Press and Media
Our track record of successful sales and achievements have been well documented by the local media. Here are some of the articles where we’ve been featured.
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Nov 24
Boston Globe – August 1, 2024
Hotel owners are earning millions in contracts by turning their suburban outposts into shelters for homeless and migrants
By Deirdre Fernandes and Stephanie Ebbert Globe Staff,Updated August 1, 2024, 6:28 a.m.
METHUEN — The migrants,many with small children or pregnant, arrived at the former Days Inn Hotel by the busload in October 2022. Business travelers might have steered clear of the hotel just off Interstate 93. The carpets were worn, some fire alarms weren’t working, and the health inspector had just fielded a complaint about bedbugs. A year earlier, a New York fugitive accused of brutally murdering his wife was tracked down and arrested there.
But the state was in desperate need of rooms and the hotel was willing to rent them — for a hefty price. As a wave of migrants began improbably making their way from the southern border to New England, the state initially agreed to pay $165 a night per room to shelter homeless families in this working-class city near the New Hampshire border — one of the steepest prices charged at a Days Inn without a water view along the East Coast, according to a Google search of prices this week.
The migrant crisis that brought thousands of families from violence-torn countries such as Haiti and Venezuela to Massachusetts has strained local governments, from schools to emergency responders, and helped drive up the cost of emergency family housing to nearly $1 billion last fiscal year. But it has been a boon to the more than two dozen hotel companies that locked in contracts for the state shelter program.
The emergency shelter network for homeless families relies heavily on private hotels. The owners of the Methuen hotel — a family who built Lexington-based Jamsan Hotel Management — were paid $7.5 million over a year, even as city health inspectors documented more than 330 violations, including rodent activity and bedbugs, mold and water damage.
The costs have led residents and local officials to question whether state officials, in their rush to protect families from sleeping on the street, committed to contracts that are more costly than they’re worth. The Emergency Assistance program is not meant to boost local businesses, but to avert individual and public emergencies, noted one Methuen City Council member.
“No one should be profiting from this crisis,” said Councilor at Large Nicholas DiZoglio.
State housing officials defended the expenses, noting they scrambled to find rooms quickly.
“We negotiated at the time for the best rate we could achieve,” said Chris Thompson, undersecretary ofthe Division of Housing Stabilization at the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. “We were seeing an unprecedented demand on the [Emergency Assistance] system and our goal was to shelter families.”
The Globe examined two hotel groups that appear to be tied to the most shelter contracts with the state, with nine hotels each. The Patel family that owns Jamsan, and limited liability companies they formed with other partners, had state contracts worth nearly $35 million calculated through an analysis of financial documents and costs provided by the state. Giri Hotel Management, along with firms affiliated with its executives, had contracts worth an estimated $79 million during that time for both hotel rooms and food service.
Executives from both hotel groups declined interview requests from the Globe.
The contracts have turned some far-flung suburban hotels that had been suffering from a pandemic slump into profit centers. Hotels that were often only partially booked are now at full occupancy — sometimes at steeper rates, thanks to the state’s payments. The contracts even flowed into dated buildings that were suffering from water damage and riddled with mold, such as the Brighton motel now known as Catholic Charities Inn, managed by a Jamsan executive, Nikul Patel.
And low-income tenants who had previously been living week to week at several hotels complained that the owners tried to drive them out, sometimes by doubling their rent, to make way for the families coming via lucrative state contracts, according to news accounts and interviews.
A deal with the state was bound to be attractive to hoteliers with underperforming properties — including those that needed upgrades or were struggling to attract guests, even at discount prices, hospitality consultants said. The downside is that the maxed-out hotels will need major improvements after the shelter program ends from wear-and-tear due to so many long-term tenants and they will likely have to spend money luring back travelers, who have come to think of it as a homeless shelter.
“If there’s an opportunity to get a [long-term] contract, it’s a great day,” said Rachel Roginsky, owner of Pinnacle Advisory Group and a hospitality consultant. “They’re doing it because they want to make a profit.”
The deals, however, do raise questions about whether the state could have negotiated better prices while still allowing the businesses to make someprofit as they partnered with the government through the crisis, Roginsky said.
“Could the state negotiate a lower rate and they still make a profit?” Roginsky said. “I don’t know.”
A Globe analysis of nightly rates found the state is paying above-market prices for shelter at most of the properties of the two hotel groups examined.That analysis was based on rates gathered from contracts and state officials, and compared with data provided by CoStar, a commercial real estate analytics and news platform. CoStar shared data with the Globe for several regions of Massachusetts showing the 12-month moving average daily rate for hotels generally for each of the past three years ending in June.
Four of the nine Patel-owned properties and all of the Giri-affiliated hotels appear to be priced higher than the average daily rate, the Globe found. Most of the hotels tied to Giri executives were only slightly higher than market, but even small differences can dramatically inflate costs when so many rooms are rented for so long, hospitality experts noted.
With 101 rooms booked at Giri’s Rockland hotel, for instance, $5 added to the market rate would cost the state an extra $505 a day — $184,325 over the course of a year.
Jamsan executives declined to answer questions submitted by the Globe.
Giri founder Ashish Sangani also declined to comment. A public relations firm working for the company said the hotelier got involved at the state’s request but declined to comment about the room rates.
“State officials reached out to us for help to meet the critical need for housing of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts,” public relations consultant George Regan said in a statement.“We will continue our work to develop new and impactful ways to care for our guests in an effort to ease their transition into American life.”
Hoteliers likely benefited from the state’s desperation. Until recently, political leaders have interpreted Massachusetts’ unique right-to-shelter law to mean the state is obligated to provide emergency housing to pregnant people and families with children, including the thousands of families that have been arriving from other countries. The state has long rented hotel rooms to supplement shelter space when necessary, but the need has never approached this magnitude. Governor Maura Healey’s predecessor, Charlie Baker, sought bids for hotel contracts in early 2022 after an influx of more than 11,000 migrants and an uptick in homelessness locally. But the request attracted little interest, so the Baker administrationsought hotels through a broker, with wider contacts in the state hospitality industry, without going out to bid.
Bob Clement, a consultant with Park Lodge Hotel Group, which was paid to help the state find rooms, recalled the panicked requests he got in the summer of 2022.“The need went kind of nutty,” Clement said.
The state also reached out to hotel owners who had previously been partners in times of need, said Thompson, the undersecretary for housing stabilization.
Few companies were as well positioned as Jamsan. The Patel family had its hotels approved for use as shelters for the homeless during the pandemic. They also own the Roundhouse hotel, near the Boston intersection known as Mass. and Cass that had become the epicenter of the city’s drug activity. That hotel was used as a homeless shelter during the pandemic and later, despite neighborhood objections, as a home base for addiction treatment services.
The homeless crisis only intensified after Healey took office, with the expiration of pandemic restrictions on border crossings, efforts by Southern governors to send migrants to Democratic states, and an increasein evictions locally. With migrants huddled in Boston Medical Center and sleeping on the floor at Logan Airport, state officials were overwhelmed, working through nights and weekends to find available rooms for families. Later contracts were put out for bid, and the prices varied.
Thompson said the team always tried to negotiate fair rates, turned down some proposals that were unworkable, and revised contracts when possible. The nightly rate for the Methuen hotel, for instance, is now down to $150.
The promise of steady payments from the state, however, may have pushed out other renters who had been living in the hotels long term and paying week to week.
Boston 25 News reported that tenants were forced out of the Jamsan-tied Best Western in Concord to make way for the state’s lease. Andtenants at their Yarmouth Resort received warnings that rateswould more than double shortly before the governor announced migrants were moving in, the Cape Cod Times reported. (A spokesman for the housing agency told the newspaper at the time that the Healey administration “seeks to ensure that no residents are displaced as a result of our efforts to house families in crisis.” The Yarmouth Resort was not used as a shelter, though the state subsequently signed up to use other Jamsan-tied hotels.)
Other hotel owners also tried to remove long-term residents. In July 2023, the Motel 6 in Danvers, owned by Hare Krishna Danvers Hotel LLC, sent notices to more than a dozen long-term, paying guests informing them they had a month to vacate their rooms, as the hotel wouldbe part of the state’s shelter program, the Salem News reported.
“It wasn’t right,” said Dawn Oliva, 54, who had lived there with her husband for two years.
After Oliva and others complained to city and state representatives, the hotelier told residents that they could remain. ButOliva found an apartment that didn’t require expensive upfront payments last fall and moved out of the hotel.
The state did not want longstanding tenants displaced, Thompson said. Still, the agency did not broadly prohibit this practice in its contracts.
“When we learned of those situations, we worked with hotel owners and with communities as well to try and address them and support families,” Thompson said.
Thoughstate contracts are funded with taxpayer money and would typically be publicly available, administration officials havewithheld the names and locations of hotels that have been used as shelters, citing a need to protect the privacy of the homeless families being placed there and anti-immigrant protests that have targeted residents and staff. To assemble this report, the Globe had to independently identify the hotels being used as shelters, track down the owners, and correlate hotel sites with heavily redacted contracts or pricing information obtained from state officials. The Globe also obtained public records from city and town building inspectors and health departments to report on the conditions of the hotels.
Until the migrant and homelessness crisis overwhelmed the state, little was publicly known about Jamsan and Giri. Both companies were founded by Indian immigrants — nationally about 60 percent of hotels are owned by people of Indian descent, according to a report by the trade group, Asian American Hotel Owners Association.
Jamsan is a loosely connected hotel empire of limited liability companies owned by Patel relatives and partners.
Based in an unassuming office park not far from Hanscom Air Force Base, the company has been operating in New England since the 1990s.According to its website, Jamsan operates 70 hotels, along with coffee shops, convenience stores, and gas stations. The Patels have built a reputation of operating budget and mid-priced hotels.
“Our ability is to look at a property and add value to it,” Jamsan vice president Ashok Patel told a Fall River newspaper in 2018. “We look for properties that have medium performance because of its condition or its management.”
It has been a profitable strategy.
Jamsan president Dilip Patel, his nephew, Ashok, and son, Nikul, are all listed among the owners of a family estate that was carved into a modest Lexington neighborhood 10 years ago after the family amassed several adjacent properties. The gated mansion, assessed at $7.7 million, has a game room, a home theater, and 12 bathrooms, according to assessing records.
Giri’s founder, Sangani, is also an Indian immigrant who early on partnered with Dilip Patel on a Quincy hotel. Sangani now owns a $1.7 million home with a pool and basketball court, and a panoramic view of Quincy Bay.
The Giri-owned and -managed hotels that have been used by the state as shelters are almost all on the South Shore, and most are of more recent vintage. Their inspections show few glaring problems, thoughtwo have had recent complaints of bedbugs. The Rockland hotel, which was the site of an alleged rape of a teenage migrant last spring by another migrant, was also ordered earlier this year to replace all its sprinkler heads after failing several quarterly fire department inspections.
Both hotel chains have more upscale properties, in addition totheir lower-priced offerings, and have reputations as smart hoteliers, said hotel broker Mitchell Muroff, owner of Muroff Hospitality. “They have some beautiful hotels,” he said, “and they have some hotels that are not so beautiful.”
With many of their Massachusetts hotels in regular use by the state, both companies have been growing their business. Just this year, Giri has announced three new hotel projects in New England, including a plan to operate two hotels with 350 rooms in an ambitious development in Burlington, Vt.
As it benefits from millions of dollars in state contracts, Jamsan has pivoted to more upscale properties. It has acquired several iconic New England hotels, including the Red Jacket Inn in Conway, N.H., the Daniel Webster Inn & Spa in Sandwich, and the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier. The company has also entered the Florida market with the recent purchase of two hotels.
Meanwhile, the company has let some of its properties used as shelters during the pandemic and again during the migrant crisis fall into disrepair. The state evacuated migrant and homeless families from the Brighton shelter this past spring for a mold remediation, sending them to another Jamsan hotel in Woburn. The Roundhouse hotel in Boston is vacant, surrounded by chain link fence, with several windows missing or boarded up.
And the city of Methuen last fall fined the company $46,600 for failing to comply with orders to eliminate pests and correct water and electrical problems while migrants were living at their hotelthere. City officials said that conditions at the hotel have since improved.
That has led some to question the value the state is getting for its deep investment in private hotels. The $7.5 million paid to rent rooms in the Methuen hotel in the last year was higher than its property value, which is assessed at $5.6 million.
“All this money is being thrown around on this homeless issue,” said Methuen Mayor Neil Perry. “I don’t know if it’s been thrown around in the right direction.”
Deirdre Fernandes can be reached at deirdre.fernandes@globe.com. Follow her @fernandesglobe. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at Stephanie.Ebbert@globe.com. Follow her @StephanieEbbert.
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Oct 24
Albany Business Review – October 23, 2024
Riverside cottages in Warren County hit the market for $2.65M
By Luke Nathan – Reporter, Albany Business Review
Oct 23, 2024
A cluster of cottages on the eastern bank of the Hudson River in Warren County has been put on the market for $2.65 million.
Whispering Pines Cottages in Lake Luzerne includes a 7-bedroom lodge, 4-bedroom house and nearly a dozen 2-bedroom cottages.
Mitchell Muroff of Muroff Hospitality Group, who has the listing, said the current owner has made a variety of improvements, including renovating many of the lodgings, clearing land, repaving the driveway and installing a new dock.
“It’s a unique Adirondack property,” Muroff said.
The site is about 15 to 20 minutes from Lake George and Saratoga Springs.
The owner, Riverside Cottage Lake George LLC, purchased the 6.8-acre property at 365 East River Drive in late 2021 for $950,000, according to a deed filing, which indicates the company is based in Jamaica, Queens. Five acres of the site, including the aforementioned buildings, are up for sale.
The owner doesn’t have time to manage and operate the property to maximize revenue so opted to sell it, according to Muroff. The lodgings have been rented out only intermittently in recent years.
The property could be made available to guests through Airbnb, Vrbo or other platforms, Muroff suggested.
Muroff said the property is similar to another Lake Luzerne resort, Hide-A-Way Cottages on Lake Vanare, which he helped sell last year. The 3.8-acre property went for $1.75 million.
Muroff also has active listings for two higher-profile hotel properties in the Lake George market: the Baymont by Wyndham Lake George and Roaring Brook Ranch Resort off Route 9N.
The broker said he believes those are the only two Lake George hotels advertised for sale currently.
“I think by and large the newer owners of independent hotels in the Lake George market tend to upgrade the properties and are looking at them as long-term investments,” Muroff said.
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Oct 24
Fire Island & Great South Bay News – Sep 27, 2024
Fire Island Pines Commercial Real Estate Empire Sale NOW CLOSED
The Harbor-facing properties in Fire Island Pines are now officially sold, according to a recent announcement made by Muroff Hospitality Group. Located on southern Long Island, 60 miles east of Manhattan, the property stretches along 320 feet of the main pedestrian promenade to the residential and beach access areas in the only commercial portion of the Pines. The businesses include The Blue Whale, the Hotel, the Pool Deck, the Canteen, the Gym, the Pavilion, and various commercial spaces; plus, a 3-bedroom house and a 16-bedroom house to accommodate employee housing. This transaction represents approximately 75% of the commercial property in Fire Island Pines, a world-renowned, vehicle-free, waterfront resort complex located 90 minutes from New York City. The Pines is the location of the most expensive real estate on Fire Island and has evolved into the best-known, wealthiest, upscale gay community in the world.
This transaction caps a year-long process of marketing and negotiations and ensures that the resort’s continuity is a safe place for the LBGTQ+ community. The Sellers were Outpost Pines, LLC, and Ruff Picketty, LLC. The Resort has long been managed by PJ MacAteer, the President of Outpost Pines LLC. and owner of Sip N Twirl, Pines Bistro, and Pines Pizza, which are not part of this transaction. The buyer is Fire Island Pines Holdings LLC, a company owned and controlled by Tristan Schukraft, an entrepreneur who owns several businesses, including Mistr: A telemedicine app that offers access to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP); The Abbey and Chapel LGBTQ+ nightclubs in West Hollywood, CA.; The Tryst Hotel in Puerto Rico; The Tryst Hotel in Puerto Vallarta; Circo nightclub in Puerto Rico. Mitch Muroff of Muroff Hospitality Group represented the Sellers and secured the Buyer in this exclusive listing. The sales price was $15,500,000, and the transaction closed in New York, New York, on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.
Muroff Hospitality Group serves the greater New York – New England Region as the preeminent boutique hospitality brokerage firm representing independent and franchised hoteliers, restauranteurs and Innkeepers with an unparalleled range of personalized services.
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Sep 24
New York Business Journal – Sep 26, 2024
Fire Island Pines Resort sold for $15.5 million
By Julian Nazar – Staff Reporter, New York Business Journal
Sep 26, 2024
Fire Island Pines Resort has sold for $15.5 million to entrepreneur Tristan Schukraft.
The resort, which accounts for around 75% of the commercial property in Fire Island Pines, includes restaurant The Canteen; restaurant and nightclub The Blue Whale; nightclub The Pavilion; General Store by Base; beach boutique store Tola; hardware store and flower shop Camp; barber shop Handsome; and summer pop-up store Ron Dorff, among other businesses.
In addition, the resort features a hotel that’s currently closed, a pool deck with adjacent retail stores, a three-bedroom house and a 16-bedroom house for employee housing.
Muroff Hospitality Group’s Mitch Muroff represented the sellers, Outpost Pines LLC and Ruff Picketty LLC. Muroff also secured the buyer, Fire Island Pines Holding LLC. The company is owned and controlled by Schukraft.
Schukraft is behind ventures such as Mistr, a telemedicine app that offers access to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis; Los Angeles LGBTQ+ nightclubs The Abbey and The Chapel; The Tryst Hotel in Puerto Rico and Puerto Vallarta; and the Circo nightclub in Puerto Rico.
The asking price for Fire Island Pines Resort was $17.25 million.
That the resort sold for “a little less than the asking price is likely because of the fact that the hotel is closed and needs a couple of million dollars in renovations to reopen,” Muroff said. “The hotel building represents an opportunity rather than readily available stream of cash flow.”
Muroff added that it is important to the community that Fire Island Pines Resort is being sold to another member of the LBGTQ+ community.
Located on southern Long Island, the resort stretches along 320 feet of the main pedestrian promenade in Fire Island Pines.
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Sep 24
nyrej – Sep 24, 2024
Muroff Hospitality Group complete $15.5 million sale of Fire Island Pines
Fire Island, NY Muroff Hospitality Group has completed the $15.5 million sale of the Harbor facing properties. Located on southern Long Island, 60 miles east of Manhattan, the property stretches along 320 feet of the main pedestrian promenade to the residential and beach access areas in the only commercial portion of the Pines.
The businesses include The Blue Whale, the Hotel, the Pool Deck, the Canteen, the Gym, the Pavilion and various commercial spaces; plus, a 3-bedroom house and a 16- bedroom house to accommodate employee housing. This transaction represents approximately 75% of the commercial property in Fire Island Pines, a vehicle free, waterfront resort complex located 90 minutes from New York City. The Pines is the location of the most expensive real estate on Fire Island.
This transaction caps a year long process of marketing and negotiations and ensures that the resort’s continuity as a safe place for the LBGTQ+ community. The Sellers were Outpost Pines, LLC and Ruff Picketty LLC. The Resort has long been managed by PJ MacAteer, the president of Outpost Pines LLC and owner of Sip N Twirl, Pines Bistro and Pines Pizza which are not part of this transaction.
The buyer is Fire Island Pines Holdings LLC, a company owned and controlled by Tristan Schukraft, an entrepreneur who owns a number of businesses, including: Mistr: A telemedicine app that offers access to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP); The Abbey and Chapel LGBTQ+ nightclubs in West Hollywood, CA.; The Tryst Hotel in Puerto Rico, The Tryst Hotel in Puerto Vallarta; Circo nightclub in Puerto Rico. Mitch Muroff of Muroff Hospitality Group represented the Sellers and secured the Buyer in this exclusive listing. The transaction closed on September 24, 2024.
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Jul 24
Albany Business Review – July 17, 2024
Roaring Brook Ranch Resort hits market again, this time for $10.5 million
By Chelsea Diana – Reporter, Albany Business Review
Jul 17, 2024
Updated Jul 17, 2024 3:44pm EDT
A real estate investor from India has listed the 135-room Roaring Brook Ranch Resort off Route 9N in Lake George for sale — along with 240 acres that can be developed.
Ajay Dhar of New Delhi has listed the nearly 280-acre property for sale at $10.5 million. He previously had listed the resort for sale in 2022, without the additional acreage.
The 240 acres that are now part of the listing can be redeveloped into residential, vacation homes and/ or complementary uses to the resort.
The property was listed last month through broker Mitch Muroff and Muroff Hospitality Group. Muroff said the first showings for the property are taking place next week.
The owners originally purchased the resort at 2206 State Route 9N in May 2019 for $2.75 million. The resort is about 2 miles south of Lake George village. They hired Access Hotels & Resorts of Florida to manage the property and oversee renovations.
In the last few years, Dhar made $5 million in renovations and capital improvements to the property, including updating 100 of the 135 guest rooms, as well as swimming pools, new roofs, and renovations to the convention center and grounds.
After listing the property for sale two years ago, Muroff said Dhar instead took on another partner, Hardeep Anand of Florida.
Anand and Dhar planned to permit the 240 acres surrounding the resort to vacation homes, townhouses or glamping campsites — uses that could take advantage of the resort’s amenities. Anand recently became ill, Muroff said, and can no longer pursue the project.
Muroff said they’re looking to sell the resort and the land together. He said Dhar is also open to taking on a new development partner who can redevelop the 240 acres.
“That could be an excellent opportunity for somebody who wanted to get into a development and essentially share the risk with the current owner,” Muroff said.
Muroff said a new owner would need to make some additional capital improvements to the resort, including renovating the remaining 35 guest rooms. The resort is currently closed.
The resort has one of the largest banquet spaces in the Adirondacks with the ability to host 700 guests, along with a large restaurant. The property features indoor and outdoor swimming pools, horseback riding and hiking trails.
Roaring Brook Ranch Resort was founded shortly after World War II by Joseph Garry Sr. His nephew, George Greene Jr., spent more than 50 years running and expanding the resort until his death in February 2018.
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Jul 24
NYREJ – June 25, 2024
Muroff Hospitality Group announces sale of the Mohican Resort of Lake George
Lake George, NY Muroff Hospitality Group has completed the sale of The Mohican Resort of Lake George and the 8,000 s/f Boats by George Storage Building, located at 1545 State Rte. 9. Both properties were owned by Chad Nims (1545 State Route 9 LLC). The entire property is 4.69 acres and was recently subdivided to sell the motel property (3.75 acres) to Amit and Payal Kumar and the Boat Storage Building (.94 acre)) to George Pensel (Five Star Marina Properties, LLC). Mitch Muroff of Muroff Hospitality Group represented the seller and secured the buyers in this exclusive listing. The total sales price was $3.1 million ($2.7 million for the motel and $400,000 for the boat storage building).
This well-established, long-time family-owned resort has 44 units, ranging in size from traditional guest rooms to two-bedroom suites, condo-like units, townhouses and a newly renovated four-bedroom home. Additional amenities include outdoor and heated indoor swimming pools, game room, business center, basketball court, BBQ grills, fitness center, park like setting, gazebo, guest laundry, children’s playground, housekeeping, and more. The Mohican Resort is nearby to Great Escape, the Lake George Outlets, Millionaires Beach, Cruise Ships, Village of Lake George, Ft. William Henry, restaurants, shopping, bars and local attractions.
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Jul 24
Albany Business Review – July 7, 2024
Resort motel, boat storage near the Lake George outlets sold
By Chelsea Diana – Reporter, Albany Business Review
Jul 7, 2024
The Mohican Resort Motel — on Route 9 near the Lake George factory outlets in Queensbury — sold last week, along with a boat storage building on the property.
Paving and excavating contractor Chad Nims sold the resort at 1545 Route 9 for $2.7 million to Amit and Payal Kumar, according to broker Mitch Muroff, who had the listing for the property.
A separate boat storage building on the property that was recently subdivided sold for $400,000 to George Pensel, owner of Boats by George.
Muroff, of Muroff Hospitality Group, represented the seller and secured the buyers.
The transactions closed on July 2. Deeds and any mortgage information are not yet publicly available.
Nims bought the hotel in February 2023 after the previous owners lost the property due to financial problems. Nims paid $1.7 million to buy the property, which he had previously leased. He invested about $400,000 renovating a two-story house on the Mohican property and upgrading most of the rooms.
The resort has 44 rooms, including traditional motel rooms, two-bedroom suites, townhouse-style rooms and the four-bedroom home. It features outdoor and heated indoor swimming pools, a game room, business center, basketball court, BBQ grills, fitness center and other amenities.
The entire property, including the boat storage building, is 4.69 acres.
Muroff said the new owners plan to continue to run the property as is, likely making some cosmetic changes after the summer season.
In Warren County, the occupancy rate for hotels from January to May was 41%, down 2.1% from the same period last year, according to data from STR, a hospitality consulting firm that’s part of CoStar Group.
The average daily rate was up 2%, to $140.36. Total revenue was $43.9 million, up 0.3%.
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May 24
The Chronicle – May 16, 2024
Sale of Luzerne’s Lamplight
By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor
Forty years ago, Gene and Linda Merlino took a leap, bought a building dating from 1890 in Lake Luzerne and turned it into the Lamplight Inn Bed & Breakfast. “It was a total whim,” says Linda. “We were talking about making a change in our lives. We were going to bed & breakfasts and said ‘this looks like fun.’ Then we found the building. Neither one of us had a background” in hospitality.
On May 1, George and Mary Haleem of Pennsylvania took a leap of their own, buying the Lamplight from the Merlinos.
The Haleems have experience that the Merlinos didn’t. George says, “Pharmaceutical and medical devices was my career for about 12 years.” Then the couple bought a house in the Poconos, “which we started renting out as a vacation home and it did very well. We purchased another one after that. We scaled up over the years. This will be our eighth property. Five of them are vacation homes” — “6- or 7-bedroom homes geared for large families.”
“We also own Pine Hill Lodge in Mount Pocono, an 11-bedroom lodge dating from 1875. It’s very similar in nature to the Lamplight Inn. We purchased that three years ago. We did some preservation to kind of maintain that property.” They bought Sterling Manor, also in Mount Pocono, which George says is a vacation resort dating from the early 1900s.
“Last year I left my career” in medical device quality and regulatory assurance, says George. “I wasn’t enjoying that anymore.” Mary has kept hers. “My wife is an accountant by trade.” The Haleems have three- and five-year old girls. “My daughters love going up to the mountain homes. They take it as vacation,” George said.
Mitch Muroff, whose Muroff Hospitality Group brokered the sale, said it sold for $1.255 million.
The Merlinos own two nearby houses and will stay in Lake Luzerne. Gene, who just turned 80, is the long-time Lake Luzerne Town Supervisor. Actually, the Merlinos are operating the 12-room inn right now, until the Haleems’ newly hired live-in innkeeper Tamara Stevens of Glens Falls takes the reins in mid-June.
“After 40 years I have mixed emotions,” Linda said. “We have so many long-term guests, we became friends with so many of them. We were just called a national treasure on Facebook by a guest and we have so many five-star ratings on Google and everywhere. But it’s time, and George and Mary are nice people.”
“Gene and Linda built a great list of recurring guests,” George says. “We want to make sure we take care of them and that any changes we make will be gradual and just improve the existing experience.”
He said they’ll change the name to the Rockwell Falls Inn and Wine Bar. “We wanted a name that was ours,” George said. “Rockwell Falls is a block away.
“We eventually want to offer dinner. I want to be very clear it’s not going to happen right away.” Linda says, “Lake Luzerne could really use that.”
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May 24
Albany Business Review – May 2, 2024
Lake Luzerne inn sold to Pennsylvania couple
By Chelsea Diana – Reporter, Albany Business Review
May 2, 2024
A Pennsylvania couple has purchased The Lamplight Inn Bed & Breakfast in Lake Luzerne, the Adirondacks town southwest of Lake George village, for $1.255 million.
George and Mary Haleem bought the Victorian inn at 231 Lake Ave. from Eugene and Linda Merlino. The transaction closed on April 30, according to a deed filed in Warren County.
Broker Mitch Muroff of Muroff Hospitality Group represented the seller and secured the buyer.
The Merlinos had owned the bed and breakfast for 40 years. Eugene Merlino is the town supervisor of Lake Luzerne in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. The town and the small lake, known for ice fishing tournaments, community beaches and kayaking, share the same name.
The inn property includes the seven-suite main Victorian-style building built in 1890 and a five-room carriage house built in 1966. Overall, the inn is situated on 2.78 acres.
The Lamplight had been listed for $1.395 million. Muroff said the inn had another offer that fell through at the last day of due diligence. Within a week or so, the Haleems showed an interest in the property. They mortgaged the property with The Dime Bank of Pennsylvania.
“I gave them a tour and he loved it,” Muroff said. “They have experience running Airbnbs and rental properties and inns and were well qualified to buy it.”
This is the buyers’ first investment property in New York, Muroff said. He mentioned that the Merlinos, who live next door to the inn, plan to assist the new owners in the transition.
The inn will be open in time for regular spring and summer bookings.
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