WILLOW CREEK — The Pine Cone Motel on Route 11 has completed a $90,000 renovation that adds four new guest rooms and modernizes the property’s eight existing units, a sign that the town’s growing visitor economy is straining the limits of its lodging capacity.
Owner Ed Morrison — who bought the motel in 2011 after retiring from the Maine Department of Transportation — said the project was driven by hard numbers: he turned away 37 booking requests during the 2013 foliage season because he had no rooms available.
“September and October, I had people sleeping in my lobby,” Morrison said. “Not figuratively. A couple from Ohio offered me $200 to put a cot in the breakfast nook. I had to say no. That’s when I knew I needed to expand.”
The renovation added four premium rooms with kitchenettes, updated the heating system from baseboard electric to a pellet boiler, installed new windows and insulation, and added a guest laundry room. The project was financed through a combination of personal savings and a $45,000 loan from the Maine Rural Development Authority.
The Pine Cone is now the town’s largest lodging property with 12 rooms, surpassing the combined capacity of Willow Creek’s two bed-and-breakfasts, which total 10 rooms between them.
Tourism committee chair Dean Moreau said the renovation addresses a critical bottleneck.
“We can send people to the trail, to the river, to the Dry Dock, to the mill — but if they can’t find a place to sleep, they don’t come,” Moreau said. “Morrison’s investment makes the entire tourism strategy more viable.”
Morrison said he is already considering a second-phase expansion that would add six more rooms and a small event space.
“The demand is there,” he said. “The question is whether I have the nerve to bet on it twice.”
The motel will operate through the winter for the first time this year, targeting snowmobilers and cross-country skiers with reduced off-season rates starting at $65 per night.