Smuggler's Cove Inn will get new life from a group of investors including businessman Scott Larson and real estate and hospitality guru Dana Moos. Investors Diane Pace, Bill Lally, Eric Bosco and Brian Neslund joined Larson and Moos in forming 727 Ocean Point LLC and closing on the property March 5.

“We're going to be working really hard to blow as much new life into the property as we can between now and when we open,” said Larson. “We're focusing a lot on what the guest sees, touches and feels and dealing with structural stuff where we need to.”

The group expects the inn to open May 28 after replacement of most furniture and flooring and with nearly all 54 rooms ready for booking. Larson said the long game is to keep a multi-phase improvement project going for the next two to three years. “There have already been some improvements and we're excited to continue to build on that and build some more value into it and make it a really good destination on the Ocean Point peninsula.”

Larson, owner of Newagen Seaside Inn, Linekin Bay Resort, Compass Rose Events and Midcoast Hospitality Group, said he considered buying Smuggler’s Cove Inn long before the previous owner bought it. Larson said he then forgot about it until he got a call from Moos asking if he or someone he knew might be interested in the property.

Moos is a lodging and hospitality broker for Swan Agency Real Estate and is a hospitality consultant. She was a hospitality broker for The B&B Team, authored three cookbooks, won the 2018 Boothbay Harbor Claw Down and subsequent Lobster Chef of the Year in Portland, and is a guest chef instructor for Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School. Through Swan Agency, Moos was responsible for marketing Smuggler’s Cove Inn. The inn’s former owner Kim Swan, also owner of Swan Agency, was gearing up to put the property on the market.

“Scott and I just started having conversations about the potential of this property and it was a really organic way this transpired ... We started talking about the possibilities and then started talking about some other people I knew and some other people he knew and we ended up having this really great group of not just investors, but people with the right backgrounds,” Moos said.

Larson said Moos has a keen eye for potential. And he said, “We’re trying to twist her arm and get some of her recipes … for the bar.”

727 Ocean Sunset Bar will replace the 1820 House Restaurant for a smaller, more intimate setting focused less on meals and more on drinks and bites, Larson said. Said Moos, “I really would like to offer some simpler traditional lobster, but then also some creative lobster bites so we appeal to people who are really into the Maine food movement and food tourism as well as the traditional traveler who wants to stay on the water and have a lobster roll.”

The group enlisted innkeepers Daniel Traub and Dora Banegas who began working at the inn at Southwest Harbor shortly after Moos sold Kingsleigh Inn next door, and they made an impression on the Downeast and Midcoast industry for their hospitality and their food and beverage knowledge. “Everything I read about them and the reviews was about 'Dora and Daniel, Dora and Daniel' and their hospitality and their food … And they're a pair, they complement one another really well.”

Larson said Traub and Banegas have begun working on the inn and he expects they will do great things for it. “They've only been there since Monday and it already looks great.”

Moos and Larson said with the energy and professionalism of the innkeepers and the buying group, they foresee Smuggler's Cove Inn thriving. Larson said everyone involved is excited to reintroduce the inn to the stable of properties some of the partners are involved in because the inn will complement them and attract a new demographic of visitors to the region.

Said Larson, “It's really one of the only properties I'm aware of on the peninsula that has its own true sand beach … and it has the greatest sunset. With so many of the hotels and motels in the area sort of disappearing over the last several years, we think this will be a good opportunity to reignite or reinvigorate this property.”