A patch of land in Hastings once promised as the home of a NASCAR-style raceway with a half-mile dirt track and 275-seat banquet room is instead becoming the county's newest industrial prospect. The Oswego County Industrial Development Agency is buying the 144-acre site of the failed Central New York Raceway Park for about $1.05 million, positioning the property just five miles from Micron Technology's expanding semiconductor campus in Clay.
A Raceway Dream That Never Left The Ground
Developer Glenn Donnelly proposed Central New York Raceway Park on vacant land between Route 11 and Interstate 81 south of Central Square back in 2011, but construction never got underway, according to syracuse.com. Plans called for a 2.2-mile race course, a half-mile dirt track, a 56-bay NASCAR-style garage, a restaurant with 300 to 350 seats, a 275-seat banquet room and an observation deck, per Oswego County News Now. By 2016, work had stalled after Donnelly ran out of money, and he told syracuse.com at the time that he needed $17 million to finish the project.
Reports over the years have described the property's size inconsistently — syracuse.com has called it both a nearly 150-acre site in its 2024 coverage and a 150-acre site in 2016, a town planning document put it at 140 acres, and cnycentral.com pegged it at 144 acres. Oswego County News Now reports the IDA is purchasing a 144-acre site split into two parcels of 82.25 acres and 61.80 acres. A conditionally approved $5 million state grant for the project never moved forward because Donnelly never signed a grant agreement spelling out how the money would be used, state officials told syracuse.com.
From Bankruptcy Auction To IDA Purchase
The property's troubled history includes bankruptcy issues, past-due taxes and site work completed without environmental approvals, according to the same Oswego County News Now report. A bankruptcy court authorized a brokerage firm to sell the property, cnycentral.com reported, and the raceway project failed to attract any bids at a 2024 auction despite conflicting valuations — Donnelly had estimated the site's market value at $5.1 million, while an appraisal that September put it at $14.5 million, per syracuse.com. Maltz Auctions had set a minimum opening bid of $1.9 million.
The IDA has purchased the raceway site.
The northern parcel cost $490,000 plus buyers' fees, while the southern parcel cost about $340,000 plus taxes and legal fees, bringing the agency's total cost to roughly $1.064 million. The IDA had already flagged the site in 2024 as among the strategically important properties for future economic development in Oswego County.
Why The Micron Corridor Matters
The raceway land has frontage on Interstate 81 and borders a former truck stop, backing up to both the highway and that truck-stop parcel. Oswego County Industrial Development Agency executive director Austin Wheelock said the former truck stop could enable direct southbound access to Interstate 81. Wheelock said the agency needed another option ready in the Route 81 corridor.
Unlike the agency's existing industrial park, the raceway site is not attached to an existing park, but it does sit within the Interstate 81 corridor — one of Oswego County's two main economic corridors alongside Route 481. The Town of Hastings has extended water and sewer services toward the site.
The interest in Hastings land follows the pattern set by Micron Technology, which is constructing a semiconductor fabrication complex in Clay as part of a $100 billion investment. Micron has said its New York project is expected to generate 50,000 jobs in the state, including 9,000 direct Micron jobs, according to the company. The Micron complex is expected to draw supply-chain companies and other businesses to the broader region.
A Second, Larger Expansion Already Underway
The raceway purchase is not the IDA's only land play tied to the Micron effect. The agency owns the 135-acre L. Michael Treadwell Oswego County Industrial Park in Schroeppel, near Route 481, and began seeking land to expand that park back in 2018. In 2021, it bought 185 acres of adjacent farmland and woods for $1.1 million, a purchase whose valuation was later shaped by Micron's nearby investment announcement in 2022.
That expansion is now part of a $13.7 million project to build up to 10 shovel-ready sites, which the IDA hopes will make the park a preferred location for advanced manufacturing and supply-chain companies. The industrial park expansion included millions of dollars in federal and state funding, and the broader 185-acre expansion effort is expected to create up to 10 shovel-ready sites supporting roughly 1.1 million square feet of industrial and manufacturing development, according to oswegocountybusiness.com, which reported funding including $2.5 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, $8.1 million through Empire State Development's FAST NY program and $625,000 from National Grid. The expanded park is expected to be completed by September 2027, while the Hastings raceway site stands as a separate, newer bet on the same regional momentum.
