🔒Bullish on return of in-person events, Hartford area venues owner plans new reception facility

The former Mahan’s Lakeview Fine Catering center in Wolcott will reopen with a new name and owners this spring, after its $1.25 million sale to a family already running reception and catering facilities in Farmington, Avon, Stratford and Southbury.

“We plan to provide first-class events for weddings, showers, functions, corporate events and social events,” said Phillip Chabot, vice president of Chabot Hospitality Group.

The family company owns and manages the Farmington Gardens reception hall in Farmington, North House in Avon and 1850 House at Silo Point Country Club in Southbury. The Chabot family also leases and manages restaurant and event space at the Blackhawk Country Club in Stratford, Chabot said.

Chabot’s mother, Christina, is principal of CJC Realty LLC, which paid Waterbury automotive sales giant Frederick W. "Fritz" Blasius Jr. $1.25 million for the catering facility on 16.6 acres at 15 Grilley Road in Wolcott. The sale was logged in a deed filed on Tuesday.

The grounds host a 9,849-square-foot function hall, completed in 1980. The upstairs ballroom seats more than 300, according to Phillip Chabot. A downstairs room can accommodate about 80 guests. A 2,443-square-foot chapel was built in 2006. Chabot says it seats about 280.

Blasius – who is vice president of Waterbury’s Loehmann-Blasius Chevrolet Inc. – paid $800,000 for the Mahan’s Lakeview property in January 2022. Phillip Chabot said his family purchased the property as part of a 1031 exchange, which complicated and dragged out the transaction for 18 months.

Blasius had purchased the property from Wolcott Grilley Realty LLC, whose principal is Nadine Mahan. She ran Mahan’s Lakeview with her husband, David, before his death in 2009. David Mahan enjoyed a brief flash of fame as part-owner of Funny Cide, winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The gelded champion horse drew national attention.

Drubner Commercial Owner David R. Theroux, who brokered the property for Mahan, said he partnered with Blasius to purchase the Grilley property. 

"Fritz and I were partners, we bought that from her to help her financially," Theroux said. "The person that was under contract with her on it we just put them into the deal." 

Theroux said Chabot paid monthly deposits to hold an option on the Grilley Road property while his family marketed an industrial property in Naugatuck to fund the purchase through a 1031 exchange. There was interest from other potential buyers for the property, he said. 

Chabot said the Lakeview facility closed with the onset of COVID-19 but has been well maintained. Paint is being refreshed; ceiling tiles replaced. The facility will be redecorated but needs no major repairs or system upgrades. Christina Chabot began overseeing landscaping upgrades this past summer in anticipation of the purchase.

Phillip Chabot said the Wolcott facility, called High Point Gardens, will open in April and bookings can begin soon. Information will be available shortly at highpointgardens.com.

Apart from an ongoing struggle to hire staff, the catering and reception business has been going strong, Chabot said.

“The demand is there,” Chabot said. “People want to go out and don’t seem too cautious about the economy.”