Local hotels sold to Massachusetts-based company
BAR HARBOR Three name-brand hotels have been sold to a hotel management company with an expanding portfolio in New England.
Witham Family Hotels sold two of its Bar Harbor hotels – the Quality Inn and Best Western – and its Ramada in Ellsworth to Giri Properties last month, said CEO David Witham.
“The hospitality industry is starting to rebound after COVID,” he said. “It’s an opportunistic time to both buy and sell.”
These three properties are what the industry calls “flag” hotels, complete with the recognizable brand name and a certain way to run things. Giri appears to specialize in such hotels, owning Holiday Inns, Hampton Inns, other Best Westerns, Comfort Inns, Howard Johnsons and other hotels spanning four states in the region.
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Former Burger King sold
ELLSWORTH A short-lived but popular local guessing game what will move into the empty Burger King at 205 High St. will continue despite the building’s sale at auction on March 30.
The new owner is M&H Springwater LLC, a company formed in 2015. Christopher J. Austin, an attorney with Rudman & Winchell in Bangor, is listed as the company agent.
“The owner is a real estate investor and there are no specific plans for the property at this time,” Austin responded to an email inquiry from The American. The purchase agreement was signed on April 26 and recorded in the Hancock County Registry of Deeds on May 3.
Former probate judge remembered as a gentle man of strong principles
ELLSWORTH Colleagues and friends of former Hancock County probate judge and attorney Jim Patterson are remembering him as a gentle, patient man.
Patterson died Jan. 16 at age 72 after battling pulmonary fibrosis for 11 years.
“Judge Patterson was a private, unique, smart, thorough and fair judge,” said former Hancock County Register of Probate Bonnie Cousins. Cousins worked with Patterson for 11 years.
Cousins said during adoption cases, the judge always let children come up to the bench and pound his gavel and sit in his chair. He would also take a photo with them.