File photo Lenhart Enterprises purchased Hotel Lenhart, three nearby guest houses and a vacant parcel in Bemus Point for $3.5 million in 2025. It was the only commercial sale of the year that topped $3 million. Four years ago, there were seven commercial sales that were higher than $3 million.

While the number of private million dollar sales have jumped over the last four years, the number of commercial million dollar sales have dropped.

Since 2022, The Post-Journal and OBSERVER have been analyzing real estate sales in Chautauqua County. The county does not provide this information, but it is available by manually examining real estate documents in the clerk’s office.

In 2025, there were eight commercial sales that were at least $1 million.

Two of those were apartments/hotels. West End Estates in Fredonia was sold for $2 million, while Hotel Lenhart was sold for $1.8 million. Lenhart Enterprises also purchased three nearby guest properties and a vacant parcel, pushing the purchase price to $3.5 million.

Four of the sales were the buildings of existing businesses, with no new operational changes. Those include: the location of Take 5 Oil Change on Fairmount Avenue, Ellicott, which sold for about $2.2 million; the newly constructed warehouse on Lakeview Avenue and Rt. 60, Pomfret used by Frito-Lay, which sold for about $2.9 million; the two Community Eye Care Specialist buildings, one in Dunkirk and one in West Ellicott, which were sold together for about $1.9 million; and the Signature Building in downtown Jamestown, which sold for $1.05 million.

There was one sale of an unused factory which has a new business. 2148 Allen St. Ext., Ellicott sold for $1 million. Power Drives, Inc. had operated there until 2016. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for Thursday, March 26 for Famous Supply of Jamestown, which began operations last month. According to the company website, Famous specializes in HVAC, plumbing, industrial, building products, and training. They sell into the residential, commercial and industrial market segments for new construction, replacement, repair, remodel, parts and service.

The final sale was of land for future development. Nine parcels in Fredonia were sold to Mai Road Med Group, LLC for about $2.05 million, where a new Brooks hospital will be constructed.

In 2024, there were 13 commercial sales. The top sale that year was the wedding venue Bear Ridge Destination on Pekin Road, French Creek, which sold for about $2.5 million.

In 2023, there were 16 commercial sales. The biggest sale that year was the former ConAgra Plant in Fredonia, which was sold for $6 million. It was purchased by Wavepoint Realty and is being used for warehousing.

In 2022, there were 16 commercial sales that year as well. The biggest sale that year was Tanglewood Manor in Ellicott, which sold for a whopping $23.9 million.

Of the 16 commercial sales in 2022 that were higher than $1 million, seven were $3 million or higher. In 2025 there was one.

After Tanglewood Manor, the other sales that were higher than $3 million in 2022 were: Frewsburg Rest Home for $7.5 million; an Ellicott industrial building on South Work Street with Orbis Corporation and Keywell Metals for $7.35 million; Chautauqua Mall for $6 million; the Former Acu-Rite building in Ellicott for $5 million; the Rand Machine Products building in Falconer for $3.4 million; and Ring Precision in Ellicott for about $3.02 million.