The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Brookfield banquet hall for sale after 50 years
One of western Connecticut’s larger event venue operators is exploring offers for one of its two wedding and banquet halls in Brookfield, with the possibility of a conversion to other uses under a new owner.
Fox Hill Inn is listed for sale just off Federal Road in Brookfield, with an affiliate of Fairfield Catering Group seeking $3.25 million for the wedding and event venue. A Scalzo Real Estate listing indicates the property will become available in January.
Partners John Royce and Tom Montague made Fox Hill Inn the initial acquisition for Fairfield Catering Group in 1989. The company tacked on additional properties over the years including the Candlewood Inn in Brookfield, Waterview in Monroe, Riverview in Simsbury and Le Chateau just across the Ridgefield line in South Salem, N.Y., which the company acquired in 2017.
Fairfield Catering Group boasts having received more than 2.2 million guest visits at some 15,000 events during its tenure running its five banquet halls. The bridal expo producer Wedding Steps also uses Fox Hill Inn as its main office, having hosted a show at the hall in June a few months before the inn was listed for sale online.
Efforts to reach Fairfield Catering Group did not generate an immediate response Wednesday on any details for the decision to list Fox Hill Inn for sale, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the facility. Gov. Ned Lamont lifted many restrictions on event venues last May that had been put in place to limit any transmission of COVID-19.
Fox Hill Inn is set back from busy Federal Road behind Ashley HomeStore on more than three acres of land, in a wooded area tucked into the surrounding commercial district.
Constructed in 1971, the main building has nearly 10,000 square feet of space on two floors, including a ballroom with capacity for 250 people. A smaller adjacent structure built the same year totals another 4,000 square feet.
Any redevelopment of the Fox Hill Inn property would eliminate one source of competition for the Candlewood Inn, which is located about 10 minutes away on the eastern shore of Candlewood Lake.
A little further west, the Amber Room Colonnade marked its 50th anniversary in 2019 as the largest standalone banquet hall in the Danbury area, with capacity for 700 guests.
Brookfield last appraised Fox Hill Inn at $2.65 million, with the property’s tax bill for that year totaling $57,000.
“I personally would like to see the facility remain a banquet facility if possible, it is a great facility and the owners always did a great job for every event,” said Steve Dunn, first selectman of Brookfield, in an email response to a Hearst Connecticut query. “Barring that, we would want to see this developed in a way that is sensitive to its neighbors, particularly the residents at the Rollingwood condominiums who are right next door.”