Manchester Inn History
1922: Formal inauguration of the Hotel Manchester was Nov. 3. Named for a village once located at the northeast corner of Middletown, it was built over a three-year period at a cost of $600,000.
1936: The hotel is purchased by Armco Steel through the efforts of George M. Verity.
1960: An automobile entranceway is added to the hotel, prompting a name change to The Manchester Inn. In October, John F. Kennedy, who was campaigning for president, stays at the hotel.
1985: Armco briefly closes the hotel and dining service due to lack of funds. State Sen. Barry Levey buys the hotel from Armco.
1995: A $1.7 million renovation of the guest rooms, corridors, lobby and front desk is completed.
2009: The hotel closes briefly after suffering severe water damage in the ballroom and kitchen from a pipe bursting. $250,000 is spent to repair the damages.
2010: In October, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College publicly announces plans to open a new branch campus in Middletown and use the Manchester as the hub for its culinary arts and hospitality programming. City Council approves plans for the city to acquire the hotel for use by the college.
Jan. 3, 2011: Manchester Enterprises LLC, operated by the Akers family and executors of Perry Thatcher's estate, announces at 7 a.m. to staff that the hotel is closing. Employees are sent home, the doors are locked and signs are posted announcing the closing.
MIDDLETOWN — After 89 years as Middletown’s premiere downtown hotel, owners say it was not an easy decision to close the doors of the Manchester Inn & Conference Center.
The approximate 40 part-time and full-time employees were informed Monday of the closing, said Bob Fairchild and Sheree Garrett, executors of the Perry Thatcher estate that partially owns the hotel.
The move was the first step into a new future for the Manchester Inn, which has been earmarked by Cincinnati State Technical and Community College as part of a new branch campus it wants to open here. The school said it intends to make the hotel the home of its culinary arts and hospitality programs.
City officials have been in negotiations with the executors of Thatcher’s estate to acquire the hotel for the school for about a month. Fairchild said those negotiations are ongoing.
Fairchild noted that the debt on the hotel is “substantial” but did not release any figures as to what the Manchester Inn owes.
City Manager Judy Gilleland said the city “has had the position all along” that it will not run the hotel in the interim between Cincinnati State’s possible takeover. She said staff is working continuously with the school on a financial agreement for the new branch campus, but it could be “several months or longer” before all the details are in place and the Manchester is re-opened.
Meanwhile, she said, she hopes the city will be able to close on the hotel in January.
“There are a few more details we need to work through in terms of disposing of the debt on the property,” Gilleland said. “We want to make sure the city is acquiring the property free and clear and that we are preserving the property for future use by Cincinnati State.”
The Manchester now
For now, there is a typed letter on the outside of all the locked doors of the hotel stating the Manchester Inn is closed “until further notice.
“This property is under 24-hour video surveillance and patrolled by the Middletown police department,” the letter states.
Most employees were informed of the closure Monday, though some managers were told last week, Garrett said. No severance packages were offered, but employees will be paid for any vacation time due and should be able to file for unemployment, Garrett said.
Fairchild said it was a tough decision to close the hotel, but ultimately it made the best business sense. He added that he thought Thatcher, who co-owned the hotel and was the first to cultivate the dream of a culinary school at the Manchester, would have seen the closure as the beginning of something better for Middletown.
“I’m certain that there is nobody who wanted to see the hotel close,” Fairchild said. “It’s purely a business decision. Based on an economic standpoint we couldn’t sustain the business losses.”
Gilleland said the city had been encouraging the owners of the hotel to continue running it, even after it was acquired by the city. However, Garrett said financially it wasn’t possible and last week the decision was made to close.
Future events
Garrett said after conversations “several months back” with Cincinnati State officials she continued to book future events at the hotel in hopes that “Cincinnati State and the city can work this thing out by the busy time of May or June.”
However, Garrett added that she will be reviewing the books and issuing refunds to anyone who has placed a deposit on an event. She said people who have booked events more recently were notified of the hotel’s closing.
But the news is small consolation to Amy Shiflett who had already booked her dream wedding at the hotel for August 2011 and paid a $1,700 deposit.
“It was classic and one of the big things Middletown had going for it,” the 21-year-old bride-to-be said. “You know you don’t hear people booking their wedding at the Holiday Inn or the Drury Inn. If you’re booking a wedding, you book it at the Manchester Inn.”
Shiflett cried as she related her disappointment in hearing of the hotel’s closure and her apprehension at finding a new venue this late in the game. She and her fiance, David Wells, had planned to be married on the brick pathway beside the hotel, with the reception to follow inside. Guests would have stayed in the hotel’s suites. The Manchester Inn also was catering the event.
“It was good while it lasted,” she said. “Now I’m going to be a bridezilla because I have to find a new ceremony spot, a caterer, a reception hall, just everything,” she said.
Just how quickly Cincinnati State will get the hotel back open after a deal is struck can’t be predicted just yet, said Dan Cayse, vice president of the school’s strategic initiatives & entrepreneurial development.
“All I can tell you is the hotel is a priority at this point,” he said.
He added that the school wants to continue holding community events at the hotel.
Those associated with two of the major moneymakers of the Manchester — the Charity Ball and the Pigskin-Roundball Spectacular — are concerned if the Manchester will be operational in time for their events.
The Spectacular, which attracts about 600 people, is scheduled for either April 27 or May 4, said Mark Kerns, founder of the fundraiser. He is looking at “alternate sites.”
Fran Sack, who, along with her husband, Dan, served as co-chairs of this year’s 90th annual Charity Ball, said the Middletown Area Federation of Women’s Clubs will hold a board meeting next week and discuss future plans.
The Charity Ball is held in early December and Sack is hopeful Cincinnati State will be operational by the middle of the year.
She called the Manchester the “heart and soul” of downtown, but she understands the motel and catering business are changing.
Still, she hopes the closing and hopeful reopening of the Manchester is “a very, very positive thing.”
If you worked at the Manchester Inn or booked an event at the hotel, contact reporter Jessica Heffner at (513) 705-2843.
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