not everybody likes to listen to the sound of snow guns going off at their front door,” he said.

“This is not about that. … It’s kind of nice to have a yearround home on five acres, close to town where you can enjoy farming and have horses and other animals. You can quad on the property or enjoy hiking or mountain biking on miles of stateowned Catskill trails that surround the property,” or just fly fish for Rainbow Trout in the pond. “You’ve got really the best of both worlds at Windham Farms in that regard,” said MacDonald.

“Growing up, my dad was very much involved in the planning of our local community. I was born and raised on the south shore of Long Island. “That area has seen tremendous growth over three generations,” said MacDonald, adding, “You must do things right. If you don’t do it right and you don’t have zoning—if it’s not enforced—you have the potential of it running away with itself.” It’s important not to lose the character and charm of the town as things progress in a community.

Jim MacDonald and his son are already considering future projects, actively looking at other residential opportunities in the area, and already own a commercial property on State Route 23 in Windham.

Engineering and d0esign for Windham Farms has been managed by Darrin Elsom, a founding partner at Kaaterskill Associates (keaeng.com), a well-regarded firm known in the region for its architectural design, land surveying and evaluation and planning for land development.

The marketing agent for Windham’s Farms is Laurie Hanenberg of Hunter Windham Real Estate (hunterwindhamrealty. com).

“We encourage anyone with interest in a home in Windham to call and meet with us to learn about our vision and we’ll listen to yours,” said Jim MacDonald.