"A gathering place for a new generation." That's how Woodbine Hospitality Group describes Hilltop Skaneateles, the project rising on the old Hilltop Restaurant and Cedar House Lanes site on West Genesee Street. Woodbine told The Citizen it is aiming for a late-November opening. That would be about five years to the day after the old place served its last customer.
If you drove past on Route 20 any time in the last few years, you might have guessed the whole property was being cleared. It wasn't. The half that came down was the Hilltop, the diner that people remember for breakfast. The half that stayed was the Cedar House bowling building, and the new project is built around it.
The Bowling Building Stayed Standing
The Hilltop Restaurant and Cedar House Lanes shared one roof in people's minds, but they were two buildings. When the sale went through in 2021, owner Sean Mott said he had served the community for almost 32 years and expected to close around Nov. 14. Syracuse.com described the place as a diner and tavern paired with a bowling center. Its coverage of the closing included a striking offer from Adam Weitsman. He said he would hire the entire Hilltop staff at full wages until he could find them another breakfast spot.
The bowling center is the older piece. It dates to the 1960s and sits just outside the village line on Route 20. The restaurant portion has since been demolished.
Woodbine laid out the plan at a Town of Skaneateles Planning Board public hearing on March 15, 2022. The hearing minutes say the cement domed roof over the Cedar House would stay and the Hilltop section would come down. A new two-story building would go on the south and west sides of the dome, and all of the uses would connect. Four of the bowling lanes would remain. The rest of the lane floor, about 4,400 square feet, would become a recreation and games room.
So the familiar silhouette surviving on Route 20 is the dome, not the diner. Woodbine's earlier December 2021 application put a number on it, a 14,934-square-foot masonry bowling building to be kept as the core of the project.
Why Keeping It Took Five Years
Keeping an old building is slower than starting over, and this project shows why. In March 2026, Woodbine Group President Tom Fernandez told LocalSYR that the old building had no foundation. Crews had to build a new foundation wall and do a lot of shoring. He said preserving the past took "extra engineering," and that caused the delays.
That extra engineering saved something regulars will spot right away. Fernandez said the crew kept the old wood beams "that many people will remember."
Here's how the timeline has moved:
- Around Nov. 14, 2021. The Hilltop and Cedar House close after Woodbine's purchase.
- Dec. 3, 2021. Woodbine files its redevelopment application with the town.
- March 15, 2022. The Planning Board holds its public hearing and continues it to a later date.
- Fall 2025. Fernandez's original hoped-for opening, which slipped.
- March 2026. Interior walls, plumbing and electrical are about 90% done, and the hope moves to summer.
- Late November 2026. Woodbine's current target, as reported by The Citizen.
- Dec. 11, 2026. The first night the hotel is taking reservations.
The date has moved twice already, so treat late November as a target, not a promise. The hotel's December 11 booking date is the firmest marker so far, because Hilton is already selling rooms for it.
What Fills the Old Lanes and the New Wing
The Citizen's latest report names five pieces. Here's what each one is and what it replaces on the old site:
| Name | What it is | What it replaces |
|---|---|---|
| Hilltop Coffee | Specialty drinks and grab-and-go breakfast | The breakfast role the Hilltop diner played |
| Hilltop Social | Recreation hall with duckpin bowling, golf simulators, billiards, darts, sports on TV and its own food menu | The Cedar House lanes, inside the same domed building |
| Taproom | New York State beers, wines and ciders | The old tavern side |
| Sprig | "An elevated restaurant featuring globally inspired cuisine and a thoughtfully curated wine program" | A new dining room in the new wing |
| Hilltop Hotel | 20 rooms, part of the Outset Collection by Hilton | Nothing; lodging is new to the site |
The bowling is the clearest link to the old place, and also the clearest change. LocalSYR's March report counts four lanes. That matches the four the 2022 plan said would stay. The Citizen describes the bowling at Hilltop Social as duckpin. The same March report mentions three golf simulators and an arcade, plus a restaurant with plenty of outdoor seating.
LocalSYR also reported in March that 42 North Brewing, a Western New York company, would run the beer-tasting room. The more recent Citizen report says only that the taproom will pour New York State beers, wines and ciders. Until the venue opens, the operator should be treated as reported but not confirmed.
A Smaller Footprint Than First Drawn
The plan has gotten smaller since 2022. The Planning Board minutes from that year describe 26 moderately priced hotel rooms for "the businessperson or family coming in for a hockey event," plus a 100-seat restaurant that would still be smaller than the old Hilltop dining room. By March 2026, the hotel was down to 20 rooms, which LocalSYR then called the Hilltop Lofts. Sprig was down to about 60 seats and a bar. Hilton's current listing shows 20 rooms at 813 W Genesee Street Road.
Hours are still unknown. The only hours on record come from the original 2021 application: the hotel open around the clock, the restaurant generally 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and bowling and recreation from afternoon until 11 p.m. Those were proposal hours, not a confirmed schedule.
For anyone who misses Hilltop breakfasts, the honest comparison is this. The breakfast now on the menu is Hilltop Coffee's grab-and-go items. The sit-down diner breakfast went with the building that came down.
One Piece of a Larger Woodbine Footprint
Hilltop is the latest of several Woodbine projects around town. The developer bought the Skaneateles Suites bungalows and boutique hotel in 2021, the same year it bought the Hilltop. It bought the Whispering Winds Motel in 2022 and The Allyn Lodge in 2025. Woodbine also opened the 88-room Skaneateles Fields Resort & Spa last fall. In September, Travel + Leisure named its restaurant, Fields, one of the 25 best hotel restaurants in the world.
Hilltop is a different kind of project from the rest. The others are lodging first. Hilltop puts a coffee counter, a game hall and a taproom inside a building half the town has bowled in. Its 20 rooms sit behind those spaces. If the late-November target holds, the first winter weekend open is when people find out whether those old beams still feel like the Cedar House.
Some of Katie's clients have asked whether a project like Hilltop changes how homes along the Route 20 corridor or near the village line should be priced or marketed. Before the doors open is a good time to talk it through with someone who has watched the site since 2021. Reach out to Catherine Armijo to request a personalized consultation.
