Falls Village Inn restaurant for rent

FALLS VILLAGE — In case you don’t want to spend seven figures buying a historic inn, the restaurant portion of the Falls Village Inn is now for rent at $4,500 per month, not including utilities or property taxes.

A sign at the front door of the inn signed by owners Stefan and Claudia Wessel announces that the restaurant and tavern of the Main Street building are closed but the lodging portion upstairs remains open. The restaurant and tavern, however, will remain closed until a renter or a buyer can be identified, according to Tom McGowan, an agent for Elyse Harney Real Estate, the firm that is listing the property.

“We’re just talking about the dining room, kitchen and bar,� McGowan said of the rental opportunity.

The Wessels have moved to Newport, R.I., where they are now the innkeepers at The Inn at Villalon, an upscale eight-suite bed and breakfast in a historic mansion. The Wessels could not be reached for comment this week, but McGowan said they do not plan to return to Falls Village to run the inn.

The inn was built about 1840, before the advent of the railroad, as a stage coach stop. It was a popular hotel for decades but in the years before the Wessels bought it in 2003, the upstairs rooms were used as apartments or allowed to fall into a state of semi-decay. The Wessels restored the Italianate building on Railroad Street, which is around the corner from Town Hall and across from Jacobs’ Garage.

According to the inn’s Web site, a 1920 fire that destroyed the interior of the building led to the establishment of the Falls Village Volunteer Fire Company, whose firehouse sits next door to the inn.

The inn was closed for a two-year period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but has been in operation at all other times, with several name changes and more than 15 owners.

After the Wessels bought the inn, the menu was changed (the building had recently housed a pizzeria) to reflect the culinary heritage of the new owners, who were both born in Germany.

The Wessels put the inn up for sale in December 2005 for $1,675,000. Several months later the asking price was $1,450,000. Early this week it was for sale at $1,250,000. McGowan said Tuesday the price had just been reduced to $985,000.