Vt. Couple Buys North Adams Holiday Inn for $2.9M

By Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
05:14PM / Thursday, July 02, 2009

Print | Email |

New Holiday Inn owners John and Marilyn Larkin, left, pose with new friends at the hotel after the sale closing on Thursday.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The 90-room Holiday Inn on the corner of Main Street was purchased Thursday morning for $2.925 million by a Burlington, Vt., couple who operate nearly a dozen hotels and motels in the Green Mountain State.

John and Marilyn Larkin of Burlington, Vt., principals in Larkin Realty, purchased the 35-year-old hotel from the estate of Sanford Plumb through New England Hotel Realty and a $2.2 million mortgage through Hoosac Bank. They will operate it as North Adams Hospitality LLC.

The couple said they planned to invest more than $2 million into the building, which also contains a restaurant, office space and fitness facility. The hotel will remain part of the Holiday Inn chain and join the three other Holiday Inns operated by Larkin Realty in Vermont.

"This will really end up being the anchor for the downtown," said John Umlauf, trustee for the Plumb estate, who added the Larkins had "a fabulous reputation" in running hotels.

John Larkin, sporting a yellow Hoosac Bank shirt at a reception in the hotel's Richmond Grill after the closing, said they would follow Holiday Inn's recommended property improvement plan. "That's going to be a major modernization."

The 90-room hotel has been for sale for nearly a year. Right, John Larkin shows off his new Hoosac Bank shirt that came with his $2 million mortgage.

InterContinental Hotel Group, which owns the Holiday Inn chain, recently evaluated the building and came up with a $2.5 million to $2.75 million plan for the building, some or all of which will begin within months. That the company's supporting the investment is a telling fact, said Larkin, noting the hotel group is pulling the franchise from buildings that aren't up to snuff.

The hotel group announced two years ago a $1 billion revamping of the 55-year-old Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express chains.

"Most of the Holiday Inns are now 9 years and younger," Larkin said, and for older hotels, "they want structures like this with good bones."

While Holiday Inn is strict on the types of hotel changes that can be done, the restaurant area is fully in Marilyn Larkin's hands. The restaurant was taken over in December by Drew Nicastro of Isabella's Restaurant, who also is overseeing the inn's room service and banquet facilities. It was empty for nearly a year after former restuarant owner Daniel Borer went broke.

Larkin described the space as "magical" but in sore need of revamping. "We have a great staff that's helped us in Vermont who'll jump right in with lots of ideas."

The couple said they were struck by the welcome they've received in the city and the importance attached their purchase of the building.

"We hope you are as happy as we were as owners," said Marcia J. Plumb, Sanford Plumb's widow.

It all started with a football game. Not just any game, but the storied rivalry between Williams College and Amherst. That's what brought the Larkins to the Berkshires to watch their son play football. Naturally, they stayed at the closest Holiday Inn, and were taken with the building and the views, assuring a repeat visit.

"It was snowing, and you could see the steeple in the snow. It was beautiful here," she said. "It's such a pretty town."

Mayor John Barrett III described the sale as a "match made in heaven" that should ensure the future of the city's only major hotel and siginificant player in the downtown's revitalization.

"We wanted to make sure whoever took over would make a substantial investment in the city of North Adams," he said. "I had a real good feeling when I met them."

The hotel's had its ups and downs over the years; it's prominent position at the city's Route 8 entrance has made it a bellwether of North Adams' fortunes.

"This is perhaps the most significant day in the rebuilding of the city," then Mayor Joseph R. Bianco said back in 1974 as the Sheraton North Adams Inn opened, according to the North Adams Transcript. "This hotel will provide a meeting place for everyone and I appeal to every citizen to support it to the fullest extent."

But 10 years later, the city's major employer, Sprague Electric Co., and numerous other mills pulled out or went bankrupt and the hotel's fortunes dipped as well. The Sheration pulled out and it survived as the North Adams Inn for awhile. It was vacant for several years before local businessman Sanford Plumb came to the rescue, picking it up for about $225,000 at auction in 1992. Plumb, operating as Sanmar Inc., pumped nearly $3 million into it.

Plumb died in February 2008 and the hotel was quietly placed on the market some months later.

The Larkins talk with former owner Marcia Plumb.

Marcia Plumb said it will be difficult to let go after all the work she and her husband did. "I have mixed emotions. But it's time to pass on the torch as they say."

Marilyn Larkin feels strongly that the couple is making the right move at the right time, despite the current financial climate.

"We'll be in the perfect position when the economy comes up again," she said, swooping her hands up.

However, they admitted their first visit to the city wasn't quite picture perfect: Their son played for Amherst.

"The grandchildren will go to Williams," promised John Larkin.