Courtesy / Jumping Rocks Photograhy, The B&B Team
A pub and wine bar feature antiques, Malaysian rattan, empire sofas and slowly turning ceiling fans.
September 12, 2022
NY couple moves to Castine to buy coastal town's oldest summer hotel
Courtesy / Jumping Rocks Photograhy, The B&B Team
The 128-year-old Pentagöet Inn & Wine Bar, on Main Street in Castine, is the coastal town’s oldest summer hotel.
A New York couple coming from careers in high-end restaurant hospitality and marketing as well as interior design and art restoration have taken on stewardship of Castine’s oldest summer hotel.
Matthew Powell and George Trinovitch bought the Pentagöet Inn & Wine Bar at 26 Main St. from Julie Van de Graaf for an undisclosed price.
Eben Viens of the B&B Team represented both the buyer and the seller in the transaction.
“How lucky are we to be the stewards. It truly belongs to the town of Castine,” Trinovitch told Mainebiz.
The Pentagöet, overlooking Penobscot Bay, was built in 1894 as a summer hotel and has continually welcomed guests since then. The Pentagöet has been a hotel its entire life and a focal point for the community, said Viens, who characterized the inn’s styling as Victorian yet upscale.
Features include a wraparound porch, three-story turret, gables, and an adjoining 18th century house. A pub and wine bar are furnished with antiques, Malaysian rattan, empire sofas and slowly turning ceiling fans.
The property, on just under one acre, consists of a main inn with 11 guestrooms and an unused guest space that will potentially be turned into an office and library space. An annex has five guestrooms.
Quick flash
Van de Graaf and her late husband, Jack Berke, owned the property for 22 years, said Viens.
The property was on the market for several months.
“There was a lot of interest,” Viens said. “There was local interest from restaurant groups, investor interest and individual buyers. But it as such a quick flash between when it was listed and when it was under contract, there wasn’t much time for other people to get in the door.”
Last November, Powell and Trinovitch attended one of the B&B Team’s virtual aspiring innkeepers seminars. Viens said he visited the couple at their apartment in New York City and found the interior’s styling to be reminiscent of the Pentagöet’s.
After the seminar, Powell and Trinovitch began looking at potential properties to buy; Viens suggested they look at the Pentagöet.
Long-term goals
Powell comes from a background in high-end restaurant hospitality and marketing. His first jobs included working in New York restaurants such as Daniel and Eleven Madison Park, then for test kitchens for publications such as Bon Apetit. For the last decade or so, he been working in the field of restaurant marketing, working with hundreds of restaurants nationwide and representing them in their marketing efforts.
Trinovitch has worked in the interior design and art restoration fields.
Courtesy / The Pentagöet Inn
Matthew Powell and George Trinovitch think of themselves as stewards of the 128-year-old Pentagöet Inn in Castine.
The couple had conversations early in their relationship about long-term goals.
“I immediately said I wanted to be my own boss,” related Powell.
Trinovitch’s goal was to own a hospitality property. Both love to host.
“So, based on our combined culinary, marketing and design backgrounds, we started delving into what would it look like to combine forces and run a business,” said Powell.
They started thinking about smaller businesses such as vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfasts.
“We love meeting people from all walks of life,” said Powell. “It became evident the bed-and-breakfast route would makes sense for us.”
They started poking around for potential properties to buy, although they weren’t planning to make the shift in their careers until later in life.
“But the pandemic shifted things drastically,” said Powell.
Why wait?
In 2020, they assessed their finances and mindset to see if they could pull off the new endeavor sooner than they had planned.
Courtesy / Jumping Rocks Photograhy, The B&B Team
The style is Victorian but upscale.
“The answer was, ‘Why are we waiting?’” Powell said.
They started poking around more, doing their own searches online, enrolling in the online aspiring innkeepers course and connecting with Viens.
They started looking as far south as the Carolinas.
“At the end of the day, we put together a road trip to see five properties, going to upstate New York, Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut,” said Powell. “The Pentagöet far and above was the standout.”
He added, “We had always wanted to land in Maine specifically – it’s been a go-to destination for us so long.”
“When we first arrived on the property, we got this overwhelming vibe,” said Trinovitch. “We’d seen other spaces and said, ‘This has potential,’ ‘This is cute.’ But when we got to the Pentagöet, I had an immediate vision for what I wanted it to look like. It’s already gorgeous. But there’s incredible potential to elevate the design.”
The couple said they were asked an interesting question during the search – whether they wanted a property that was in a destination, or a property that was the destination itself.
“The Pentagöet truly felt like a destination,” said Powell. “It’s the cornerstone of the Castine community. When we were visualizing what our future would look like, we wanted to be a space not just for tourists but also for the greater community.”
Historic bones
Some amount of redesign is on tap.
“In terms of design, we want to lean into the historic bones,” said Trinovitch.
Over the years, he said, design elements have been added or changed. Trinovitch said he leans toward designs from the Victorian era through the 1940s. Goals included “stepping up” the style through elements such as new paint colors and redoing some of the floors. The plan also includes revamping the common spaces to make the pop as first impressions. Right now, he said, they're simple and pretty, but could use some stepping up "to make a mood and vibe."
The HVAC system and kitchen appliances were recently replaced and are in good shape.
“The kitchen looks like a showplace in itself,” said Trinovitch.
The property is seasonal, but this year the couple will experiment with keeping the property open through November for friends and family.
The couple plan to live there year-round and have given up their New York apartment.
“We fully made the jump,” said Trinovitch.
Financing for the project was provided through Bangor Savings Bank. Powell’s mother, Monica Powell, stepped in as a financial advisor.
With room rates ranging from $140 to $350 depending on type of accommodation and time of year, the month of August was about 87% occupied, which was higher than past occupancy rates, said Powell. September was also on track to be high this year.
Powell attributed the higher occupancy rates to stepped-up marketing, including social media, regular email blasts, conventional advertising and a plug in late July in a Portland-produced show called “MaineLife,” which generated direct bookings.
“There are so many people looking to get away, wanting to explore a space off the beaten path. That’s what we tapped into when we first explored this place,” said Powell.
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