This story by Phil Dodd was first published in The Bridge on Nov. 10, 2025.
Montpelier zoning permits refer to the renovation project at 140 Main Street in Montpelier as a hotel, but owner Pat Malone said the new business will operate more like a hybrid hotel, bed-and-breakfast, and Airbnb. Visitors will book online and get a code to open up their rooms, he said, but there will be no cooking facilities in the rooms, “though we will supply snacks for guests at breakfast.”
Previously, the large brick building was used as a law office. Malone said in addition to the rental rooms in the main building, there will also be rooms in a portion of the large carriage house behind the main structure. Both buildings on the property are listed as contributing structures on the National Register for Historic Places. Guests will have access to 13 parking spaces.
Construction inside and outside the property is underway, including the addition of a deck and patio for guests to sit outside in good weather. There will be a common room inside, and a room for a night manager. Malone said he hopes the building will be finished and ready to open in early spring.
Malone is currently operating two similar hospitality businesses — some of which do have kitchen facilities — in Barre and Waterbury Center, both listed on VRBO. A quick check showed prices for nightly stays in March 2026 running from $190 for one of the less expensive Barre units to $312 for a top-end Waterbury Center unit.
“They do quite well,” he said. “We’re getting good demand in Barre, and we’re getting very good demand in Waterbury. So I think that Montpelier will do well.”
Malone said he might have converted the building to apartments instead, but city regulations that were adopted after the flood forbid apartments on the first floor. The city does allow hotel-type operations on first floors, he said. “I know a lot of people who would like first floor apartments,” but you can’t build those now, he said.
Malone has also been busy finishing up the renovation of the former Hugo’s restaurant location at 118 Main Street. That building will now house 25 single-room office suites with shared conference rooms, kitchenettes and common areas. It is a model he said he has successfully used in the upper floors of the former TD Bank building at the corner of State and Main streets in Montpelier.
A prior owner had signed a 20-year contract to heat the 118 Main building with the city’s district heat system, so Malone had to install expensive equipment so the district heat temperatures in the 25 rooms could be individually controlled. District heat is more expensive than alternative fuel sources, Malone said, but he decided “since I was paying for it, I probably should use it.”
