Former Hotel To Get New Life
Shenandoah Battlefields Foundation Closes On Purchase Of Historic Building
Posted: February 8, 2013
It’s official. After months of working out the details, the former Lee-Jackson Hotel building in New Market will soon reopen its doors with a new set of occupants.
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation announced this week the purchase of the building from United Bank to use as a new home for its offices. The purchase price was around $480,000.
Since 2007, the foundation’s offices have been at the Shirley House, just north of Old West Cross Road and owned by VMI.
The foundation was cleared to purchase the building on South Congress Street in December, but the sale wasn’t definite, said Denman Zirkle, the organization’s executive director. Foundation officials wanted to make sure the building was in sound condition and wouldn’t have to undergo too many repairs.
Fears were quelled for the most part after an engineer was brought in to analyze the building in January.
“There were a few support beams that had been removed during an earlier remodel that shouldn’t have been removed,” said Terry Hedder, director of interpretation and field programs for the foundation.
Besides the need to replace the beams in the basement, he said the building was deemed in good shape.
Employees plan to move into the new offices by March 1, though a formal opening will take place later in the year.
The foundation’s offices will be housed on the second floor of the 10,000-square-foot building. The first floor will have a Civil War orientation center, store and include space for a restaurant of some sort. Offices on the third floor will also be rented out.
Town Manager Evan Vass said the town will be working with the foundation to find a suitable candidate to operate the restaurant.
Vass said a restaurant in that location would provide great benefit to the town from meals tax and business license revenue as well as garnering exposure for the building and other shops in town.
“It will be a great thing not only for full-time residents but also for those who are here [to tour] the area,” he said.
Hedder said foundation officials have not yet narrowed down what type of restaurant they might want in the space.
“It has to be a good fit, someone that we would be confident would work in the long run,” he said. “We’re just starting the process.”
Frazier Associates, an architecture firm in Staunton, was hired to improve the parking area at the rear of the building and create signage.
The historic structure has stood vacant since it was last operated as the Publik House Restaurant by former New Market Mayor Larry Smith. The restaurant closed after the mortgage defaulted in 2008.
Vass said having the building occupied again is a “really important” step for New Market.
“It sits on a very prominent corner. When it was occupied it represented all that was right with our revitalization efforts,” he said.
The building has seen many uses since its construction in 1807. It’s been a hotel, operating under at least four names: the Hotel Carrolton, Hotel Thaxton, The Battlefield Inn and, beginning in 1928, the Lee-Jackson Hotel. The latter name stuck for the remainder of its time as a hotel.
In the early 1940s, the structure was converted to a boardinghouse before closing in the late ‘50s. It was vacant until 1980, when it was operated as an antique store and museum.
Smith acquired the property in 2005 and completed a large-scale renovation, equipping the first floor for a restaurant.
Hedder said the new offices will be a “terrific” opportunity to get both the office space the foundation needs and to make New Market more of a destination to promote surrounding Civil War and historical sites.
“We hope it will support tourism in general [in the Valley],” he said. “People can come for the restaurant or for the orientation center and then learn about other things they can see and do in the area.”
Contact Kaitlin Mayhew at 574-6290 or kmayhew@dnronline.com
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation announced this week the purchase of the building from United Bank to use as a new home for its offices. The purchase price was around $480,000.
Since 2007, the foundation’s offices have been at the Shirley House, just north of Old West Cross Road and owned by VMI.
The foundation was cleared to purchase the building on South Congress Street in December, but the sale wasn’t definite, said Denman Zirkle, the organization’s executive director. Foundation officials wanted to make sure the building was in sound condition and wouldn’t have to undergo too many repairs.
Fears were quelled for the most part after an engineer was brought in to analyze the building in January.
“There were a few support beams that had been removed during an earlier remodel that shouldn’t have been removed,” said Terry Hedder, director of interpretation and field programs for the foundation.
Besides the need to replace the beams in the basement, he said the building was deemed in good shape.
Employees plan to move into the new offices by March 1, though a formal opening will take place later in the year.
The foundation’s offices will be housed on the second floor of the 10,000-square-foot building. The first floor will have a Civil War orientation center, store and include space for a restaurant of some sort. Offices on the third floor will also be rented out.
Town Manager Evan Vass said the town will be working with the foundation to find a suitable candidate to operate the restaurant.
Vass said a restaurant in that location would provide great benefit to the town from meals tax and business license revenue as well as garnering exposure for the building and other shops in town.
“It will be a great thing not only for full-time residents but also for those who are here [to tour] the area,” he said.
Hedder said foundation officials have not yet narrowed down what type of restaurant they might want in the space.
“It has to be a good fit, someone that we would be confident would work in the long run,” he said. “We’re just starting the process.”
Frazier Associates, an architecture firm in Staunton, was hired to improve the parking area at the rear of the building and create signage.
The historic structure has stood vacant since it was last operated as the Publik House Restaurant by former New Market Mayor Larry Smith. The restaurant closed after the mortgage defaulted in 2008.
Vass said having the building occupied again is a “really important” step for New Market.
“It sits on a very prominent corner. When it was occupied it represented all that was right with our revitalization efforts,” he said.
The building has seen many uses since its construction in 1807. It’s been a hotel, operating under at least four names: the Hotel Carrolton, Hotel Thaxton, The Battlefield Inn and, beginning in 1928, the Lee-Jackson Hotel. The latter name stuck for the remainder of its time as a hotel.
In the early 1940s, the structure was converted to a boardinghouse before closing in the late ‘50s. It was vacant until 1980, when it was operated as an antique store and museum.
Smith acquired the property in 2005 and completed a large-scale renovation, equipping the first floor for a restaurant.
Hedder said the new offices will be a “terrific” opportunity to get both the office space the foundation needs and to make New Market more of a destination to promote surrounding Civil War and historical sites.
“We hope it will support tourism in general [in the Valley],” he said. “People can come for the restaurant or for the orientation center and then learn about other things they can see and do in the area.”
Contact Kaitlin Mayhew at 574-6290 or kmayhew@dnronline.com