Hospitality spot to replace Rustic Inn
Company moving in caters about 1,000 weddings annually.
JUPITER — Now that the Rustic Inn Seafood Crabhouse is closed, what’s going to happen to that building on some of the most coveted waterfront property in north county?
The answer is a unique venue — an upscale hospitality destination for weddings, distinctive catering, and skillfully executed food service management, says the chief executive officer of Lessing’s Hospitality Group, which plans to lease the property.
“The location, you can’t beat it. It’s on the Jupiter Inlet. There’s the Loxahatchee River. There’s the view of the Jupiter Lighthouse. It’s a phenomenal opportunity,” said Michael Lessing, CEO of the company, which is based in Great River, New York.
Jim Taube, who owns u-Tiki and Jetty’s restaurant next door, said Lessing’s has the right idea.
“We get lots of calls asking to rent space for weddings and other big events. The demand is there. They have a big restaurant. They have lots of parking. A place like that is needed in north county,” Taube said.
The company, established in 1890, operates 14 wedding and catering venues, nine full-service restaurants and a historic hotel in the Northeastern United States built in 1751. The company caters about 1,000 weddings a year, said Lessing.
Lessing’s signed a lease for the former Rustic Inn with Charles Modica, who owns the four-acre Jupiter Inlet parcel. Modica bought the property for $8.3 million last year.
The propert y is just west of Modica’s 4-acre parcel on Love Street. There Modica wants to build a $30 million outdoor marketplace featuring restaurants, offices and shops.
Major changes are planned for the inside of the Rustic Inn building, but the outside will remain pretty much the same, Modica said.
Catering weddings and other events at country clubs, man-