Le Jardin sells for $445K to Chung & partners

By Linda CarmanPrint Story | Email Story
WILLIAMSTOWN — Jae Chung, owner of Jae’s Inn in North Adams and several restaurants in the Boston area, bought Le Jardin restaurant on Cold Spring Road with two partners last week for $445,000. The group plans extensive renovations and a renaissance of the restaurant’s heyday as a country inn, Chung said yesterday in a telephone interview. “We want to bring back Le Jardin as it used to be,” he said. “I also want to do something in business in North County.” Chung grew up in North Berkshire and attended school in Clarksburg and graduated from Drury High School. He also owns the Colonial Plaza on Route 2 and the former Miss Adams Diner in Adams. He said Walter Hayn, a longtime acquaintance and the seller of the restaurant, will stay on as chef and will be a fourth partner in the new venture. Chung’s co-owners are Todd Lincoln of Clarksburg, a longtime friend of Chung’s and a real estate developer who will handle the construction end of the business, and Luc Nguyen of Boston. All are listed as managers for the limited liability company, 777 Cold Spring Road LLC, which purchased the property from LeJardin Inc. in a deal recorded at the Northern Berkshire Registry of Deeds on Thursday. Chung said he will also bring in a couple of chefs from Boston, where he owns six Jae’s restaurants. He said he, Lincoln and Nguyen plan extensive renovations, at an estimated cost of nearly $300,000. “We’ll install a brand new kitchen,” said Chung, who aims for an April opening for Le Jardin, which has been closed since the first of this year. “Walter Hayn is a great chef, and he’ll be part of a team to make the place work.” Hayn, who owned Le Jardin for 31 years, said he was “absolutely” pleased with the sale and the restaurant’s future prospects. The restaurant had been on the market for the past several months. Hayn said he looked forward to concentrating on food preparation and menu planning instead of running a business. “It’ll be a nice relief,” he said. “Jae wants to bring back the business we used to have. We’ll have a top quality country inn. We’ll have a nice old New England inn, a Williamstown inn that will appeal to [Williams College] alumni and tourists alike. I think it’s a great formula. Jae has some great ideas.” The menu will be “more like a French bistro,” said Hayn, who worked for many French chefs, trained at the Culinary Institute of America and formerly worked at the Carlyle Hotel in New York. “We’ll serve a few of the old classics, and a lot of new, modern dishes — what’s going on in the food world now, fresh fish, healthy choices, nice vegetables and a raw bar,” he said. Chung and his partners financed the deal through a $200,000 mortgage from Walhayn Inc., formerly LeJardin Inc., and a $500,000 commercial mortgage from the Adams Co-operative Bank. The limited liability company has an address of of 142 Blythewood Drive, Pittsfield. Chung opened Jae’s Inn, former home of the Twin Sisters bed and breakfast on Curran Highway, last year, also after extensive renovations. The 777 Cold Spring Road property, the former Col Bullock estate, contains 3.38 acres and includes the rambling, gabled and shingled late 19th century house, surrounded by tall pines. A rustic bridge crosses a brook that feeds a tranquil pond. LeJardin paid $6,405 in real estate taxes last year. The dining room seats 150, and the new ownership plans to reopen the inn’s seven guest rooms, Lincoln said. It was formerly known as Elwal Pines. Hayn originally bought the property in partnership with The Springs of New Ashford, then bought his partners out. Lincoln said renovations have already begun. “We’re putting in new windows, a new roof, air conditioning,” he said. “It will have a new face.” The restaurant often closed during the winter months, but once renovations are complete, it will be open seven days a week, year-round, he said. Chung said Hayn will live on the premises. And, he said, “teamwork” will be the key to the success. “It’s a long project, a tough project, but we’re looking forward to it. It’ll be a very special place,” he said. “Walter Hayn is a great chef. We’ll all be part of a team, and that will make the place work.” Chung stays in North Adams five days a week to look after his North County businesses and spends the other two days in Boston where, he said, he is scaling back his involvement in his restaurants, at least in part because of the arrival of a new baby.
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More than 600 Participate in Steel Rail Races

iBerkshires.com Sports
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Matthew Ferraro was the first runner across the finish line at the MountainOne Steel Rail Marathon.
 
Ferraro clocked a time of 2 hours, 41 minutes flat on the Ashuwilticook Rail Trail course.
 
He finished a little more than five minutes ahead of runner-up Nick Reid (2:46:15).
 
Simone Veale won the race's women's division in a time of 3:18:42. She beat out Jill Hussain, who covered the course in 3:27:23.
 
The fastest marathoner on Sunday was Stephen Gulley, a hand cyclist, who clocked a time of 2:15:03.
 
The 26.2-mile circuit was covered by 150 finishers ranging in age from 18 (William Hanley in 14th place) to 72 (Ric Nudell, who finished in 6:04:47).
 
The day also featured a half-marathon and an 8-kilometer race.
 
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