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There will be a new lord of the Auburn Castle.

The auction for theÌý1871 brick Scottish-style mansion at 45 Owasco St. ended just after midnight Sunday with a winning bid of $335,000.

The property's broker, Michael DeRosa, said 359 bidders registered for the auction. It went into overtime for 17 minutes before the winning bid was submitted.

"I was taking calls until midnight," DeRosa told мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼ on Sunday.

DeRosa, who organized the auction of the Auburn Castle with its owner, Patrick Collier Connelly, said the winning bidder does not yet wish to reveal their identity.

The broker said the winning bid wasÌýsubmitted from Thorofare, New Jersey, just outside Philadelphia. None of the top 10 bids were submitted from the central New York area. Seven were submitted from the New York metropolitan area, one from Sacramento, California, and one from Miami Beach, Florida.ÌýThe only publicly known bidder is actor and producer Will Keenan, who's currently restoring another historic property in southern New Jersey. Keenan told мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼ last week he would open the mansion to the public and possibly use it to create entertainment content.

Though DeRosa and Connelly considered a second phase of bidding with the top five bidders, in which they would come to see the property in person, the broker said the sale to the Thorofare bidder is a "done deal." A 10% buyer's premium was added to the winning bid for a purchase price of $368,500. The dilapidated mansion's full market value is $58,999, to Cayuga County property records. It is three stories and about 7,000 square feet, with a carriage house also on the property. The number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the mansion is subject to its floor plan.

Local ghost hunter shares Auburn Castle experience as auction deadline looms

The auction for the Auburn Castle will close at midnight on Halloween — an appropriate time, as the historic property may just be haunted.

The auction is more proof of what DeRosa called a "thriving" real estate market in central New York due to the COVID-19 pandemic. People are leaving the New York metropolitan area for upstate due to the rise in remote working and the lower population density, he said, and that new demand has sent prices skyward. Many of the broker's properties are selling in hours, often sight unseen.

In the case of the Auburn Castle, the demand has also gotten a boost from the press. The property's auction has been covered by , and more.

Most of that press has focused on speculation that theÌýGothic revival mansion is haunted. It was site of two investigations this year by Auburn ghost hunters the Soul Searchers, which were made into an upcoming mini-documentary from Auburn's Chariot Media-Productions. Connelly said he often feels like he hears footsteps there, and visitors have told him they saw shadowy figures in the basement.

Still, Connelly is sad to be selling the Auburn Castle, he told мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼ on Sunday. But he's also "ecstatic" to see its recognition spread worldwide.Ìý

"It validated what I have always believed: That it is a treasure and beautiful local landmark," he said.

Connelly, a Scipio native who bought the property for $40,000 in 2017, said the money from its sale will cover the cost of restoring it for three years. He replaced its roof, installed electricity and more in an effort to make the mansion once again look the way it did when it was occupied by its first residents, Auburn Woolen Mill Superintendent Samuel Laurie and his wife, Jeanie. The mansion was designed by Nelson Hamblin to resemble the manors of Laurie's native Scotland. It was then the home of several more superintendents before it was bought by the Pastushan family, who sold it to Connelly.

Connelly said the money from the mansion's sale will also help him retire and pursue his acting career in Georgia, where much of his family is.Ìý

"I have to thank all my friends and family for helping me on what has been five of the best years of my life working on this project," he said.

Gallery: Inside the Auburn Castle in 2017

Gallery: Breathing new life into 'The Auburn Castle'

Cayuga County voters went to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the races for president, Congress, state Legislature and more.Ìý

мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼ will post updated results after the polling sites closed at 9 p.m.Ìý

Note: The totals below include the early voting and election night tallies. Absentee ballots won't be counted until next week, at the earliest.Ìý

24th Congressional District

50th Senate District

51st Senate District

54th Senate District

126th Assembly District

130th Assembly District

Town of Ira highway superintendent

Town of Locke proposition

Question: Should the town's highway superintendent be changed from an elected to an appointed position, which would allow the highway superintendent to be appointed by the town board? (Change would be effective Jan. 1, 2022, if town board were to make change)Ìý

Town of Sterling supervisor

(based on early vote returns)

State Supreme Court Justice (vote for four)

7th Judicial District (Cayuga, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne and Yates counties)

For election night coverage, visit . 

Gallery: Election Day in the Cayuga County area

A former Owasco man who was facing three years in prison on weapons charges jumped bail, moved to Tennessee and opened up a pizzeria under an assumed name, police said.

The Cayuga County Sheriff's Office on Thursday said that Anthony Ranauro, 34, formerly of 7133 Owasco Road, was captured Tuesday by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Ranauro was arrested in May 2019 after an investigation found that he had been placing orders to an international company for fake identification documents, which led to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms discovering that Ranauro had also been ordering weapon parts through the mail.

A search of his home revealed multiple illegally possessed handguns, rifles and high capacity ammunition magazines, and some of the weapons had been built with parts lacking serial numbers, making them nearly impossible to trace.

Ranauro, who was employed at the time as an unarmed guard for a private security company, was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, all felonies.

Recent Auburn and Cayuga County crime and court stories

He pleaded guilty to two felonies earlier this year, and Cayuga County Judge Mark Fandrich said that Ranauro would be sentenced to three years in prison to be followed by three years of post-release supervision when he returned for sentencing May 19.

But Ranauro never showed up.

The sheriff's office on Thursday said that in August 2020, Ranauro opened Piezan Pizzeria in Winchester, Tennessee, where he had been living under the name Antonio Renaldo. He was in the local newspaper and did interviews on the radio promoting the restaurant, and police said that publicity eventually came to the attention of detectives in Cayuga County.

Ranauro was arrested on bench warrant Tuesday by deputies of the U.S. Marshals Service and was being held in the Franklin County Jail in Tennessee awaiting extradition. The Cayuga County District Attorney’s Office is arranging for his transport back to Cayuga County to face his charges.

The sheriff's office asks anyone with information regarding the case to contact Detective Sgt. Robert Franklin at (315) 253-1610 or call (315) 253-1179 and follow the prompts to reach any member or office. Tips may also be left at .

An individual who attended a wedding at a Cayuga County venue has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the local health department.Ìý

The wedding was held Oct. 24 at Old Hickory Farm in Cato. The Cayuga County Health Department received notification that a guest at the event has COVID-19. They were infectious at the time of the event, the department said.Ìý

Anyone who attended the wedding may have been exposed to the virus and should monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days after their potential exposure.Ìý

Symptoms include a fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, body or muscle aches, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, a headache or loss of smell or taste.Ìý

If symptoms develop, you should stay home and call your doctor. If you are an older resident, have underlying health conditions or are immunocompromised, you should call your doctor even if you have mild symptoms.Ìý

COVID-19 cases have been on the rise in Cayuga County. The health department released new data that showed a 152% increase in the total number of confirmed cases since early September.Ìý

WEEDSPORT — Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co. opened in September 2014, the first licensed brewery in Cayuga County since Prohibition.

By September 2015, however, owners Derric and Kristen Slocum already knew they had to move.

Their brewery was 1,200 square feet, and tucked behind the former Old Erie Restaurant at 8920 N. Seneca St. in the village of Weedsport. A former laundromat, its plumbing required the Slocums to place their bar in the middle of the room, and around it their brewing equipment, seating and everything else. So the space wasn't just invisible, it was inflexible.

When the Slocums started looking for a new location for Lunkenheimer, though, they didn't look far. They wanted to stay in Weedsport, they told мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Oct. 21.

"Weedsport's been good to us," Derric said. "We tried very hard not to leave."

At first, the Slocums couldn't find any spaces in the village big enough for their ambitions. But then they took a second look at one literally across the street from them: a brick former Key Bank building at 8931 N. Seneca St. After drawing it out on graph paper, the Slocums determined that with a few additions, they could make the space work.

And they have. There, on Thursday, will be the grand opening of the new Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co.

The space finds the look and feel of the brewery catching up to its award-winning beer. Its rustic tasting room, with abundant wooden surfaces and hues, was designed and built out by the Slocums themselves in the year and a half since their purchase of the property. They were helped by architect Jill Fudo and Auburn's A&M Graphics, which covered one of the brewery's 16-foot garage doors with its logo, the face of the Slocums' dog, Trooper. Only an unmovable bank safe had to be worked around, but the Slocums seamlessly repurposed it into a walk-in cooler.

"Everything else was an open canvas," Derric said.Ìý

"This space really allows our vision for our environment to start to come to life," Kristen added.

The tasting room has the capacity for about 60 people, triple the size of Lunkenheimer's previous one. That's proved especially helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Slocums said. So has their new wood-fired pizza oven, which allows them to meet the food requirement of New York's guidance. Before the new space opened, they cooked pizzas there and carried them across the street to the old one.

"That wasn't part of the business plan," Derric said with a laugh. "But you do what you gotta do to survive during a pandemic."

The oven is located inside one of the two additions the Slocums made to the 1,550-square-foot building, taking it up to about 3,200 total. The other addition houses their brewing equipment. They're continuing to use the same 5-barrel system, but under the space's 20-foot ceilings will be five new 15-barrel unitanks, a combination of a fermenter and a bright tank. The first of them will arrive in December or January, Derric said. So the batches of beer he and Kristen make will be the same size, but they'll be able to produce significantly more.

The tasting room also has 12 taps to the previous one's eight. That and the increased production will give the Slocums "more room to play" with their beers, Derric said, like trying their hands at new trends. But Lunkenheimer will mostly continue focusing on the kölsches, pale ales and other classic styles that have come to shape the brewery's reputation as what Kristen called a "hidden gem." The Slocums have collected several awards making those styles, too, including six medals at the New York State Craft Beer Competition in the last two years, more than any other brewery in the state.

Because of the pandemic, a bigger percentage of that beer than ever is being canned. The Slocums use a mobile line to do it about once every three weeks, they said. And though they used to distribute to several accounts in the region, since March the demand for packaged beer has been so high that most of Lunkenheimer's is sold at the Weedsport brewery and its satellite location in Sodus Bay. Derric added that business there has been better than he and Kristen expected. Their only other current accounts are the Saltbox Smokehouse in Sodus and the Shurfine supermarket in Weedsport.

"COVID really changed the market," Derric said. "It's shifting back to draft slowly, but who knows what this winter is going to look like."

The Slocums also feel their focus on classic styles will help them complement Prison City Brewing's new production facility, which will open in November a little more than five miles south on Route 34. With its national reputation for India pale ales, imperial stouts and other popular styles, the Auburn brewery will pull many a beer fan off the Thruway. The Slocums expect many of them to stop at theirs on the way, as those who travel to breweries tend to visit more than one, Derric noted. But he and Kristen don't want the experience at Lunkenheimer to be the same as the experience at Prison City.

"I feel like we cater to a little bit of a different crowd," Derric said. "We don't get as much notoriety in the hardcore beer scene, but in grander scheme of beer drinkers we have a pretty good reputation."

Some of those beer fans won't know about Lunkenheimer until they see it from the road. And though the brewery is now visible from Routes 34 and 31, the Slocums still want to do more to develop the outside of the space, such as setting up a pavilion akin to an Oktoberfest tent in the property's parking lot. They want that not only for Lunkenheimer, they said, but for Weedsport.

"Now that we're kind of out from the shadows in the back corner and kind of a dominant figure in the village, we're hoping that helps the village thrive," Derric said.

Gallery: Inside the new Lunkenheimer brewery in Weedsport