Victorian inn on Cayuga Lake to expand

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Sep 26, 2003 by Rombel, Adam

TRUMANSBURG - The owners of Taughannock Farms Inn, a Victorian-style, bed-and-breakfast inn overlooking Cayuga Lake, have begun building a new guest house that will nearly double its lodging capacity.The 10-room, 6,500-square-foot Edgewood Guest House will boost Taughannock Farms Inn to 22 rooms from its current 13 [one room will be reclaimed for the owners' residence] and help it to meet soaring room demand. The inn's occupancy rate regularly exceeded 90 percent this summer.

"We have to turn people away. I constantly have to pick up the phone and say we're hill," says Susan Sheridan, who has owned the inn with her husband, Tom, since 1997.

The new guest house, designed by Rochester-based Architectura P.C, will blend the Victorian style of Taughannock's main inn - and its multipaned, windows, dormers, and broad, gabled roof - with that of its three other, more modern guest houses.

"So, it's a little more like Martha Stewart decor. It'll be a little more upscale cottagey," Sheridan says, adding that there won't be any antiques in the new guest house.

The room rates will be between $145 and $175 a night, compared to $105 to $145 in Taughannock's main inn, which was built as a private residence in 1873. The higher prices reflect, the increased size of the new rooms [averaging 480

square feet] and added amenities, including jacuzzis in several of the rooms. Syracuse-based Hayner Hoyt is handling construction of the new guest house, expected to be completed next spring. Sheridan declines to discuss costs of the project or financing details.

The Taughannock Farms Inn, which also includes a restaurant and is open from April to January, draws many visitors from the Rochester area. It's a convenient, picturesque drive down Route 89 through wine country to get to the inn from there, explains Sheridan, who is also the current president of the Bed and Breakfast Association of Ithaca.

The inn also attracts people from Pennsylvania, Toronto, and New York City, but for some reason hasn't become a hit with Syracuse-area consumers, she says.

Viewers of the ABC television network's show, "Extreme Makeover" will get to see the Taughannock Farms Inn in an episode airing next Thursday, October 2.

Producers of the show chose the inn as the setting for a Southern Tier woman to reveal her new look to her family. The episode was shot on September 11 in the inn's restaurant, Sheridan says.

"It's really neat, because it's a national program and we'll be on TV," she says.

The Taughannock Farms Inn is a member of the Select Registry, Distinguished Inns of North America. The Rose Inn and William Henry Miller Inn, both located in Ithaca, are also members.