Heartbreak Hotel: Inn at National Hall Set to Close Monday

By James Lomuscio

Westport’s Inn at National Hall closes indefinitely on Monday and like the murals and tapestries adorning its high walls, wallpapered and framed with decorative cherry moldings, certain memories remain imprinted on the mind of Marco Degl’Innocenti, the inn’s manager for 13 years.
Marco Degl’Innocenti, resident manager of the Inn at National Hall, looks over the Turkistan Room, the $695 per night, two-level, balconied suite where President Clinton stayed. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) James Lomuscio for WestportNow.com

One easily recalled is the first of President Clinton’s several visits to Westport for Democratic National Committee fundraisers in 1998.

“We had Secret Service agents everywhere, a guy at every corner on every floor,” said Degl’Innocenti,  a native of Florence, Italy. The streets were also blocked off, and frogmen patrolled the adjacent Saugatuck River.

“We’ve had Clinton stay here, Al Gore stay here, and Monica Lewinsky stay,” he added, catching himself. “But not all at the same time.”

“And we had Magic Johnson,” chimed in Degl’Innocenti’s young son, Lorenzo.

At checkout time Monday at 11:30 a.m. memories are all that will remain of three-story, Italianate structure built in 1873. All but two of its 16 rooms are booked for the final night.

What will become of the one-time furniture store turned luxury hotel with sweeping views of the river and downtown—a hotel many consider the finest of its kind in Fairfield County—is anyone’s guess.

“They did not say,” said Almer Otajagic, who has worked at the front desk for six years.  “They just said that they are going to close, and that we should turn the lights off.”

No formal sale transaction has been filed with the Town Clerk’s office. But a person familiar with the transaction who requested anonymity said Norwalk’s Greenfield Partners LLC, a real estate investment firm, is going ahead with the purchase.

Greenfield sold the property to Antares National Hall LLC of Stamford three years ago for $19.9 million. Antares is suffering severe financial problems.

Several days ago, when asked about the sale, Lawrence P. Weisman, an attorney representing Greenfield Partners, told WestportNow: “I don’t want to say anything about it.” No one could be reached at Greenfield Partners or Antares.

Marco Degl’Innocenti, resident manager of the Inn at National Hall, checks out the bookshelves in the Turkistan Room. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) James Lomuscio for WestportNow.com

Degl’Innocenti and others who work there and in the area speculate that Greenfield partners wants to shutter the inn, leave it abandoned for a certain time and then resubmit a request to the town to turn it into office space.

In December, Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved an amendment that would have permitted the Inn at National Hall to be converted into office space. The amendment was requested by Greenfield Partners which was reportedly ready to pay about $9 million for the building.

However, the action was overturned in January by the Representative Town Meeting (RTM).

“It’s very sad,” said Deg’Innocenti about the closing. “The problem is that if you lose it, you will never be able to replace it.”

The building, constructed by Horace Staples, chairman of the First National Bank of Westport and the founder of Staples High School, was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

In 1987, Arthur Tauck, president of Tauck Tours, Inc., purchased the property and for five years spent millions as he undertook meticulous renovations.They included trompe l’oeil panels, carved cherry and maple woodwork throughout, a 120-seat riverside restaurant that has since closed, and suites with hand-painted décor created by 15 local artists.

“I just can’t believe it,” said Otajagic as he stood in the Turkistan Room, the $695 per night, two-level, balconied suite where Clinton stayed, the one with a floor-to-ceiling library. “It’s shocking, a place like this closing in Westport.”

“There are plenty of office buildings around here,” he added. “They’re all around, but where are people going to stay, the Westport Inn?”

Christy Savignol, who own L’Antiquare, a high-end antiques shop next to the inn, said that if Antares wanted to sell the inn as a hotel instead of office space, the company would not be closing it down.

“There are a lot of things that don’t make sense,” she said.

“This is a great loss to our town because it’s the most upscale hotel in all of Fairfield County,” Savignol added. “It may have started out as a rich man’s folly, but it wound up becoming a gift to the town.”