Courtesy / Lafayette Bluenose LLC, DuBois & King Inc.
The new building would sit on nearly the same footprint as the old building that was destroyed by fire in February.
August 28, 2022
Bar Harbor’s Bluenose Inn proposes rebuild
Courtesy / Lafayette Bluenose LLC, DuBois & King Inc.
Seen here is the location for the new hotel structure, which would sit on nearly the same footprint as the old building that was destroyed by fire in February.
The owner of an inn in Bar Harbor that was partially destroyed by a fire last February is proposing a rebuild.
The Bluenose Inn, which is owned by Lafayette Bluenose LLC in Bangor, was closed for the winter and no injuries were reported when the fire destroyed one of the property’s two buildings in a blaze that drew fire companies from more than a dozen area towns.
Lafayette owns 30 hotels in Maine and New Hampshire, and holdings include the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland, six Fireside Inns in Maine and the Senator Inn & Spa in Augusta.
For the Bluenose Inn proposal, at 90 Eden St., the Bar Harbor Planning Board reviewed the proposal at its regular meeting earlier this month.
The proposal calls for construction of a four-story hotel building with a 9,725-square-foot footprint in the approximate location of the former Bluenose Inn structure.
The new building would have 21 suites. The project location would encompass 4.65 acres.
The destroyed building had 45 guest rooms.
The plan was submitted by DuBois & King Inc., an engineering firm in Bangor.
John Kenney, a senior civil project manager with DuBois & King Inc., told the board the proposed structure would have some parking under the structure and the first level would have a lobby and elevator in the central part of hotel. The second, third and fourth levels would house the suites. Stair towers would be located on both ends of the structure.
The reduction from 45 guest rooms to 21 suites is expected to reduce the property’s level of traffic and use of water and wastewater systems, he said.
The suites will be aimed more at couples than families, he added.
One planning board member wanted to know if the suites would be marketed for extended stays.
Fred Lindsey, the inn’s general manager, said the inn would accommodate longer stays of a month at a time, as well as shorter stays.
The goal is to begin construction this fall.
The building that remains has 53 guest rooms. Compared to pre-fire conditions, the number of guest rooms and suites would decline from 98 to 74.
The board scheduled a public hearing on the proposal for Sept. 11.
The inn also had a major fire in the 1990s and much of the structure was rebuilt in 1994.
The original building on the site of the Bluenose Inn was constructed in 1884 as a summer estate of Mrs. William Morris Hunt, an artist’s widow, according to the inn’s website. The stonework from the palatial “cottage,” which she named Mizzentop, remains beneath the building that bears its name.
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