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("The New Mitchell Inn"), a restaurant owner from Massachusetts. Mr. Minsky had planned to construct a $1.6 million apartment house for senior citizens on the site, but abandoned the project, "blaming federal red tape for delaying construction." Mr. Mitchell reclaimed the property through foreclosure.
On May 17, 1963, Mr. Mitchell announced the hotel had been sold to the First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Middletown. He cited an "ever-increasing overhead and diminishing volume" of trade As the reason for the sale, Modern highways and motels had forced the closing of many in-city hotels throughout the country, Mr. Mitchell added. Meanwhile, the famous clock collection was to be sold at auction June 23, 1963. However, on June 2, it was announced the 173 clocks were purchased by the Middletown Savings Bank on South Street.
The Mitchell Inn closed June 30, 1963.
Fixtures and furnishings were auctioned off, and the building demolished during August and September. The bank now occupies the site of the hotel and its annexes.
Middletown, which had long been a good hotel town, went without a hotel for nearly 20 years. After several years of planning, developer Jane Prizant Gilman broke ground for the Sheraton Middletown Inn December 29, 1980. The location, the corner of Academy Avenue and Fulton Street, was the last parcel of urban renewal land. The hotel, although not fully completed, opened in November, 1981. The official open house was held May 2, 1982. In 1987, the Sheraton became the Middletown Days Inn.