Comment Spotlight: Pinney House Owner Responds

On Sept. 13 Patch published a following renovations by its current owners.

• Sierra Madre's Pinney House Hits the Market

After reading the article, Patch user posted a comment in which he asked why the owners had decided to sell the house:

"I read an article a couple of years ago about the new owner of the Pinney House. Said it was his dream to buy it and fix it up. Made my family happy that this beautiful house finally had someone to care for it and restore it to it's former magnificence. We followed the progress... It was fun to watch. Now, we are sad to learn that the new owner has decided to sell. What happened?"

Well, when Pinney House owner Greg Asbury logged on to answer Ramsey’s question, we thought we should pull his response back up to the front page.

"John- I'm the owner. And yes we set about an almost superhuman task of renovating and restoring this. It has taken all of our love and energy. We have been committed to returning this to our community. While our family has loved to live in the house during its reconstruction, our children and grandson have moved. We'd like to join them but not before we find a good steward.

Profit is not the motive here. We have put in as much as the price notes. We hope that a new owner or operator will have a similar vision. In the meantime we are going forward with applying for a CUP to allow this property to become a bed and breakfast. Many of our community have asked for this and we think it is in line with the original use as the Sierra Madre Hotel.

We think that will have less of an impact than its previous incarnation as apartments and much broader community benefit. Another owner may have another vision but if the house does not sell that is the path we are on. Really appreciate your comments and support. We are so happy to see people stop and admire the Pinney House as it now is."

If you have something else to say or more questions regarding the Pinney house, you can and reply to the comment.