OGDENSBURG – The Gran-View Restaurant, the Inn at Gran-View and the Windjammer Lodge are now operated by their new owner, United Helpers.
United Helpers has assumed ownership of the properties along Route 37 in the city of Oswegatchie that were previously owned by Louis and Claire Williams, according to a press release issued by the company on Monday.
The Gran-View Restaurant, 6801 Route 37, has been around for nearly 80 years. It was first opened as the Gran-View Hot Dog Stand above Pythian Beach by Louis Williams’ parents, Louis and Tina Williams. The original Gran-View was destroyed by fire on Christmas Eve 1953. When the Gran-View was rebuilt, the business was moved to its current location, where a hotel and resort were later built.
Adjacent to the restaurant is the Inn at Gran-View, a 46-room hotel, including a four-bedroom cottage. The hotel is part of the Ascend Hotel Collection, a boutique brand of Choice Hotels International, and has been awarded the company’s highest honor, “Gold Status,” every year for the past three years.
The family business also owns the 21-room Windjammer Lodge at 5843 Route 37.
Jordan Downing-Duke, deputy director of corporate services at United Helpers, declined to disclose the cost of acquiring the three companies.
According to St. Lawrence County records, Louis Williams paid $15,560 in transfer taxes for Gran-View Properties LLC. At a transfer tax rate of $4 per $1,000, that equates to $3.89 million for the properties.
According to Downing-Duke, operations will continue without interruption.
She said the approximately 40 employees at the three locations would be retained and become United Helpers employees.
“All employees will remain and become part of the United Helpers family, but they will continue to work,” Downing-Duke said.
The announcement states that Louis Williams will remain with United Helpers in an advisory capacity to oversee the ownership change.
“People who come here to eat, stay or get married will not notice any difference,” he said in a statement. “I am 70 years old and not a young guy anymore. I just had to start thinking about the future of my wife and me, as well as that of Gran-View and the community of Ogdensburg.”
The Williams family purchased the business from his parents in 1982, several years after they returned to Ogdensburg in 1979.
“The structure of the company was very similar back then to what it is today,” said Louis Williams. “We just renovated and added parts over the years.”
Gran-View’s riverfront location, along with the convenience of having an on-site hotel, led to the property becoming a premier wedding venue where people could get married, have their reception, and even stay overnight without having to get in the car and drive to another location.
“There are not many places where you can sit on a balcony and enjoy a morning cup of coffee or a glass of wine while watching what I think is one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. Many people see us as an oasis in an otherwise hectic world, and I say they are absolutely right,” he said.
He said that during their ownership, more than 1,000 weddings have taken place at Gran-View and that it was “an honor to be part of the beginning of so many couples’ lives together.”
Louis Williams added that being a valued member of the community and hosting events such as Zonta, Rotary, Lions and Chamber events is important to the family and that this will not change with the change in ownership.
“One of the first questions I asked the folks at United Helpers when we started talking about this was, ‘Who’s going to take the lead?’ We have employees who have been with us for 30 years. These people are our family and when we move on, we’re going to miss them more than anything. We want to make sure they’re taken care of,” he said.
The Gran-View Restaurant, the Inn at Gran-View and the Windjammer Lodge will join other for-profit United Helpers businesses such as Vital Dynamix, Calico Thyme, United Linen Service and Sparx Construction & General Contracting.
