Even with heavy renovations currently underway, the phrase “what’s old is new again” does not do justice to the amazing renovations that are breathing new life into the former Inn at Newtown.

The historic and long-vacated facility with its former Proud Mary’s basement pub is under new ownership, and will be managed as a combination restaurant, pub, and banquet facility by Kate and Clark Neugold, who have already made a significant local impression with their successful Foundry Kitchen & Tavern in Sandy Hook Center.

“We took over the Foundry in April 2017,” Kate Neugold told The Newtown Bee, adding that it was the couple’s dream to eventually operate several different properties in the area.

“We were actually looking at a couple of other places last year, but none of them struck us,” she said. “Then we were approached by the new owners of the Inn and we toured the building in January and just fell in love with everything about it. The new owners are amazing people and the property is obviously unbelievable.”

The former inn was acquired by a group of investors that includes Dan Teranovich, Dale Barton, Susi Stone, and Russell Barton, who are overseeing a massive overhaul of the facility, which was originally built in 1820, has over 15,000 square feet of usable space, and sits on well over three acres at 19 Main Street in the Borough of Newtown, according to town records.

Transformation & Reinvention

While the Neugolds are keeping the facility’s new name and the name and interior plans for the basement pub under wraps for now, familiar patrons will surely marvel at the transformation and reinvention of an already-popular gathering place and the significant expansion of its banquet and restaurant capacity.

In a brief interview on July 28, Kate Neugold said that she, her husband, and team member/chef Matt Stanczak plan to create a destination facility that will fill several needs in the borough, particularly a lack of space for small to large public gatherings.

“We never wanted to do another Foundry, we wanted to do another restaurant with a completely different concept, and that’s what the inn will offer,” she said, although the couple will maintain a similar theme to what patrons and small event clients have enjoyed at their place in Sandy Hook.

“We stared an event business when we took over the Foundry and it has been unbelievably successful,” she said. “We’ve done weddings, baby showers, corporate events — you name it. It’s been one of our favorite parts of operating that location, and the business has doubled every year.”

Their new space is twice the size of the Foundry, “and the area really needs a good event space,” Neugold said.

Changes In Store

Some of the changes in store are indoor and outdoor restaurant service incorporating a spacious deck and a former front space that used to be partitioned off from a cozy bar.

Now that bar is part of the service area, opening up the space and making it more welcoming and conducive to food service, versus splitting the difference between the dining area and the bar.

Neugold said she and her husband are also planning to reopen the basement pub area either concurrently with upstairs dining, or soon after. They are also in the process of deciding whether to put a canopy cover over the deck. Either way, that area will be available to patrons whenever weather permits.

With everything coming together, the Neugolds are pushing for a September opening, “October at the latest,” Kate Neugold said.

Events will be the next area the couple will tackle.

“Obviously right now we can’t do events, but we hope to have the space open and ready so people can come and look at it and consider booking events, either for the holidays or for 2021,” Neugold said.

With new branding being readied along with an updated image for the lower-level pub, the Neugolds’ excitement — along with the added stress of such an undertaking — is palpable. The Newtown Bee will continue to offer updates as the partners take their next steps within the historic building.