DEDHAM, Maine — There may be new people running a familiar landmark on Route 1A, but little else about the business is expected to change, the new owners said Monday.
David and Jayne Silverman said Monday they purchased The Lucerne Inn, which overlooks Phillips Lake and the hills to its west, from Steve and Rhonda Jones of Holden for $2.3 million. They closed on the purchase just last week and, on Sunday, hosted their first wedding at the scenic inn.
The new owners, recent transplants from Long Beach, New York, on Long Island, said that a year ago they were not looking to uproot their lives and move to Maine. But they found out from Jayne Silverman’s brother, an experienced hotelier and commercial real estate broker in Massachusetts, that the inn was for sale and, once the idea of buying and running the inn crept into their minds, they could not let it go.
They came up to look at the inn last November and quickly got serious about buying the business.
“We actually fell in love with the place,” David Silverman said, sitting at a table by the window in the inn’s dining room. “It’s sort of tough to not enjoy this, and the wheels started turning.”
Steve Jones, who with his wife, Rhonda Jones, purchased the inn in 2005, said Monday that the decision to sell the inn was bittersweet. He said that 18 months ago, as part of his “retirement plan,” he re-purchased a store in Wilton that he had owned before acquiring The Lucerne Inn.
Jones, 58, added that he and his wife wanted to move back to western Maine to be closer to their children and grandchildren, who live in the Boston area. They have bought a house in Turner, he added.
“We’ll definitely miss it,” Jones said of the inn.
He said he and his wife made good friends in the local community and grew close to some of their long-serving staff.
“We think the world of David and Jayne,” Jones said. “We think they’re going to do a wonderful job.”
The Silvermans said they are new to the lodging business, but both have customer service and financial backgrounds.
David Silverman most recently managed a Bobby Van’s Steakhouse at JFK airport in New York, and he also has worked in catering and as a stock trader on Wall Street. Jayne Silverman’s experience is in retail and customer service, most recently at Nordstrom department stores, and she also has worked as a stock trader on Wall Street, where she and David Silverman met more than 30 years ago.
The married couple has a grown daughter who works in the real estate business in Manhattan.
“It fits into the different things we’ve done in our careers,” David Silverman said of acquiring the 31-room inn.
Jayne Silverman said the opportunity to become entrepreneurs and for a change in their surroundings was too good to pass up.
“We were ready to leave the rat-race of New York and wanted to be in business together instead of always working for other people,” she said. “We felt like we could put our energies together and do what we can for the inn. It’s a very special place.”
The history of the inn, which was founded in 1814, and its close location to both Bangor and Acadia National Park appealed to the couple, they said. Bangor International Airport is about 20 minutes away, and the national park is about 45 minutes away.
And it stands out among other lodging businesses in the vicinity, David Silverman said. The quality of many hotels in the Bangor, Bar Harbor and Ellsworth markets is high, he said, but most of the Bar Harbor hotels are seasonal, and most of those in Bangor are national chains built within a mile or so of the airport, Bangor Mall or downtown.
The Lucerne Inn is pet-friendly, is on 10 acres of land and abuts a nine-hole golf course, which is separately owned and operated, he said. It has terrific views to the west and often lures passing motorists into its parking lot so they can snap a few quick photos of the valley and hills, the fall foliage, or the setting sun.
“You can’t replicate 200 years,” David Silverman said of the inn’s history. “You can’t replicate this view. There’s really nothing like it in the area.”
The Silvermans said they plan to more aggressively market the inn to individual lodging customers, including visitors to Acadia, by continuing to offer golf packages, by promoting the inn for weekend getaways, and possibly by offering packages connected with the Waterfront Concerts series in Bangor, among other things. Hosting corporate events and large gatherings such as weddings in the adjacent banquet center will remain a core component of the inn’s business, they added.
They said they may do some minor interior redecorating but have no plans to physically expand.
The Silvermans said the inn’s fine dining room and adjacent pub will remain open to the public for dinner seven nights per week, and that they plan to be open for lunch on weekends through the summer. The inn’s popular Sunday brunches also will remain a staple of the business, they said.
The new owners added they intend to keep the existing staff of about 35 people, including Arturo Montes, formerly of Montes International Catering in downtown Bangor.
“People come here because of him,” David Silverman said of the inn’s chef.
The couple said they have been made to feel very welcome as the inn’s new owners — by local residents, government agencies and by the business community. They stressed that they did not buy the inn merely as a financial investment, but to be part of and to contribute to the surrounding community.
“We did our research [before buying the inn],” David Silverman said, “and we made a lifestyle change.”
The site overlooking Phillips Lake was first developed after the War of 1812 as a place for stagecoaches to stop as they journeyed between Bangor and Ellsworth.
By the late 20th century, it had fallen on hard times. Owners Ralph and Barbara Willoughby filed for bankruptcy in 1975, but by 1987, the inn had been improved to the point that a Connecticut company paid more than $2 million for it from then-owners Joseph and Lois Foran.
But by 1993, the Connecticut company, Baron Resources Ten Limited Partnership, fell into financial difficulties. It closed the inn in February of that year and put it up for auction with a minimum bid of $620,000. There were no takers. Later that year, a Virginia-based company, SKW, bought it for $560,000.
Bion Foster and Arthur Howard purchased it in 1994. Foster subsequently became sole proprietor before selling the inn to the Joneses 11 years ago.
