While the newly painted and restored properties on Yarmouth’s Main Street are a pretty sight, thousands of passengers passing through Yarmouth’s ferry terminal are faced with a much more dismal view.
The Colony Harbour Inn has been vacant and deteriorating for the past six years. Rodd Hotels and Resorts shut down the 65-room hotel in 2011, citing the loss of the ferry service between Yarmouth and Maine. The inn had been in operation for 40 years.
The property is a desolate sight now, with gutters full of plant growth and feathers, rotting sills and casings, weed-filled gardens, cracked windows and peeling paint.
The assessed value of the property has plummeted from $1,720,000 in 2008 to $217,600 in 2017.
This spring, some of the furniture from the rooms was donated to SHYFT Youth Services, which provides services and assistance to homeless and at-risk youth.
Rodd Hotels and Resorts president and CEO Mark Rodd said at that time the company was looking at a number of different options for the property. He repeated those options when contacted in late August.
“I know the situation at the Rodd Colony and I can’t give too much detail, but there have been some plans in the works for that property.
“There are a number of options that we have. One is a possible sale of the property, two is possibly us reopening the property.”
He acknowledged the worsening appearance of the building and said he planned a visit to Yarmouth later in September, when he would be looking at what could be done to “spruce the property up and make it look a lot more presentable.”
