Raise Funds or Raze the Inn?
Larchmont Committee Fund-Raising to Purchase the Manor Inn

Under increasing time-pressure, a local committee seeking to preserve the Larchmont Manor Inn met Wednesday evening, July 11, to discuss plans for purchasing the Prospect Avenue facility. "We're in a major fund raising mode," described Jan Northrup one of the original members of the committee. The owners of the property, the Boltons, would like to sell it quickly.

The group initiated its efforts as the Manor Inn Steering Committee with five members: Mary Lee Berridge, Cathy Brenner, Bob Heiden, Bob Cummela and Jan Northrup, all residents of Larchmont. At this point, the committee is expanding and is open to anyone interested in the preservation of the Inn.

The group's immediate goal is to acquire the Manor Inn in order to preserve it. They believe its best use is for senior housing. The Bethel organization, which operates the Bethel Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Croton-on-Hudson and another in Ossining has expressed an interest in operating a facility at the Manor Inn. According to Northrup who has visited with the Bethel people, "We've been impressed with their professionalism, expertise and attitude. They want to do the best job for the elderly and that's wonderful."

The Manor Inn Committee has not yet determined how much money they would need to raise. The committee has been in touch with the Boltons, who are asking $2.8 million and would like to move on. If the committee can raise sufficient funds, Northrup believes the Boltons would be interested in dealing with them.

An alternative disposition for the Manor Inn is an acquisition by a developer who would have the right to raze the structure and put up two single-family homes. Some of the immediate neighbors of the antique inn would prefer this result. The Boltons have attended neighborhood meetings and circulated petitions to test neighborhood reaction to replacing the Manor Inn with two new homes. It has been three years since the neighbors first learned of the Bolton's interest in selling, and many are tired of worrying about potential threats to their relatively quiet suburban life.

Over the last three years, developers have surfaced a number of possibilities for the Inn, including a bed and breakfast, catering hall, condominium apartments and low-income housing for seniors. Neighbors worry that all of these ideas will lead to increased density, traffic and noise. Even if the Inn is razed, the neighbors worry about the proper handling of the asbestos siding and lead paint throughout the old facility.

Said Judy Doolin Spikes, the local historian and Maple Avenue resident, "I have always supported the existing use on the existing foot print. Now watching almost three years that not happening, I have become resigned to that not happening. If a local group can buy it and continue the same use on the same footprint I'd be thrilled."

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