The Lodge at Mountain Lake Closing
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11-Lakeside-Dr-E-1-Belvidere-NJ-07823/343760761_zpid/
Was always a beautiful lakeside venue. Hopefully someone will step in soon. Great place to have a drink in the afternoon sun.
SmokeyJoe Looks nice. Somebody put a lot of work and money into fixing it up.
Unfortunately just too far away from a population base enough to pay back the sunk costs.
Josh I thought this already happened? I remember my wife and I went last... fall? End of summer maybe? And we were told it was their last weekend then.
JeffersonRepub Been closed to events for most of the winter now, the last event I remember seeing was a wedding there maybe in the October timeframe. They cleared a lot of things out today, believe there was a sale of the contents, tables, chairs etc going on.
Sad to see someone's dreams and hard work not working out. They put much effort and money into it, so it was not lack of trying for sure.
The real estate listing above now seems to be a change on the previous listing that was marketing it as a business opportunity. This new listing now seems to make it seem as if it could be sold as a residence. I thought there was a stipulation in the original sale that the property had to be used only as a business for a specified period of time. My memory of that clause was 5 years, which would push that right up to about Aug 2024 when that would expire. (I believe they made the original purchase of the property in Aug 2019)
Note the new listing has this very obscure note at the bottom:
"Subject to third party approval" My guess would be Liberty Township zoning approval to allow it as a residence.
I can only guess that the Class C liquor license is either for sale or been sold already.
Great what was done to the building, but that location as great as it is in the summer, just doesn't have the through traffic to carry the load during the off peak season. Many a restaurant and pub has tried in that location, to be met with the same fate- closing after a few years.
I hope someone finds success and can revive what was started here. A "Log Cabin" esque Thursday-Sunday business could work here, with live music being a big draw. But, the next owner will need deep pockets to carry the expense of the colder months.
Too bad the original bar that was there before the recent renovations were done is gone, that would be the direction to go back to, but may not be possible anymore unless that liquor license is available.
I am hoping another business is the use there, a residence is sort of an awkward thing to have at this point.
The Rhyme Animal Hmm... so weird, when they told us they were closing the following week, they told us they were ONLY going to be doing events, not the opposite. That the normal restaurant/bar operations were ceasing.
We went there once a couple years ago. All fried food on the menu. Not worth returning.
Calico696 
MB Great spot. Hopefully someone will pick up the baton and continue. I'm unsure if there is a liquor license attached. If so, that would surely boost the odds at success.
Greg 
Philliesman 
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