Historic Harris changes hands
The restored hotel in Rumford’s downtown is being sold to a California construction firm.
RUMFORD – The ornate, majestic Hotel Harris is changing hands once again.
Owners Rob and Judy Crone finalized the sale of the 1905 Beaux Arts-style building on Monday to John Roza Construction of Buena Park, Calif.
“The hotel is financially turned around and is making money. The building is looking good. This is a good time to sell,” Rob Crone said.
Crone added that the three-story structure has been listed with a broker for almost a year. He had been approached by potential buyers an average of once per month since the building was listed, he said.
Roza is thrilled to be the new owner of such an historic, architecturally unique property. “I’ve been watching this property for a long time. I fell in love with it when I saw it on a realtor website directory,” he said.
Although he plans to make some cosmetic modifications to the interior, he expects to continue operating it with residential apartments and long- and short-term suites and rooms.
The Crones bought this piece of history, built by paper mogul Hugh Chisholm, and have devoted considerable amounts of time and resources to fixing it up.
The plumbing has been redone, the boiler repaired – including removal of asbestos that lined the pipes – and much of the exterior masonry repointed.
Crone said he will use some of the funds from the building’s sale to work on about 10 distressed properties scattered around the state owned by the couple. Two vintage homes in Peru are among the properties.
The hotel has residential apartments, short- and long-term rooms and suites on the upper floors, and several retail spaces at street level. Crone said he has a waiting list for potential tenants for the street-level storefronts but delayed entering into agreements with them because of the pending sale of the building to Roza.
The Crones plan to continue buying older properties, then restoring them as much as possible to their original appearance.
But although his business is to renovate buildings, then move on, Crone feels a bit melancholy about the sale. “That building has been an extended family,” he said.
Building manager Andrea MacDonald will continue in her position, Crone said. He wasn’t sure what changes Roza would make to the building.
Neither Roza nor MacDonald could be reached Tuesday for comment.
Comments are no longer available on this story