The Lafayette Inn
146 East Main St, Stanardsville, VA 22973
The Lafayette Inn and Restaurant located just outside of the Shenandoah State Park in Greene County, VA., has been continuously operated for over 20 years and provides considerable room for growth. The Lafayette Inn was awarded the Wine Enthusiast Magazine Award of Distinction for 2005 and the 2006 Virginia Restaurant of the Year award at the Virginia Wine and Food Society Banquet and recently the 2018 Diners’ Choice Award- Charlottesville Area – Best Overall, Best Ambiance, Best Service, Neighborhood Gem, Notable Wine List. The inn is currently only open for 95 days per year on a regular basis and the restaurant is only open on weekends. A full-time operation would see a nearly instant increase in revenue. Established within a destination location, there is a highly sustainable business model built into The Lafayette that cannot be matched in most traditional restaurant locations.
The Lafayette Inn & Restaurant:
–Real Estate/buildings– Over 8,000sf of useable space
-13 original fireplaces. (8 set/operational for gas or electric)
-Seating-
-Dining room 40 seats
-Tavern 20-22 seats
-Courtyard (Tented option) 100-120 seats
-Parking lot (Tented option) 175-250 seats
–Restaurant and equipment
-Restaurant chairs, tables
-Upscale plate, flat, glassware
-Upscale wine glassware
-4-6 Banquet Tables/50-60 Folding Chairs
–Inn and furnishings
-Six Rooms furnished
-In house washer/dryer & laundry room
-3rd Floor private office & full bathroom (Potential owner/intern quarters)
–Inventory
-Wine, beer, alcohol
-Food
-Full commercial kitchen equipment and smallware
–Nearly 5,000 seasoned guests in their database
–Improvements
-POS and Surveillance System
-Dozens of local Inn’s/B&B’s are in the tri-county area with only one other having a full-service restaurant. Most dinner guests are Inn guests locally or with us.
-Just north of the University of Virginia. East of James Madison University and adjacent to Blue Ridge School.
-Within miles from renowned Skyline Drive with fall foliage that brings visitors worldwide.
-Centered between Montpelier, Ash Lawn, Monticello and other historic sites and battlefields.
-Located in the Monticello Wine Trail. Perfectly located to various award-winning vineyards on the Washington, DC side of the trail (making us one of the best Inn locations for visitors)
-15-20 minutes from Massanutten Resort, home of over 60,000 weekly timeshare owners with skiing, golf, and famed indoor/outdoor water park.
-Over the past years they have participated in over 400 rehearsals, small wedding receptions and a few actual ceremonies in our gazebo timed to coordinate with the 6:00 church bells from the adjacent church.
-Lowes, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and CVS recently opened in adjacent Ruckersville.
-NGIC (Homeland Security) is in process of adding over 1,000 positions. They are encouraged as their employees do fit in our dining demographic.
-It is centrally located north of Charlottesville, south of Culpeper, east of Harrisonburg and west of Orange/Gordonsville- making them a growth location.
-On a broader view, they are an excellent location for expanding business’s serving Virginia and other Mid-Atlantic destinations. Nearby to 81 and 29 for North/South travel and route 64 for East/West travel. (Believing the county stands to attract business in the coming decades as they are both convenient and affordable for access to these areas).
-The town revitalization organization (*STAR*) has been working on and has now received grants to assist in the improvement of a multi-block section of town encompassing the Inn. The first phase of improvement fully encompassed this property with nearly $1M in sidewalk, crosswalk, street lighting and other enhancements. Since many other (smaller grants) have been used to help enhance the “curb appeal” of the small-town charm of Stanardsville.
Major Improvements made:
Invested $86K in 2005 on upgrading several electrical items and mostly the installation of a central HVAC system.
Garage/dry storage & deck was purchased and installed post-closing.
Gazebo was purchased/installed.
Courtyard up lighting
Phone system purchased/installed
Building and entrance (various) signage
Bathrooms redone in every suite and the dining room public bathrooms as well.
Third floor office, full bathroom and laundry room added/finished.
All 6 Inn rooms decorated, furnished, painted and upgraded
One handicap friendly suite, the others require a flight of steps
Flat screen TV added to all Inn rooms.
Keurig Coffee Machines in each suite
Individual hot water heaters installed with on/off switches
First floor porch ceiling replaced.
Shutters in the dining room, new chairs, custom wine racks, related furniture.
Two custom wine racks (192 bottles each) and matching hutch in Tavern
New kitchen subfloor
New ice machine and two new sandwich units.
New plate ware, flatware, glassware. Premium red/white wine glassware.
New walk in refrigeration units (2) installed (2019)
Many kitchen equipment units purchased or replaced
Point of Sale system (Surveillance cameras wired and installed- software NOT maintained)
New side sidewalk (if anyone saw the original, they would appreciate the “new”)
New main building gutters
New second floor porch roof (all three sides)
New back and front second floor deck. (New rails on the back as well)
Piped in music/speakers for second floor deck.
Outdoor music/speakers for walkway.
Private parking lot
Handicap friendly street parking
Some of the more obvious options:
Only open to the public on Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays.
No official “Bar” area
No Host/wine steward- Increased per bottle sales, create port and cordial following.
No Happy Hour
No Afternoon Tea and crumpet service
No off site catering
No “Dash and Go” food service targeting adjacent PVCC
No lower priced mid-week dinner options to attract locals. (IE…Never targeted local business). Experienced a restaurant that offered “Steak Out” nights where only steaks offered, all with the same sides, etc. Simple service.
No Special mid-week room rates to attract/pull more guests (Just introduced a limited offer) and have the opportunity for up sales with dinner and bar.
No Coffee house/internet café
Nearly no outbound contacts/partnering. Reach out to the local vineyards, PVCC, Insurance Institute, Plow and Hearth, NGIC, (etc.)
Notable Points:
-Create a bar- While they use the tavern occasionally for small parties, this is a natural expansion for someone with no added fixed cost outside of the build out desired. While they are fully licensed, they have no (nor ever pursued) this business. (Due to time/family constraints). They personally believe a niche exists for a moderate to upscale experience. Limited audience, but the only choice. (Lower end has a broader audience but has several options).
-On-site Catering- they have hosted over 400 rehearsal dinners without much of a reach out to local wedding venues. This could be expanded considerably.
-Off-site Catering- there actually is a large market for catering in the region. Many providers are active, mostly in Charlottesville and south. Locally, most are focused on the lower end or specialty (Full Pig BBQ). This has unlimited potential and can again largely be accomplished without adding much to the fixed cost.
-Inn rooms- they run about “average” with most B&B/Inn’s across America with our reservation rates. There is a lot of room for added rooms if marketing time could be allocated. The weekdays are virtually untouched, creating a strong net dollar for each room improvement. Seeking local companies that have employees and guests visiting. Offering a nice lodging experience and the option to have dining and bar is relatively not being provided locally.
Notable cost savings and/or personally absorbed expenses:
Answering Service
Landscaping
Lawn Service
Handyman Services
Inn Cleaning Service
Room housekeeping
Dishwasher/Cook (variable)
Pest Service
Online Inn Reservation Service
Trash pick-up (prior owner brought to the dump- 2 miles away)
Owner Suite Option
The third floor of the inn lends itself to an owner/staff suite. Extremely helpful for someone wanting to both be onsite for a period, but also wanting to enjoy the savings of not also having a local mortgage or rent payment while building the business.
Legal Description:
Tax map- 37A-A-33A, 9D and 9E recorded in deed book 375 page 229, deed book 551 page 155.
Main Building Circa 1840- All Approximate.
First Floor- 2,700 sf. – Dining room, Tavern, Foyer and Kitchen.
Second Floor- 2,040 sf- Two regular suites and one double suite. (Not included is the covered deck around three sides of the building)
Third Floor- 2,040 sf- Owners floor. Finished office and full bathroom. Laundry room. Bedroom/Storage room. The other 40% is unfinished- used for storage.
Fourth Floor- original observation room- now houses two HVAC units.
Side Building Circa 1820
Two Inn suites- 1,120 sf
Dicey’s Cottage- Circa 1840
Two story suite approx. 1,004 sf
Total Space- Approximately 8,904 sf
Zoned Mixed Use. Multi-family residential and commercial.
Asking price is $1,500,000.00
Updated on October 1, 2020 at 1:18 pm
Lafayette Inn
$1,500,000
