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CZ Patel, a hotel developer and manager, has paid $710,000 for Loch Aerie, the 19th-century mansion steeped in Chester County history.

The Grande Dame of Lancaster Pike Loch Aerie Has a New Owner
Posted By: Carla Joy Zambelli Posted date: April 24, 2016

By Carla Zambelli,

Loch Aerie stood proudly against the afternoon spring sky on Thursday in
Frazer, unaware that her future hung in the balance. In less than half an
hour the auction closed and The Grande Dame of Lancaster Pike was
introduced to her new steward: CZ Patel of Princeton, NJ.
 Mr. Patel had forced out competing bidders with an enormous $710,000
bid.

CZ Patel, a self-made millionaire, works with his brother MZ Patel.

Together they own and operate several hotel properties in New Jersey,
Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Speaking to
reporters shortly after his winning bid, Mr. Patel in a soft-spoken voice
CZ Patel speaking with an unknown woman
said he had plans to make Loch Aerie into a hotel. immediately after the auction closed.

Turning Addison Hutton’s Swiss Gothic masterpiece into a hotel is one of

the adaptive techniques residents and historic preservationists had hoped for. Though Loch Aerie once stood on her hill
overlooking the Great Valley and William Lockwood’s vast estate (800 acres), she now she sits in the midst of a very
commercial area. If the Grande Dame is to survive the sprawl, the thinking goes, she must adapt.

The auction drew a crowd of over 100. Registered bidders, local residents,
reporters, members of historical commissions and societies were counted at the
proceedings. Even two members of the Tabas family, the last owners of the
mansion, showed up.

The Tabas family has owned Loch Aerie since the late Daniel Tabas acquired
Loch Aerie in the 1960’s. She had various tenants and caretakers over the past
49 years, some more controversial than others.  

To the Tabas family’s credit, Loch Aerie never once seriously faced down the
wrecking ball. Sadly, the same can’t be said for other historic Pennsylvania
structures.

Because East Whiteland has very little in the way of historic preservation
measures, residents and friends of the Grande Dame breathed a small sigh of
Auctioneer Bob Dann leading the bidding.
relief as news spread that Mr. Patel was in the hotel business.  

Now everyone is waiting to hear when they may pay Mr. Patel and the Grande Dame a visit.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carla Joy Zambelli

Carla is a freelance photographer and writer whose work has been featured in publications locally, as well
as regionally and nationally.

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Mary Lee Ely · West Chester, Pennsylvania VISTA.Today now.
So happy that it is going to be reborn.
Like · Reply · Apr 23, 2016 7:47am
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