Former elegant hotel will house apartments
GROVE CITY — In its heyday, the Penn Grove Hotel was the picture of true elegance.
People from all around the area came to the hotel to stay, dance and dine almost immediately after it opened in 1924. In an elegantly decorated ballroom boasting double-hung windows and extravagant chandeliers, visitors arrived in hats, furs and gloves.
"If you sit down and look at an old movie and look at how people were dressed, that's how it was," said Ann Shannon, co-owner of the hotel, which is about to undergo a second renovation.
"They were dressed to the nines. There are white tablecloths, napkins and men in suits. It was a very elegant place for parties and dinner."
Shannon and her late husband, Earl, purchased the property from The Grove City Hotel Company in 1981 and changed it into a retirement home. Shannon and her son Stuart are now involved in a project to refurbish the building, creating 27 independent apartments with their own kitchens.
Stuart is no stranger to projects at the hotel. During the first renovation, he spent two years tearing out the walls, dividing the rooms and creating apartments with a living room, bedroom and private bath.
When residents ate meals, they would set up their own individual places at a small dining room in the basement, which formerly housed the coatroom.
The main dining room was reserved for outside customers looking for lavish dining, and the ballroom was used for special occasions such as wedding receptions and formal parties.
Nanny Jean Hay of Cochre's Floral remembers going to the Penn Grove Hotel annually for her Grove City High School proms and senior dinners. Until recently, when the hotel staff stopped serving food to prepare for renovations, Hay and her husband, Ray, would stop routinely for lunch or dinner.
"It was one of the loveliest places to eat," Hay said. "For many years my husband and I, when we could, would always go back there. Up until recent years, everyone was always dressed up in their Sunday best. It was just a beautiful place to go for a good meal."
Mariann McConkie grew up across the street from the Penn Grove Hotel and eventually lived there. She made the establishment her home until an injury forced her into Trinity Living Center. At 96 years old, McConkie can still remember the elegance of the Penn Grove Hotel."It was wonderful. I loved it there," she said. "We had two rooms and our own furniture. I was very happy there. The food was excellent. Earl was a very good cook."But in recent years, business from people like the Hays and McConkie has declined."Everything worked out well up until about four years ago, then it started digressing," Ann Shannon said."As the generation that knew the hotel got older and died, so did our business. We were never able to get the clientele from the younger generation. We've done very well with this business. It's served us beautifully. But the building has outlived its original purpose. At the same time, it would still be a crime to tear it down."Before Earl died this year, the family had already begun to develop plans to completely revamp the building and bring back the business the building deserves.Stuart has been working to secure a loan to complete the project, which will include completely gutting the building to accommodate new plumbing and wiring.The family is hoping the new apartment building will attract residents ages 55 and older.Originally, Stuart looked at securing a state anchor building grant, which would be a revolving loan and would benefit other businesses in the borough's Main Street building program. However, because no property similar to the Penn Grove Hotel has been built in nearby areas, appraisers from Grove City banks could not put an approximate value to the property.Stuart said he still plans to refurbish the building, but he will complete the first six units using money the hotel has put aside."It's a real catch-22," he said. "The banker would love to do the project but we just can't get it appraised."The total cost of the project was previously estimated to be $3.2 million, but no start date has been announced.
