Restaurateur's North County Empire Ends; Jae's Inn Set to Close

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
04:50PM / Wednesday, December 16, 2009Print Story | Email Story

A sign thanking customers was posted on the front door Tuesday.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Boston restaurateur Jae Chung's venture into North County is coming to a halt on Sunday as Jae's Inn closes its doors.

Workers were informed on Tuesday that the restaurant, 11-room inn and spa will be shuttered and a sign announcing the closure was posted on the front door.

A call to Chung has not yet been returned.

Chung, a former North Adams resident who found success with several Asian eateries in the Boston area, purchased the former Twin Sisters Inn in 1994. It was opened as Jae's Inn in 2002 but the restaurant was briefly moved to the former Le Jardin in Williamstown in 2006. After a falling out with his partners, the Williamstown location, purchased in 2004, was foreclosed on and put up for auction in the spring. Mezze Group partners Nancy Thomas and William "Bo" Peabody bought the restaurant and small inn for $575,000.

It was the same story for his attempts to keep the historic Miss Adams Diner open on Park Street in Adams. He purchased it in 1998 and leased it out to several operators, including as a short-lived seafood restaurant. This past October it was sold in a foreclosure auction to Paul and Jennifer Segala for $85,000.

Chung also bought the Colonial Shopping Plaza in Williamstown for $725,000 in 2001 and remortgaged the property for $1.1 million in 2007. A foreclosure was filed with the Land Court in October on the property by mortgageholder Cathay Bank.

The restaurant reopened in the North Adams location in summer 2008 but flirted with foreclosure earlier in the year.

In June, North Adams filed an instrument of taking that showed Chung owed the city $30,551.78 in back taxes, fees and expenses for 2008.

The sign on the door of the inn thanked patrons for their support and advised them that gift certificates would be honored by Jae's Spice in Pittsfield. Chung is leasing the North Street location from owners Lawrence M. Rosenthal and Joyce S. Bernstein, who were forced to close the original Spice in March 2008 after it incurred losses of more than $1.2 million.

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Sad.... :(
from: Joe Artisto	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

If patrons of his North Adams restaurant bought gift certificates to eat there, Chung should return the money. Some people may not want to drive to Pittsfield. What if that restaurant goes under too? He's built a house of cards. Jae's actions here are less than honorable. He knew he was closing when he sold the gift certificates.
from: sparrow	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

This is not a surprise at all. Jae Chung plays musical chairs with his finances for all of his restaurants, both here and in Boston. Look for Spice to be gone in the coming months. He's up to his ears in bad debt. Next time he tries to open somewhere in the Berkshires, he should be told thanks, but no thanks.
from: Jae's Spice is Next	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

I'm amazed that the Berkshires STILL throws guys like him tax breaks, and opportunities that your average business owner never sees. I know first hand the enormous number of people and businesses this guy owes money to..And that was from just ONE of his properties that was foreclosed by the bank. Just like Spice's original owners, Pittsfield threw money ( millions!)at them too, they went under... Now the new movie theatre. Meanwhile business owners like myself struggle to stay afloat during this economy. Jealous ? YES! Meanwhile they offer us support in the form of matching money with money, programs like "If you spend $10,000 on signage for your downtown business we will match it!" Is anyone REALLY going to spend $20,000 on signage?? If they are they certainly don't need the finacial help!I was forced to relocate my business because Jay didn't take care of his building and pay his bills! Now I will be in the red for probably 3 years trying to recoup the money I had to spend on the move! NO FAIR, yup you heard me say it no fair..
from: cmnt	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

cmnt is right, guys like this get huge deals because of so-called reputation. Jae came here with the attitude that "I own restaurants in Boston," and no one bothered to check that he opens and closes those all the time, too. This is not a victimless situation. His employees are always given practically no notice, no severance, no benefits, cities are left to hold the bag on taxes, he goes out and somehow finds another "partner" or financing scheme and does it all over again. Throw the bum out for good.
from: correctomundo	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

For the person complaining about the gift certificates, at least you have the opprotunity to go and use it in Pitts. There have been closing where people did not get that choice. Unfortunately this happend with Gideons. How do people trust buying gift certificates. I hope Drury takes his name of the plaque. People praised a man who obviously did poor business and made bad decisions. This is not someone to be admired. It is too bad because it was a beautiful establishment with great food.
from: ezrdr	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Jae came here with the attitude that "I own restaurants in Boston," and no one bothered to check that he opens and closes those all the time, too. Jae's restaurant outside Inman Square has been open for close to fifteen years. It's a tough business, and if people don't understand the concept of risk when they buy restaurant gift cards, they haven't been paying attention since, well, ever. Jae paid salaries and purchased supplies in North County for a number of years, provided a bunch of decent meals, and now cause he's run into trouble all the armchair pundits are piling on. I'd blame the cheapskates and bland palates who live here before I blame the guy who invested time and money and ultimately couldn't make it work.
from: Wonk	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (1) - I Disagree (0)

It is no surprise to me that Jae's has gone under. Jae is nothing but a cheater!!!This man still owe's Drury Students scholarship money that he has yet to pay them. He is far from a role model! If you are wondering why he opens restaurants and then closes them so quickly its because he pockets all of the cash intake, and then can't figure out how to pay bills! GET A GRIP!
from: NA	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

what a sad bunch of haters. How many of you even attempted to open a business and give people good jobs and good food - even tried it. No, just sit on you fat behinds behind your computers and act like jealous 3 year olds. Thanks Jae for investing in the community and for still bringing the good stuff on North St!!! NEVER GIVE UP!!
from: THANKS TO JAE!	on: 12-17-2009 12:00AM I Agree (2) - I Disagree (0)

I am so tired of the "you should try to run a business" line from apologists for businesspeople who take the community to the cleaners. You don't need to "own" a business to know how tough it is to run one. We all work for one (or most). If Jae Chung had come here, tried to open a nice restaurant and failed, fine, it's a very marginal business, nuff said. But he has taken out mortgage after mortgage after mortgage, failed to pay taxes after taxes after taxes, and just keeps doing it over and over. And as for Wonk's comment about his Boston eatery, he has more than one, and one of my best friend's works right near it, and he has told me it repeatedly closes for weeks and months, then reopens, then closes, then reopens. The pattern is the same where he is. When Spice closes in 2010, Wonk, tell me I'm wrong.
from: typical line	on: 12-18-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

More sad news for North County. I'm sure that in hindsight, Jae "should have known" that he was overleveraged and wouldn't be able to keep paying all his creditors. But it also seems more than likely that he was always doing what he felt he had to to keep the businesses going. Unless someone has evidence that he's pocketing large sums while hosing his creditors (and I've seen no one making any specific claims of such) I don't see why people need to be badmouthing him as a sort of moral as well as business failure, especially as the country collectively keeps voting for politicians of both parties who are doing the same thing to the finances of the United States.
from: DWPittelli	on: 12-18-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

North Adams, Pittsfield Mark King Day With Calls for Activism

By Tammy Daniels & Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
04:01PM / Monday, January 19, 2026

Alÿcia Bacon, community engagement officer for the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, speaks at the MLK service held Price Memorial AME Church in Pittsfield.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Wendy Penner can be found pretty much everywhere: leading local initiatives to address climate change and sustainability, championing public health approaches for substance abuse, and motivating citizens to defend their rights and the rights of others.

That's all when she's not working her day job in public health, or being co-president of Congregation Beth Israel, or chairing the Williamstown COOL Committee, or volunteering on a local board.

"Wendy is deeply committed to the Northern Berkshire community and to the idea of think globally, act locally," said Gabrielle Glasier, master of ceremonies for Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's annual Day of Service.

Her community recognized her efforts with the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Peacemaker Award, which is presented to individuals and organizations who have substantially contributed to the Northern Berkshires. The award has been presented by the MLK Committee for 30 years, several times a year at first and at the MLK Day of Service over the past 20 years.

"This event is at heart a celebration of our national and local striving to live up to the ideals of Dr. King and his committed work for racial equality, economic justice, nonviolence and anti-militarism," said Penner. "There is so much I want to say about this community that I love, about how we show up for each other, how we demonstrate community care for those who are struggling, how we support and and celebrate the natural environment that we love and how we understand how important it is that every community member feels deserves to feel valued, seen and uplifted."

King's legacy is in peril "as I never could have imagined," she said, noting the accumulation of vast wealth at the top while the bottom 50 percent share only 2.5 percent the country's assets. Even in "safe" Massachusetts, there are people struggling with food and housing, others afraid to leave their homes.

In response, the community has risen to organize and make themselves visible and vocal through groups such as Greylock Together, supporting mutual aid networks, calling representatives, writing cards and letters, and using their privilege to protect vulnerable community members.

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