SHERBURNE – Enough time has passed for Village Mayor Bill Acee to acknowledge that a much hoped for $200,000 state grant that would have helped to repair the landmark Sherburne Inn has fallen through.
The mayor said he learned that Sherburne had been skipped over in August for a Restore New York grant, but because notices were mailed out to recipients (such as to the City of Norwich) a month later than anticipated, he elected to hold out with the news for fear of jeopardizing any possible funding.
“I’m very disappointed,” he said last week.
The project would have melded public and private funding to make necessary repairs and some improvements to the century old hotel and restaurant. Acee said the deal probably fell through because the village didn’t actually own the building.
After attempting to sell the Inn for the past three years, owner and Lok-N-Logs Inc. entrepreneur Jim Webb said he agreed to allow the mayor to apply for the grant. Webb acquired the vacant and deteriorating structure in 2004 after helping the previous owner afford a new roof for it. He said he felt compelled at the time to protect his investment when the owner’s plans for the structure fell through, and proceeded to take title and pay off several years of back taxes and a mortgage loan that was owed to the village.
“I did have the vision of fixing it up and making it a part of my family of businesses five years ago ... of course, the economy was enormously different then,” Webb said.
The local businessman said he allowed the mayor to proceed with the grant last year instead of let the Inn sit empty. “It was against my judgment to do a grant project in the beginning, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fund it,” he said. “The last three to four years has just sucked the lifeblood out of Lok-N-Logs and everything. I don’t have the spirit or money now to do what I was going to do.”
Webb said his log home manufacturing business was off by about 75 percent. The nation’s housing market decline is taking a toll on the manufactured homes industry, forcing at least one of Webb’s competitors into bankruptcy. “It’s not fun to be where we are at, and there’s no bailouts for us,” he said.
Webb continues regular lawn maintenance at the site on the corner of state Routes 12 and 80 and, at the request of the mayor, has refrained from boarding up the building or fencing in the property. However, he said vandals recently caused about $10,000 worth of damages inside.
