Asticou Hotel poised to open in mid July; Official inspections next week

NORTHEAST HARBOR, July 2, 2025 - The Asticou Hotel has scheduled inspections by the fire chief and code enforcement officer next week in the final official step before its grand opening. The above video taken this morning showed the pool has been filled and workers tending to landscaping.

A person answering the phone at the sister hotel, Claremont in Southwest Harbor said the opening is now scheduled for July 17.

“We're almost there,” owner Tim Harrington said on a phone call. “We should have our occupancy next week. And then it's just like finishing up landscape.

“The kitchen got fired up, waters on, electricity is on.

“It’s great thing, to be able to tell people that for anyone in their right mind, this would be a two-year project, and we did it in under a year because they didn't want to lose a summer season for the downtown,” Harrington said.

“It's just insanity, but we did it.

“It's the same thing that happened at the Claremont. A couple of the cottages weren't done, but we got open, and we enjoyed the summer, and then we finished up some things in the fall.

“And that's exactly what will happen here.

“Martha Stewart said to me, it's taken three years to get my swimming pool built. How did you get that done in nine months?” Harrington said.

PHOTO THIS MORNING SHOWS MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE HOTEL

In April, I reported on the hotel’s self-imposed deadline of an opening in June.

For customers whose reservations were canceled because the hotel failed to open in June, Harrington said, the hotel has “taken good care of them.”

“We pre-book, we rebook them, and give them all kinds of discounts. It's where we're really good at that.

“I've been here every day, seven days a week for, like, probably 40 of the last 45 days. “I'm used to working in Southern Maine, and there's lots more contractors and lots more people to choose from and help you.

“What I say to my team when they're on all on these crazy days and days in a row is this is going to be here long after we're gone.

On June 7, 2023 I reported that Harrington was negotiating to buy the Asticou to complete the takeover of the island’s two historic inns. That deal was closed on July 12, 2023, according to the Hancock County Registry of Deeds. The price was $7.75 million, according to Mainebiz.

Harrington remade the historic Claremont Hotel in Southwest Harbor after acquiring it in 2021. He also owns the Salt Cottages in Hulls Cove, Bar Harbor.

Historic preservation is important to Harrington.

“Like the Claremont, I was bidding against someone who would have torn it down and built a house, and that would have been it forever.

“It's the same for here. This is so important to the Town of Northeast Harbor as an economic driver. And so I feel super proud of it, and so does my team.”

“You have to sometimes remind yourself - because you get tired - it's important to restore these historic properties that have fallen in disrepair because you'll never get them again.”