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Thomas Hirchak Company will auction the illustrious bar and restaurant at 1190 Mountain Road in Stowe on Jan. 10 at 11 a.m.
Dark Side Of The Mountain To Return To Vermont
KSK has owned “The Nail, ” as locals call it, since 2004, and has had a history of financial troubles with the town government. It is four installments behind in its tax payments and owes back taxes totaling more than $27, 000.
If it remains unpaid, the tax bill will be sent to the town’s attorney Dec. 1 for collection, according to Town Clerk Alison Kaiser.
Additionally, the town placed a lien on the property in 2001, under former owner Bobby Roberts, for nonpayment of about $47, 000 in sewer allocation fees. That lien later transferred to KSK.
History Of Stowe Theatre — Stowe Theatre Guild
Jim Goldsmith and his wife, Kim Kaufman, owners of the Blue Donkey Restaurant on Mountain Road and 10 Railroad Street in Morrisville, had planned to buy the building in fall 2012. At that time, it had been on the market for several years and was listed for $1.75 million.
But the deal fell through when Goldsmith discovered a number of title issues — liens and other things attached to the property.
For instance, MTB Builders Inc. of Waterbury sued KSK in Lamoille Superior Court, saying it hadn’t been paid for work it was hired to do on the Nail in 2006. In 2008, according to court records, MTB was awarded about $60, 000 in damages and attorneys’ fees after arbitration.
Mountain Stowe Vt
MTB later alleged it wasn’t paid promptly for the damages and attorneys’ fees and moved to foreclose on the property in 2011. The suit has been put on hold while the two parties try to work out an agreement on paying the bills.
They are suing to have the $100, 000 down payment they made while attempting to purchase the property returned and for related damages, Goldsmith said.
The Rusty Nail name has a long and illustrious history in Stowe. The first “Nail” was built in an old horse barn in 1969 by Stowe’s Gar Anderson and was a popular hangout for rockers and ski bums.
Dead Set Tuesday's At Club Metronome Live At Rusty Nail On 2015 12 12
The building was torn down in the 1970s but a new one was built near the Gables Inn on Mountain Road in 1990.
An ad on Thomas Hirchak Company’s website describes the 9, 532-square-foot post-and-beam building on 3.6 acres as having “a wonderful commercial kitchen and renovated restrooms, private party room with bar, fireplace, and outdoor seating on a stone patio.”
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Rusty Nail Ale
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© Copyright 2023 Vermont Community Newspaper Group LLC 49 School St., P.O. Box 489, Stowe, VT | Terms of Use/Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell My InfoStowe’s après-ski scene will regain a familiar face next month when new owners reopen the well-loved Rusty Nail at 1190 Mountain Road.
The Rusty Nail Rides Again!
A trio of partners purchased the 45-year-old venue earlier this month for $1.2 million and plan to have it up and running by Presidents’ Day weekend under the same name. “This has been here since 1969, and we’re going to let that history ride, ” says Dave O’Connor, who will comanage the space with Dave O’Rourke.
Both Daves are currently bartenders at Crop Bistro & Brewery, the nearby restaurant co-owned by Bill Davis. Davis is the third partner who purchased the 9, 500-square-foot Rusty Nail building on January 3.
O’Connor says that he and his colleagues plan to hook up almost all of the 24 taps to Vermont beers (Guinness will be the only exception) and to serve classic pub fare such as burgers and wings. They’re also plotting a robust schedule of live music, including “some national acts, ” O’Connor says. The lack of a music venue in the spot, he adds, “has been a hole in the local scene.”
Vermont Renaissance Man John Fusco Brings It All Back Home
The most recent iteration of the Nail closed just about a year ago, but the building’s previous owner — Massachusetts urologist Stan Swierzewski — had it on the market long before that. In March 2012, the Rusty Nail was listed for $1.95 million. According to town records, the new owners paid $28, 168 in delinquent taxes when they took ownership.
After riding out the remainder of the ski season, O’Rourke says, he and his partners will complete “minor renovations” to the building in the spring. Perhaps the process has already begun: Earlier this week, an observer could see workers chucking a stream of crates and equipment out the back door and into a dumpster.
Bio: Corin Hirsch was a Seven Days food writer from 2011 through 2016. She is the author of Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England, published by History Press in 2014.
Looking For Fun On Stowe Mountain Road
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To criticize, correct or praise our reporting, please send us a letter to the editor or send us a tip. We’ll check it out and report the results.STOWE – The Rusty Nail, with its high ceilings, barn-like structure and woody interior evoking a ski lodge in the quintessential Vermont ski town of Stowe, has been one of the state’s most-recognizable music venues for two decades.
“In our opinion the space was always too big for its own good, ” said Chad Fry, who last year bought the venue with business partner Mark Frier. The big open space, Fry said, felt empty even if a sizable crowd populated the restaurant/bar area.
Rusty Nail Stage, Stowe
Fry and Frier opened The Reservoir restaurant in Waterbury in 2009 and three years later began The Bench restaurant down the Mountain Road from The Rusty Nail. They have brought major changes to The Rusty Nail, walling off the stage from the rest of the space and turning the bar/restaurant into an eatery called Tres Amigos.
They dubbed the music-venue-within-a-restaurant The Rusty Nail Stage, and reduced the building’s capacity from 720 to 450. The restaurant opened Sept. 6 and music returned to the Rusty Nail Stage just before Halloween.
“I saw an opportunity where I think others saw failure. The music venue and the restaurant really need to be separate to be able to succeed. That’s the only way to make a restaurant function seven days a week and not feel vastly empty on a Tuesday, ” Frier said. “Also I just felt like the music venue, while great when it was full, wasn’t necessarily that comfortable when it was a third of attendance of what the capacity was.”
How Sweet It Is
The Rusty Nail Stage, now geared toward crowds of up to 300, has that same raised-roof appearance and state-of-the-art, $100, 000 sound system that came with the building. The balcony that gave concert-goers a crows-nest view has been partially absorbed into the restaurant side of the space, but was extended to allow for a chill second-floor lounge overlooking the stage.
“Mark and I, we like music; it’s nice for us to have something local, ” Fry said of the duo, both of whom live in Waterbury. The Matterhorn on the Mountain Road and the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center at Stowe Mountain Resort are the other two main music providers in Stowe.
Frier and Fry have offered live music at The Reservoir but the Rusty Nail Stage is their first opportunity to be a big part of the Vermont music scene. “That’s the biggest learning curve” with the new business, according to Frier.
Tres Amigos & Rusty Nail Stage
They are working with Kevin Statesir, a Waterbury resident and co-founder of the Higher Ground music venue who is booking shows at the Rusty Nail through his new enterprise, StatesirReal Projects. Future shows at the Stowe venue include Gubbulidis, featuring Zdenek Gubb and Mihali Savoulidis of the Vermont-born jam band Twiddle this Sunday and Melvin Seals with the Jerry Garcia Band on March 6.
Considering their names, Fry and Frier seem cut out to be in the restaurant business. (“Sounds more like a law firm, ” Fry said.) Tres Amigos, named for a gladed trail at Stowe Mountain Resort, fills a void created in town when Frida’s Taqueria closed in 2013 and Cactus Café shut down last year. They bought the
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