Great Barrington — The former Mountain View Motel, located at 304 State Rd., will reopen in September as The East Rock Inn.
According to the town’s property database, the building was built in 1957.
The location has had several owners throughout the years, with previous owner Butternut Inn LLC selling the property to new co-owners Jeremy Davis and Corey Podolsky in May 2021 for $589,000.
Davis and Podolsky are both New York City natives who work for technology companies.
Davis said that this is the first time they have owned an inn.
“We both used to have young children who went to school together, and they used to vacation a lot up in the Berkshires,” Davis said. “We always would drive around looking for places to stay. In a lot of ways, we felt that we were relegated to an Airbnb or a budget motel. We would always have trouble finding the kind of midmarket accommodations that we were looking for that had higher-end amenities and affordable rates.”
Davis said that after both his and Podolsky’s children grew up and went to college, the two friends discussed opening up an inn in the Great Barrington area that would provide what they were looking for.
“We are both in the technology industry and we are in that world, but this was something that we both wanted to do that would extend beyond our regular working careers,” Davis said. “Both of us wanted to be in the hospitality business, which led us to the idea of an inn. The Mountain View Motel was posted on the market, but the owners subsequently took it off of the market. Despite this, an agent said we should just speak to the owners directly to see if they wanted to sell it.”
Davis said that the timing was right for the owners to sell the inn to both him and Podolsky.
“When we first looked at the property, we both felt that it is beautiful,” Davis said. “You have 14 and a half acres, including three acres of flat ground. And then you have a good chunk of land going back up into East Rock Mountain itself. We both feel that we could develop this into something very attractive for both the community and visitors who are coming into the region.”
Davis said that, over the past year, the two have renovated the building, and that “it was a lot of work and a bit of a challenge.”
“The interior was completely gutted,” he said “We took down everything basically down to the studs. The only thing that was remaining was the exterior walls and the roof. Everything else, all the way from the plumbing, to the sub basement and the walls, got replaced. We even raised the ceiling heights, pushing them up to 10 feet. We even installed sliding glass doors so visitors will be able to have access to the back grassy area up the mountain. We are really lucky to be able to upgrade from what was a 1960s-style motel to something more of a boutique, chic, fresh, and new place.”
The building now has 18 units and both Davis and Podolsky have hired resident Kaitlin Cohen as the inn’s general manager.
“We realize that we are not, but we feel that it is important to have a property that connects with locals,” Podolsky said. “We want to have a property where residents would feel comfortable sending their families when they come into town. We knew we needed somebody on the ground as the face of the property who understands the community. Kaitlin has substantial hospitality experience.”
For more information on East Rock Inn, including an opening date, go to the inn’s website.
