MOUNT AIRY MANSION CLOSED AGAIN

July 17, 2024

Mount Airy Plantation, an elegant 18th-century mansion and grounds that once belonged to the original proprietors of the Maryland colony, has been a source of both pride and embarrassment to Prince George's County.

After two failed tries as a country inn and restaurant, it is closed again, and the state and county have gone back to the drawing board. "It was an upscale but out-of-the-way restaurant," said Prince George's County Executive Parris N. Glendening (D), putting a positive spin on it.

The 20-room house eight miles from Upper Marlboro had fallen into disrepair after the state bought it and 1,000 surrounding acres in 1973. The Mount Airy Plantation, leased to wine and food consultants Frank and Patricia Kulla, opened as a country inn and restaurant in December 1985.

Under the arrangement, the county guaranteed $227,000 in state loans the Kullas used to help renovate the facility, at a total cost of $2 million. But there were problems.

The Kullas, listing $1.8 million in corporate debts, filed for bankruptcy in September 1986. In March 1989, a federal bankruptcy judge terminated their lease, leaving the county with $427,000 in debts to the state.

For a year, the county's own park agency oversaw operation of the restaurant. Then the state found another operator, DEC Corp., which specializes in "adaptive reuses" of historic structures. Albert Massoni, the DEC vice president who managed Mount Airy, had developed the Morrison Clark Inn at 11th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW, a downtown success story.

Mount Airy Plantation was a different story. "I don't know that people are attracted to Prince George's County," Massoni said. What diners there were came mostly from Washington and Annapolis, and county business was "very minimal," Massoni said.

In November, amid a sea of red ink and recriminations, the state terminated Massoni's lease and Mount Airy closed its doors.

Jim Dunmyer, assistant secretary for public lands in the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, blamed Massoni's marketing for Mount Airy's poor performance. But Massoni said the restaurant was widely advertised in the county and area and won rave reviews from critics. He blamed the recession and the state for rejecting his proposal to convert stables and outbuildings into 20 guest rooms. "It is an historic property. It should've been a neat historic getaway for people," he said.

Massoni said his best business was in weddings and other special events, which is what the county and state are considering for the long term.

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