This was the state of the Lord Jeffery Inn on the cold, damp morning of Nov. 14. A sign on the door read “No Trespassing,” and a notice next to it said that on Nov. 9 renovations had officially started.
In actuality, however, renovations are not underway. In his letter to the College community on Oct. 28, President Anthony Marx informed the student body of the Board of Trustees’ decision to postpone the renovations of the Inn in response to the current economic crisis. The College had initially planned to renovate the Inn to incorporate more modernized technology and amenities for travelers. However, amidst the fiscal meltdown, the College is looking to cut down on non-academic expenses while maintaining academic quality so that students’ educations do not suffer.
“The College faces difficult choices about spending priorities,” said Marx in an official statement, “and decided it was in our best interest to postpone the renovation of the Lord Jeffery Inn until a clearer picture emerges about the state of the economy and the College’s ability to take on this project without sacrificing its fundamental commitment to its academic mission.”
The Inn originally opened in 1926 when the Board and the College felt it was necessary for visiting alumni and parents of students. The College and alumni purchased the corner of Boltwood Avenue and Spring Street for $25,000 and funded its construction. Today, the Inn not only houses visitors to the College, but also hosts weddings, meetings and bar mitzvahs among other functions.
Despite all of these events, the College, which owns 85 percent of the Inn’s shares, traditionally does not make a profit from it. For the past 20 years, it has also leased out the Inn to a management company. The College uses this rental income to pay for the building’s basic cosmetic upkeep.
As of now, the Inn is closed indefinitely, despite the fact that only preliminary work was undertaken and the renovations themselves had not begun before they were postponed.
“It would not make good business sense to keep [the Inn] open,” explained Caroline Hanna, College Director of Media Relations. “We had stopped taking room and function reservations for the winter — which is a traditionally slow period — and keeping the Inn open would have resulted in a significant financial operating loss for the College. Also, the physical condition of Inn’s infrastructure makes it very hard to remain open and maintain an acceptable level of comfort and hospitality.”
It is still uncertain when the Inn will officially reopen. Daniel O’Connell’s Sons contracting company was scheduled to work on the project and had done some preliminary work, but an official contract has not yet been signed. “The Inn’s staff were given notice several months ago, and our contract with the Lord Jeff management team expired on Nov. 9,” said Hanna.
In his statement to the College, Marx touched briefly on the future of the Inn: “The Board of Trustees will continue to review the Inn investment as part of the normal capital budgeting process at future board meetings, and we expect to revisit this decision by June 2009.”
Hanna added, “If the project begins in June 2009, “the Inn would then likely open in March or April of 2011.”