McNinch Restaurant Group, which operates the 101 Restaurant & Bar, has agreed to a new lease with the Holiday Inn & Suites that will allow the eatery to continue operating at the hotel.
Business writer
McNinch Restaurant Group, which operates the 101 Restaurant & Bar, has agreed to a new lease with the Holiday Inn & Suites that will allow the eatery to continue operating at the hotel.
PITTSFIELD — The 101 Restaurant & Bar is remaining at its current location at the Holiday Inn & Suites on West Street.
The McNinch Restaurant Group of Lenox, which operates the eatery, has resolved its differences with the hotel about the restaurant’s future operations. John McNinch, who runs the restaurant with his son, Tucker, said Friday that the two sides had agreed to a new lease that will allow the 101 Restaurant & Bar to remain at the hotel for at least another year.
“It’s basically a year-long lease but it goes through until they put the (new) parking garage up,” McNinch said. The hotel’s dilapidated parking garage has been closed for several years.
“It’s open-ended,” McNinch said referring to the new lease, “with renewals built right into it.
“Both parties are happy,” he said.
“We’re very pleased to continue working with John,” said Susan Coyne, the Holiday’s Inn’s sales and marketing manager.
The McNinch Restaurant Group, which also operates nearby Patrick’s Pub in Bank Row, opened the 101 Restaurant & Bar in the hotel last year. But after the two sides differed on how to operate the restaurant going forward, hotel owner Berkshire Hospitality Group placed an advertisement in The Eagle this summer seeking a new operator to run the restaurant in its current state.
In late July, McNinch said his group intended to opt out of its one-year lease to operate the restaurant unless those differences could be resolved. The lease expired on Aug. 31, according to Coyne. But McNinch also indicated that he would like to stay at the hotel if the two sides could work out their differences.
“It was just a matter of two different philosophies,” McNinch said. “In my opinion, the hotel was really pushing room sales and not pushing event sales — and being in a space this large without events it’s nearly impossible to be successful.
“So I said either start doing something with events or we’ll have to find another location. They worked with us the whole time. They didn’t want us to leave and we didn’t want to leave so we had a good conversation.”
On Friday, McNinch said the hotel has agreed to add an events coordinator to its staff to book parties and functions at 101 Restaurant & Bar.
“Our biggest issue was that the function space wasn’t being used,” McNinch said. “They lost one of their people and she had been here for years. Losing her left a hole, so now they’re going to hire somebody to fill that spot.”
“We’re searching for somebody now,” said Coyne, adding that having that person on board will help the hotel.
“Anytime you have somebody who can focus exclusively on one task typically it’s beneficial,” she said.
Berkshire Hospitality Group is headed by Anil Sachdev, who lives in New York City. The group purchased what was then the Crowne Plaza Hotel for $1.1 million at a foreclosure auction in April 2017, then spent over $2.5 million converting the structure into a Holiday Inn & Suites in 2018. The restaurant contains 2,000 square feet and can seat 120 patrons.
Tony Dobrowolski can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224.
Business writer
Tony Dobrowolski’s main focus is on business reporting. He came to The Eagle in 1992 after previously working for newspapers in Connecticut and Montreal. He can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224.
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