Stables Inn Resurrects Landmark Timberlanes

SALEM, Ohio – One year ago, Brandy Pidgeon and her husband, Brooke, made good on their effort to resurrect one of the landmark establishments of this city by opening of Boneshakers, a casual restaurant, and a banquet hall at the Timberlanes Complex downtown.

The project has moved into its next phase as the owners celebrated the opening of The Stables Inn & Suites, a boutique hotel that will eventually bring the former Timberlanes center fully back to life.

“We’ve been doing it in stages,” Brandy Pidgeon said. “The first stage was the banquet facility and restaurant. The second stage is the hotel.”

The first floor of the hotel is open and operating as work continues on the second level, she said. “We did the first floor just to see how the community takes towards it and give it a trial run,” she said. The first floor of the new hotel has been open about two months.

A ribbon-cutting was held Wednesday evening to celebrate the opening of The Stables.

So far, the trial run has worked. Last weekend was completely booked, she said. “Everybody has been great,” she noted.

The only drawback is that Timberlanes – the banquet center and restaurant was built in the early 1960s – was known for its exclusive nature and high-end prices.

“A lot of people think it’s still high-end,” she said. “We have great food, but it’s still a comfortable atmosphere. You can come in your jeans and a nice shirt and have a good dinner at a good price.”

In choosing a name, the Pidgeons wanted to evoke a sense of family, and decided on The Stables in honor of her husband’s grandfather, who played on a local polo team from the 1930s until the 1960s. He often came to Timberlanes after the polo matches. And, she said, her husband’s maternal grandfather was a harness racer.

“In honor of the family’s history, we kind of implemented the horse theme,” she said.

All of the flooring at The Stables is brand-new, Pidgeon said, while the rooms are furnished with new fixtures, carpeting, LED lighting, flat-screen televisions, beds and linens. The bathrooms are remodeled and each room is freshly painted.

Twenty-one rooms are available and, once the second level is finished, The Stables should boast as many as 60 rooms, depending on how the upstairs in configured.

Price depends on the size of the room, said the hotel manager, Jackie Bader. The Stables’ king suites are priced at $149.99 per night for a bedroom and sitting room, a mid-size suite $119.99, and a queen-sized room $99.99.

“We will also have a VIP suite upstairs, which is a larger room for executives or brides,” Pidgeon said. That phase should be completed by October.

A fitness center is also under construction, Bader added. “There’s going to be a workout room with elliptical trainers and free weights, also a flat-screen TV.”

Once the hotel is fully developed, work is to start on a delicatessen and bakery downstairs that serves, pastries, sandwiches, coffee and pizza, Pidgeon said. She expects that service – called The Carriage House — to be up and running by the end of October.

“We want to be a one-stop-shop for people,” Pidgeon said.

Pictured at top: Brandy Pidgeon, co-owner of The Timberlanes Complex, and Jackie Bader, Manager of The Stables Inn & Suites.

Copyright 2020 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.