It never mattered that no scenes from “Dirty Dancing” were filmed at the 1927 Lake Lure Inn & Spa. The iconic 72-bed hotel still conjured up memories of Johnny and Baby’s summer romance.
The Rutherford County landmark now has a new owner. Husband-and-wife George and Hope Wittmer sold the hotel in June, along with other nearby properties, for $11.1 million to Atlanta-based Ridgeline Investment Partners.
The Wittmers, long-time collectors of antiques, decorative arts, and historic memorabilia, had owned the hotel since 2004. They filled their hotel with rare finds from around the world, including statutory, paintings, carvings and historic objects. Many items remain and service at the hotel will continue uninterrupted, say the new owners.
The Lake Lure Inn counts Franklin Roosevelt, Emily Post, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Calvin Coolidge as former guests. Actors Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey also stayed at the inn, along with other “Dirty Dancing” cast and crew members while filming scenes in Lake Lure for the 1987 box-office hit.
With the inn now approaching its centennial, Keaton Nickelsen, a partner at Ridgeline Acquisitions, described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime type of property” because of the
natural beauty of the lake and surrounding Hickory Nut Gorge mountains.
“It fits very well with our collection of boutique hotels in thriving mountain towns across North Carolina and North Georgia,” says Nickelsen.
The area remains a tourist attraction, and visitors spent $282.4 million in Rutherford County in 2022, up 3.5% from the previous year, according to NCVisit.
Ridgeline owns four other hotels; the 45-room Monte Vista Hotel in Black Mountain, the 35-room Sylva Hotel, which is currently closed for renovations; The Wells Hotel, a 21-key hospitality redevelopment in Cashier; and the Bridge Creek Inn, a 45-room hotel in Clayton, Georgia.
The sellers were represented in the sale by real estate broker George Carter, who focuses on Hickory Nut Gorge residential on Hickory Nut Gorge residential and commercial property. ■