Date: Fri 03-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Hawley-Manor-

Full Text:

with cut: Local Developers Hope To Restore Hawley Manor

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Two local developers who have built and operated inns intend to purchase the

Hawley Manor Inn and restore it to its heyday as a family inn serving

"comfortable New England food."

Philip Manger of Newtown and Richard Mullen of Sandy Hook have signed a

contract to buy the Hawley Manor from the current owner and expect the

property transfer to take place in about 45 days. They intend to call their

new establishment "The Mary Hawley Inn."

"This is a tremendous location in a great town," Mr Mullen said last week as

he stood at a drafting table near the main dining room of the restaurant,

flipping through pages of preliminary plans for the new facility.

The only illumination in the room was the daylight, which spilled in through

the front window. The electricity, as well as other utilities, were turned off

when the restaurant closed more than a year ago.

A former attorney, innkeeper and developer, Phil Manger is a longtime

Ridgefield resident who moved to Taunton Hill Road in Newtown about a year

ago. Dick Mullen, who has also built and operated inns, is originally from

Lenox, Mass., but had been living in Stamford recently. He and his wife now

are renting a house on Great Quarter Road in Sandy Hook.

The two men met while working on projects in Massachusetts and eventually

talked about joining forces. Phil Manger suggested the Hawley Manor.

The grim interior of the restaurant - large gaping holes in the ceilings and

walls where pipes had burst, moldy carpeting and a pervading musty odor - only

have served to fuel the imagination of the two men. The outside of the main

building will remain much the same, keeping its historic lines and possibily

even restoring some features that were eliminated over the years, they said.

The "housekeeping" units in the back will be torn down. Initially only a few

guest rooms will remain in the main building wing; eventually the two men hope

to construct a building housing another 14 or 15 guest rooms in the rear.

Most of the changes that the two men envision will be on the inside of the

main building. All of the partitions on the first floor of the inn will be

removed. There will be a lobby tea room, a taproom with a U-shaped bar, two

large dining rooms - one with a large porch - and a new kitchen. Downstairs,

in what once was the bar, will be a banquet room, Mr Mullen said.

All of this depends on the sale taking place as anticipated in about 45 days

but both men are confident that it will happen.

"Every time we are here, people stop by and say they hope we will be opening

soon," Mr Mullen said. "The town officials - Jean St Jean especially - have

been terrific to work with."

The property is owned by Lowell Hodgkins Associates, Inc., a corporation in

which Addie Vazzano of Stratford is a principal officer. The property is

assessed at $443,000. The selling price was not disclosed.