Mayton Inn Owner and Town of Cary Address Questions at Downtown Meeting
Cary, NC – Mayton Inn owner Deanna Crossman and Cary’s Chief Strategic Communications Officer Susan Moran met with Downtown Cary business owners and any other residents who wanted to come out to talk about the Mayton Inn filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and answering questions from the audience.
Details on the Mayton Inn
Crossman, who owns the Mayton Inn with her husband Colin Crossman, and Moran addressed the Heart of Cary Association on Thursday, October 4, 2018. The Mayton Inn and its parent company Memento Mori, LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week – the details of which are available online – and Crossman said this is a restructuring and not a liquidation.
“We’re booking for the holidays, we’re preparing for Thanksgiving, we’re not going anywhere,” Crossman said.
Because the case is currently in bankruptcy court, Crossman and officials from the Town of Cary are limited in what details they can say but Crossman said they have proposed a full payment plan. With Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company is given more time to pay what they owe but must prove they are profitable, which Crossman said they are.
Moran said the Town of Cary’s loans to the Mayton Inn equal about $2.35 million, with $951,000 of that just coming from the land in Downtown Cary.
“The Town of Cary asked us to come and build there,” Crossman said. “It was not a bid process.”
As for the remaining $1.4 million, that comes from the federal government, specifically Housing and Urban Development, through the Community Development Block Grant. The idea, Crossman said, was to create a business in Downtown Cary that would create sustained jobs through employees at the Mayton Inn and to have many of them live in the local area.
If the Mayton Inn defaults on that loan, then “the Town must pledge its CDBG funds to repay the outstanding loan amount,” according to the financial statement on the loan from 2015.
The Mayton Inn did not pay impact fees or development fees for its construction, but as Crossman said, these fees were waived for many businesses downtown for a three year span because of the Academy Street construction.
Confidence in the Mayton Inn
Throughout the address to the Heart of Cary Association, both Crossman and Moran said they were confident the downtown business would be able to continue.
“We’re looking forward,” Moran said. “We believe in the concept and we believe in the Crossmans.”
Crossman also used her time to clarify how she viewed the Mayton Inn, namely that it is meant to be a casual family style establishment.
“We’re not competing with the Umstead. We’re more in line with Hampton Suites,” Crossman said. “We don’t want to be a special occasion place.”
Moran also said the Mayton Inn is a preferred hotel for the Town of Cary and town employees have been given discounts when buying rooms there. Also, during Hurricane Florence when members of Moran’s staff who live out of town needed places to stay (plus Moran’s mother who lives in Morehead City), Moran said they stayed at the Mayton Inn. Moran also encouraged those at the meeting to support the Mayton Inn through eating and drinking there and housing travelers in the hotel’s rooms.
Also at the meeting, several attendees asked for a direct information portal or some kind for information and updates on the Mayton Inn. Moran said something like that was being considered by town staff.
Story by Michael Papich. Photos by Hal Goodtree and the Mayton Inn.
The Mayton Inn describes itself on its own website as a boutique hotel. If you’ve ever there, then you know that this is very much the case. The reason they’re in trouble financially is that the Academy Street road construction project dragged on many months longer than expected, which cost the Mayton Inn a lot of business. The town of Cary is therefore largely responsible for Mayton Inn’s financial woes and has a vested interest in its success. The Inn brings a lot of new visitors to Cary; it’s become a destination in and of itself. They also employ a lot of people in the Cary community. I think they deserve our support. Eat at their wonderful restaurant. Tell your friends to stay there. Help them succeed. I’ve been there several times, and I think it’s a wonderful place. I’d be very sad to see it fail.
What Richard said.
Oh well, maybe further down the street…the Chinese restaurant renovation is awaiting “historical preservation” approvals?
Anyone seen any progress on renovations at Sams-Jones House?
The library/deck construction workers across the street could probably use some take-out?
Just kidding.
The Sams-Jones house alterations are not waiting on historic preservation approval. Cary’s historic preservation commission approved the alterations months ago.
Interesting rates for Cary – $234 for a Standard King. Seems high when browsing other towns with boutique hotels with a range of $150-229. In Charleston, a popular historic city I noted $170-181 at a Hampton. Maybe some special packages for people looking to move to the area? We have to observe the limited amount of retail available in Cary, compared to our neighbor, Apex. The shops that I frequented, when open are closed now. Why is this happening? The town has to make better decisions on what their focus if they want to enable residents and visitors to use and pay for services. We already have an empty restaurant across from the Cary Art Center that could be viable with the correct occupants.
I’m not getting how complimentary valet parking constitutes a “parking problem “.
How many of the street parking is taken up by the Mayton Inn? How many of the Library parking spots are used by the Mayton Inn? Valet Parking is getting the vehicle from Point A to Point B- it has nothing to do with where the car is parked.
The Mayton Inn has complimentary valet parking. Hence there is no parking problem.
Actually it does. Do you know where the Mayton Inn valet parking is?
“it is meant to be a casual family style establishment….We’re more in line with Hampton Suites..We don’t want to be a special occasion place.”
This contradicts that the rooms are elegantly decorated to give the feel of a special occasion, being priced twice as high as the nearest Hampton Inn, and statements in their Philosophy regarding being like ‘a modern, luxury hotel’.
If they have a problem with maintaining a consistent, achievable vision for their business, no amount of financial propping-up, restructuring, or increasing of surrounding development will fix things in the long term.
I’m sure the South Academy Street “make over” construction in front of the Inn running months over schedule had an impact on it’s current financial situation.
This is why having the town decide what is going to be built in downtown is a big risk. They give businesses incentives, and when the business fails due to a poor planning or execution, the town is on the hook. How many businesses have failed at 324 S. Academy since the town bought it in 2011?
one exactly. There was an RFP accepted for an Asian place but no work is currently underway there yet. That was over a year ago.
It appears that the Town has little choice but to do whatever is necessary the insure the operation of the Mayton as a quality establishment in downtown Cary. The timing on this whole project was in trouble from the outset. The Town is not without some responsibility in exercising foresight in the planning phase.
The Town absolutely has a choice- no tax dollars to support the Inn. Either the Inn makes it on their own or they fail. I agree that the timing was a problem, there was not enough parking from the start and there has not been sufficient market demand for the boutique hotel. The Inns’ owners comparing it to the Hampton Inn re cost was a joke.
Once all is complete I can’t imagine a business like this not doing well here. Possibly some adjustment of room rates? But agree, parking is a deal breaker to many & the phasing of all this has been a failure….regardless to whether its the city or the business owner’s fault.
Mr. Goodtree’s subtle and sublime artistry in his shot of the Inn creates the illusion that it is covered by the canopy of a large old oak tree. That will not happen in our lifetimes.
I notice the subtle and sublime artistry in Mr. Goodtree’s beautiful photograph, creating the illusion that the Inn is on a wooded lot and under the canopy of a large oak.
It would be a terrible blow to the development of Downtown if the Mayton were allowed to fail. In my opinion, those of us who believe in the vision of a thriving downtown area must stand behind and support all efforts necessary to keep this, or the failure of any other businesses, from happening.
Why would it be a terrible blow? You are welcome to get out your checkbook to subsidize the Inn Doc, but keep your hand off of mine.
“You are welcome to get out your checkbook to subsidize the Inn Doc, but keep your hand off of mine.”
That’s not how taxes work. I wish people would stop using this as a supposedly logical retort to any public policy they don’t like.
It’s not your money. It hasn’t been yours or mine or theirs since it ended up in a budget line months or years prior to it being actually spent. We’re not talking about a weekly tithe into the town’s “Put money here” box at City Hall, we’re talking about money that’s come through a path of several different inputs to end up in some 3rd or 4th-step-removed output.
Disagree. I don’t want a downtown where no one shops because the store hours are terrible, or no one eats because the food is bad, or no one books stays because the Mayton Inn is just an overpriced version of Hampton inn, etc etc. Bad businesses should be allowed to fail. I want a thriving downtown too, but the town government propping up failing establishments is not the way.
I am glad they are working out the difficulties of having a hotel of this caliber in a presently struggling downtown area – but as the other commenter said, they will be in good stead to make a profit as the Cary Library and land around is built up, and need to make good on the promise of why they were given these incentives to make Cary downtown attractive again. I like that they are benefitting the Florence guests and giving discounts to town employees. Maybe some more pricing packages to make it more like the Hampton with the feel of the Umstead? It’s hard to do both, but it’s worth it. It’s a beautiful hotel with a great feel and great staff – I hope they survive and thrive in the coming years :)
I never saw an expensive, boutique hotel working out in this location- another case of Chapel Hill envy by Cary. If they cannot be a success without being subsidized by tax dollars they should fail. The B&B’s add more ambiance to the area than the Mayton. Sorry for the owners but that is life under capitalism.
Which Cary B&Bs do you refer to??
Do your own research Brent- how many B&B’s does Cary have?
As near as I can tell…one. And it doesn’t add any ambiance to the area, because you literally can’t see it from any public road.
Well – one, that isn’t an AirBnB “B&B”, or that isn’t named The Mayton Inn.
Nice try. You brought it up. Just name one.
I did my own research. And now you’ll name all those Cary B&Bs you’re referring to?
Mr. Snyder is 100% right.
And yet he can’t cite any Cary B&B that he prefers. I guess we differ on our definitions of 100%.
Obvious to see this location will be incredible for this & other businesses once the Library/Park/Garage & other planned developments are complete. Sad that these businesses are struggling in the meantime. Maybe cart before the horse with the order of all this?? Hope it works out for them….beautiful structure.
That’s how Cary does