Developer shares plans for reopening Shenango Inn | Local News

SHARON – After buying the former Shenango Inn for almost a half-million dollars in February, Michael Yanko presented a plan to Sharon City Council Wednesday that would lead to a soft opening Nov. 29.

At a total cost of $ 6 million to buy, renovate, market and open the hotel, Yanko said if he’s going to do it, it’s worth doing right.

“We’re looking for this hotel to be a four-star hotel,” Yanko said. “We are going to welcome the whole town, not only hotel customers, but everybody here that would like to belong to a club and enjoy the food, the ambience and mood that we’re trying to create.”

Yanko said opening the hotel and the restaurant, which will retain its traditional name of The Golden Lion, will generate 60 to 65 jobs, and the hotel will hire locally.

Yanko showed city council sketches, provided by a New York interior designer, which depicted how the various banquet rooms, meeting rooms, guest rooms, restaurant and the new outside pool will look after renovations.

“We do recognize the significance of this site,” Yanko said. “We do see an opportunity here to bring it back to its glory and for everybody to be proud of it.”

Yanko’s last project was the Nyack Hotel in Nyack, NY, which was completed in 2016. Yanko said that the town of Nyack is comparable to Sharon.

Yanko presented a letter of recommendation from the village’s former mayor.

“The Nyack Hotel was a wonderful addition to the village and has added economic value,” the mayor wrote. “Michael (Yanko) transformed a blighted and unproductive work and turned it into something very special.”

The hotels will be powered by Jurny, a hospitality company that, for the past three years, has combined traditional hospitality with technology.

Angel Redondo, vice president of real estate for Jurny, said the company manages more than $ 500 million in assets and is in more than 20 markets, with 1,120 rooms under its management. The company powers two hotels in New York and Hotel Brexton in Baltimore, Md.

Redondo said security is a major concern for the company. That’s why guests will be vetted after they book a room. There will be noise and carbon dioxide sensors so management knows how many people are in the room. The hotel also will have installed security cameras in the halls and in front of every room.

“That’s how we control and provide really good service,” Redondo said.

Yanko also broached the subject of the hotel sitting in a residential neighborhood. He said they will set times for when the night life will end, they will keep noise to a minimum, especially outside, and they will make sure lights do not encroach on the privacy of the neighbors.

The former hotel at 1330 Kimberly Road in Sharon has been empty for about three years, and city officials and the community have expressed fears that it would become another blighted property in the city.

Another developer expressed interest last year in restoring the property to a high-end hotel and restaurant, as it was from 1950 into the 1980s. It was originally built by hundreds of community investors. The inn was sold in the 1980s into private ownership and eventually became an assisted-living home that closed in 2018.

That developer dropped the purchase contract after city officials decided to fight the zoning variance granted by the Sharon Zoning Commission that would have enabled it to become a hotel again. The variance is still pending in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.

City Manager Bob Fiscus said Yanko’s portfolio appears to have hotels and establishments that officials would like to have in Sharon.

“I think it’s interesting,” Fiscus had said. “It sounds like something that would be looked at favorably.”

Council President Molly Bundrant thanked Yanko and Redondo for their presentations, calling them “refreshing.”