Adirondack Daily Enterprise, June 18, 1976 The Waltz Inn was a restaurant and night club that was opened on the site of The Birches in 1976. It closed by 1978.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 21, 1975,
The Birches in 3/4 time?
By PHIL GALLOS
RAY BROOK - The Birches, which almost became Duke Concrete Products Co., will soon be known as Waltz Inn, if Walter Nagengast has his way.
Nagengast, who is from Averill Park near Albany, is spending "a whole tot of money" refurbishing the onetime bar-dance hall-motel which has been a landmark at the corner of Route 86 and Ray Brook Road and which gained a degree of fame as a late night hot spot before it closed for good about two years ago.
Nagengast tells of coming to the Birches during hunting season some two decades ago and finding the place "really jumping" but, when informed that the establishment had featured topless go-go dancers in later years, the new North Country resident retorted, "There won't be any of that while I'm owner. There's no need for that kind of thing."
That may be, but Nagengast is not yet owner of the piece of real estate which almost, but not quite, changed hands once already this year.
The 2.53 acres and eight buildings were to be sold by owners Arthur Jubin and Paul Raihofer to the Duke Concrete Products Co. of Glens Falls, That company planned to remove most of the buildings, renovate the main structure, and operate a wholesale and retail masonry supply outlet on the site.
Duke began the process of obtaining Adirondack Park Agency approval for the project in January, 1975, but, by July, faced with an Agency mandated public hearing and discouraged by the lots of a year and a possible conflict with town zoning laws, Duke withdrew its application to the Agency, and the deal with Jubin and Raihofer fell through.
Jubin and Raihofer still own the property, but Nagengast claims he has "put a substantial sum down" contingent upon whether he is granted a liquor license. He has applied for the license, and he notes that Charles Lord of the Essex County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board had already inspected the premises.
Satisfying the requirements of the ABC board is, it appears, the only thing Nagengast is really worried about at this point. Asked about the Park Agency and the North Elba planning board and toning board of appeals, Nagengast said he had not beard anything from them. He is going on with his work.
Clifford McCormick, of Saranac Lake, Nagengast's attorney, when asked if he and hit client had had any problems with the Adirondack Park Agency replied, "No, we haven't had any problems. APA doesn't have any Jurisdiction over that property as far as we're concerned."
Charles Walsh, of Lake Placid, legal representative for Jubin and Raihofer, reserved comment.
Presently, Nagengast is renovating the bar and grill portion of the main building and making such extensive alterations as patting to new rest rooms and moving the entrance to the structure from the front to the side. He hopes to open that part of the business, selling beverages and sandwiches and pizza, on or about Sept. 15 of this year.
Eventually, perhaps next summer, he hopes to renovate the dance hall section of the structure and possibly serve meals. Then, after that, he will, perhaps, refurbish and open the cabins. "After all, they're part of the business too," he said.
