RUMFORD – Owners of Hotel Harris expect to nail down a new retail/service tenant within a few weeks, which will fill three empty storefronts on the Congress Street side of the historic building.
Jean Muse, co-owner of the hotel along with her husband, Arthur, of Rumford, and son and daughter-in-law, Aaron and Heidi Muse of Windham, said Thursday that the owner of a spa/boutique business is “extremely interested.”
She would not identify the business nor the owner. However, the potential new tenant would offer hair, massage, hot tub, facial and limousine services.
The business would be the second one currently in the century-old hotel.
Rick Mealey, owner of the Boiler Room Restaurant in Wilton, is currently renovating first floor space in the hotel that was used by a health food store. He is planning to open another restaurant, the Boiler Room at the Harris, sometime next month.
In the meantime, Jean Muse said most of the studio and one-bedroom 35 residential units on the second floor have been refurbished or soon will be. Fifteen new tenants have moved in during the past few months.
She said the newly redone apartments are geared toward empty-nesters, career-minded people and snowbirds. Hotel owners are also in the process of negotiating a lease with a local business for a block of five units.
Also in the planning stages is construction of a conference room in the basement section of the Beaux Arts building.
Aaron Muse, who deals in apartment acquisitions and finances, grew up in Rumford and graduated from Mountain Valley High School. The work he and his wife do in the development of Hotel Harris is separate from his work with American Housing Preservation Corp. in South Portland.
“I’ve had my eye on this from behind the scenes since John Roza bought it three years ago,” he said.
Roza of California sold the hotel to the two Muse families in October. “This building has yet to see its best days,” said Aaron Muse. “It’s great to have this family thing. There are more minds at work.”
The hotel was built as a fancy department store in 1906.
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