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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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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