Morristown’s Vail Mansion, a focal point of the downtown and home to 36 luxury condos and the Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen, has been sold for $2.8 million to a Madison company.
Hospitality Resources — Hillandale LLC, of Green Avenue, is the new owner of the mansion unit, property records show.
It completed the purchase last month from Vail Mansion LLC, a subsidiary of Fairfield-based Woodmont Properties, which built the residential units that flank the 105-year-old mansion as a redevelopment project in the 2000s.
The condos were not part of the sale. But their owners and the mansion owners sit on a board that oversees community uses of the 3.6-acre property.
Hospitality Resources principals John Fetterly and Robby Younes addressed the condo owners online last week.
“They seem eminently well qualified to be owners of a property such as this,” said Jack Plaxe, former president of the Vail condo association, who considers the mansion the “crown jewel” of the site.
The Jockey Hollow restaurant occupies the 15,000-square-foot mansion as its sole tenant.
“I’m extremely happy” with the new landlords, said restaurateur Chris Cannon, who opened Jockey Hollow in 2014. “They understand what it’s about, how (a restaurant) operates.”
The new ownership team expressed a desire for a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Jockey Hollow, Plaxe recounted.
Fetterly, an attorney, is former president and general counsel to the Crystal Springs Resort, a Sussex County complex of hotels, golf courses and spas where Younes is listed as chief operating officer.
Repeated attempts to reach them and Patrice Picard, the condo association president, for comment have been unsuccessful.
All sides certainly must be hoping for smoother sailing than what went before.
The association sued the developers in 2015 over construction issues at the condos. Cannon, a prominent figure in the New York restaurant scene, said he felt like a “ping pong ball” during that legal battle, which dragged on for three years, according to court documents. The suit was settled for $1 million, Plaxe said.
Adjacent to the Mayo Performing Arts Center, the Vail Mansion sits at the edge of Morristown’s Historic District and is the centerpiece of a “Cultural District” established a few years ago.
Summer craft fairs, Halloween pumpkin illuminations and a holiday “Theatre of Light” are among events that draw visitors to the Vail’s reflecting pool and World War I cenotaph.
AT&T President Theodore Vail built the Italian Renaissance palazzo-style mansion on South Street between 1916 and 1918. But his young wife died, and Vail never resided there.
The town acquired the mansion in 1922, and for decades it served as town hall and police headquarters. When municipal operations moved into a former bank down the street, local officials struggled to find a taker willing or able to occupy and renovate the cavernous mansion.
A bicycling hall of fame was among several uses pitched for the space. Eventually, Morristown sold the mansion for $1 to the same partnership that redeveloped the Epstein’s department store into the 40 Park/Metropolitan array of condos and apartments near the Morristown Green.
The first Vail condos opened in 2008. They now sell for upwards of $1 million, according to Zillow.com.
As a stipulation of the mansion sale, the town mandated that one level of the new condos be designated as a Morristown Parking Authority garage. Another requirement: The mansion had to remain accessible to the public. Cannon’s restaurant qualified; town officials were thrilled to welcome him.
Decisions involving uses of the property are made by a board consisting of three condo owners, the parking authority and the mansion owner.
Plans for 29 apartments on an acre next to the Vail Mansion grounds were approved last year. A subsidiary of Atlantic Health, parent company of Morristown Medical Center, bought that property in January. No updates have been announced.
A graduate of Duke University and Rutgers Law School, Fetterly is founder of the Fetterly Group, a “family of companies providing consulting services in finance, M&A, operations, legal and risk management focused on private, mid-market companies,” according to his LinkedIn page.
Fetterly lists Hospitality Resources LLC, the Rampart Consulting Group LLC,
Britten Road Redevelopment LLC, and Solar Cap LLC among his companies.
Educated in France and fluent in four languages, Younes spent a decade as a food and beverage manager at Starwood and Hilton hotels before joining the Crystal Springs Resort in 2008, according to a biography on the resort’s website.
A certified sommelier, Younes created the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival, and was named to Wine Enthusiast’s “40 Under 40 Tastemakers” list in 2018. He has overseen renovations of the Minerals Hotel, Grand Cascades Lodge and Restaurant Latour at Crystal Springs, which credits him with transforming it into what it describes as the largest solar-powered resort in the Northeast.
This story has been updated with more details about the sale.
The town sure loves giving developers some great deals! So extremely Jersey…
“Eventually, Morristown sold the mansion for $1 to the same partnership that redeveloped the Epstein’s department store into the 40 Park/Metropolitan array of condos and apartments near the Morristown Green.
The first Vail condos opened in 2008. They now sell for upwards of $1 million, according to Zillow.com.”
$1
Thrilled to read of the progress being made. A property so grand and rich in history will enhance the community. Respect the past while developing for the future.
Will the stairway to King Place be available to the public? It used to be until one day a gate and a lock appeared. One could think it was part of the walkway to the public garage and public driveway, and to the public part of the mansion, i.e., the restaurant and the the walkways leading to the restaurant.
I assume that’s correct Karen, the mansion part which is the restaurant seems just a unit of the condo association.
Now can they finally fix the fountain out front? Its been a stagnant or empty pool for years now.
Can anyone explain the connection between the condo association and the Mansion. Is the mansion which houses the restaurant just treated the same as a condo with separate ownership? Do the grounds continue as common area for both the condo’s and the mansion?