New owner: The Barclay lives!

SALE WILL KEEP LANDMARK BELMAR BANQUET HALL OPEN
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/4/07
BY ERIK LARSEN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

The Barclay, an institution in Belmar for half a century that had been slated for the wrecking ball this past summer, shall live on to see another generation of weddings celebrated behind its pearly white walls.

One week ago, Stephen Vita, a Jersey Shore restaurateur, closed on a deal to purchase the landmark banquet hall and three adjacent houses around the property. The terms of that deal are not yet public.

"The Barclay is staying, it's not being knocked down," Vita said.

Vita, who is keeping on the old staff — 20 servers, five bartenders and three kitchen workers — said he intends to make some cosmetic improvements to the hall in time, "nothing major," but is continuing to operate the business under its existing moniker. Indeed, there were two weddings at The Barclay over the past weekend.

"We will continue to do what The Barclay has done, what the Huisman family had done. We're going to uphold the old traditions," said Sandy Briamonte, chief operations manager. "The making of memories continues."

"New friends holding onto old traditions," echoed Elizabeth Walzer, president of the Monmouth County Association for the Blind, who sat with Briamonte on Wednesday going over plans for the organization's annual Christmas party.

Under the old owners, The Barclay hosted the association's Christmas party and its anniversary party each spring since 1965 with a cash bar, free of charge.

"The Barclay donated the dinners," Walzer said.

Vita said The Barclay will continue to honor that commitment under his ownership.

The Barclay had been slated to host its last wedding reception this July. The manor-like structure, complete with a 1920s-era bar that a band once played behind, was to have been demolished to make way for nine contemporary, single-family homes.

"We were upset when we had read that this beautiful building was going to be demolished," Briamonte said. "That fell through due to the (real estate) market being so awful. The developers reneged."

She said Vita's aspiration is to run The Barclay up to the same quality and standards that the previous owners, brother and sister David Huisman and Rita Harsin, brought to The Barclay.

"They had it down to a science," Briamonte said, explaining that Vita and his management team plan to bring with them new energy in making The Barclay a success, which had seen its profits start to decline, according to Rita Harsin.

The Barclay, built as a 40-room hotel in the 1920s and operated under various names in the first half of the 20th century, once quartered soldiers stationed at the now-defunct Camp Evans in neighboring Wall during World War II.

In 1957, Huisman's and Harsin's parents and maternal grandparents, in a joint business venture, purchased the building and a considerable amount of land around the site. At the time, their grandparents, Frances and Dave Barclay, owned a tavern in Hawthorne, while their parents, Andy and Rita Huisman, operated a catering business.

They joined forces and opened The Barclay as a hotel, bar and restaurant, being open in the evening to private parties and banquets.

The Barclay closed the hotel and restaurant in 1962 after revenue from the private banquets was profitable enough to discontinue the hotel and restaurant operation. The hotel rooms, on the second and third floors, were converted into banquet facilities, support services, bridal rooms and extra bathrooms.

Today, there are two banquet rooms. The original on the first floor can accommodate more than 400 people. A second, smaller hall on the third floor can accommodate 125 people.

The Barclay has hosted some major figures in time: A struggling young musician named Bruce Springsteen once performed here; and the now-deceased Rep. James J. Howard hosted his victory parties here. U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., has been a fixture at The Barclay, rousing Democratic crowds with campaign speeches for New Jersey Democrats as recently as last year.