Sale of Luzerne’s Lamplight

By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor

Forty years ago, Gene and Linda Merlino took a leap, bought a building dating from 1890 in Lake Luzerne and turned it into the Lamplight Inn Bed & Breakfast. “It was a total whim,” says Linda. “We were talking about making a change in our lives. We were going to bed & breakfasts and said ‘this looks like fun.’ Then we found the building. Neither one of us had a background” in hospitality.

On May 1, George and Mary Haleem of Pennsylvania took a leap of their own, buying the Lamplight from the Merlinos.

The Haleems have experience that the Merlinos didn’t. George says, “Pharmaceutical and medical devices was my career for about 12 years.” Then the couple ­bought a house in the Poconos, “which we started renting out as a vacation home and it did very well. We purchased another one after that. We scaled up over the years. This will be our eighth property. Five of them are vacation homes” — “6- or 7-bedroom homes geared for large families.”

“We also own Pine Hill Lodge in Mount Pocono, an 11-bedroom lodge dating from 1875. It’s very similar in nature to the Lamplight Inn. We purchased that three years ago. We did some preservation to kind of maintain that property.” They bought Sterling Manor, also in Mount Pocono, which George says is a vacation resort dating from the early 1900s.

“Last year I left my career” in medical device quality and regulatory assurance, says George. “I wasn’t enjoying that anymore.” Mary has kept hers. “My wife is an accountant by trade.” The Haleems have three- and five-year-old girls. “My daughters love going up to the mountain homes. They take it as vacation,” George said.

Mitch Muroff, whose Muroff Hospitality Group brokered the sale, said it sold for $1.255-million.

The Merlinos own two nearby houses and will stay in Lake Luzerne. Gene, who just turned 80, is the long-time Lake Luzerne Town Supervisor. Actually, the Merlinos are operating the 12-room inn right now, until the Haleems’ newly hired live-in innkeeper Tamara Stevens of Glens Falls takes the reins in mid-June.

“After 40 years I have mixed emotions,” Linda said. “We have so many long-term guests, we became friends with so many of them. We were just called a national treasure on Facebook by a guest and we have so many five-star ratings on Google and everywhere. But it’s time, and George and Mary are nice people.”

“Gene and Linda built a great list of recurring guests,” George says. “We want to make sure we take care of them and that any changes we make will be gradual and just improve the existing experience.”

He said they’ll change the name to the Rockwell Falls Inn and Wine Bar. “We wanted a name that was ours,” George said. “Rockwell Falls is a block away.
“We eventually want to offer dinner. I want to be very clear it’s not going to happen right away.”

Linda says, “Lake Luzerne could really use that.”

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