Brick Ark Inn opens in Albion
(Talk of the Town photo provided) The Brick Ark Inn Bed & Breakfast in Albion, shown above, will celebrate their grand opening with an Open House Friday and Saturday. The business was helped in its growth by meeting with representatives from the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center which serves Whitley County and surrounding communities.
By Mary Popovich
The Brick Ark Inn Bed & Breakfast and Gathering Place recently opened for business in downtown Albion to offer a comfortable haven for tourists visiting historic sites and other attractions in northeastern Indiana, as well as a quaint location for business meetings and luncheon events. Proprietor Tammy Luce, an Albion native, welcomed her first overnight guests on June 21, and is planning an open house for this weekend to celebrate and introduce the new inn, which is located at 215 North Orange Street in Albion.
The open house will offer homemade cookies and punch as well as tours of the inn from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. this Friday, July 17, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday, July 18; the public is invited to attend.
The Brick Ark Inn is located within an historic brick home that was constructed around 1880. Past owners have included a tailor, an attorney, and a dry-goods merchant. Prior to the current owner, the Prickett family resided in the home for nearly 50 years. Tammy Luce, a certified public accountant, purchased the home in 2000 and began working on converting it into a bed and breakfast in 2007, after she was laid off from the Robert Bosch Corp.
"Through prayer and thought, I decided I wanted to work for myself, and I have always wanted to open a bed and breakfast," Luce reminisced. Luce has spent the past two years tearing down, rebuilding and decorating parts of her home to turn it into an inn. "I had no clue what I was getting into," she said. "The only qualification I had was I knew how to paint."
Luce served as general contractor for the project and acquired all sorts of construction skills -- from plumbing to trim carpentry -- to save money. She credits handyman Jeff Nelson of Garrett, as well as her friends and family, for providing assistance through the lengthy process.
Luce decided on the name Brick Ark Inn to illustrate the monumental task she had in completing the bed and breakfast, "much like the biblical Noah had when building his famous ark." She said she completed the project "by the grace of God" after several stumbling blocks, including a severe parasitic illness that zapped her of strength and delayed the project's completion by a year.
When she finally saw the "ark" at the end of her long journey, she secured the help of Jane Rich, a business advisor with the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center (NEISBDC) who serves entrepreneurs in Noble County and several other counties in the region.
"Jane has been a tremendous help and support to keep me on track with the important items I needed to complete to get the inn open," Luce said. "She helped me set priorities and also assisted me with marketing and research and other areas so I could get the inn up and running."
The Brick Ark Inn offers accommodations for up to 10 guests at a time in four quaint rooms that provide the quiet, beauty and lifestyle of small-town living while including many of the amenities of an upscale hotel. Guests are provided with private rooms including bathrooms, a common sitting area, wireless Internet service, and their choice of homemade breakfasts.
Driving Directions to the Brick Ark Inn:
The Brick Ark Inn is located at 215 North Orange Street in downtown Albion. From Fort Wayne, take Highway 3 North and go west on Highway 8 to Albion. When you reach the Noble County Courthouse in downtown Albion, go north on Highway 9 (which is also Orange Street) two blocks to the Brick Ark Inn. For more information on the Brick Ark Inn, visit the inn's Web site at www.brickarkinn.com, or call (260) 636-6181.