Doug Nedde and Heidi Tappan, owners of the North Hero House and two related restaurants, confirmed they reached an agreement with Walt Blasberg on Nov. 1 to purchase the property for an undisclosed amount.

North Hero House has been an inn since 1891 when guests arrived by steamship. The business includes North Hero House Restaurant and trendy lakeside restaurant Steamship Pier Bar & Grill.

The 26-room inn and restaurants will continue to operate as usual until the end of October, when Nede and Tappan will close the property for renovations and improvements.

Blasberg has owned the inn since 1997. I am 74 this year,” he said in a phone interview.

Nede owns Burlington-based Nede Real Estate and Tappan owns South Hero businesses including Seb’s Snack Bar and Viva Marketplace. Nede has several ownership stakes in hospitality and restaurant businesses, including Pizza 44 and the Hilton Garden Inn in Burlington and Archie’s Grill in Shelburne.

The couple split their time between Colchester and North Harrow, where the Tappan family has deep roots on both sides. “My grandmother grew up on a farm in North Hero, and the farm is still in the family,” Tappan said. “[She] He went to a one-room school in a horse-drawn sleigh wearing a bear blanket.

Nedde and Tappan said they were prompted to look into buying the North Hero House when Blasberg received an email in the spring saying this would be the last season of the inn and restaurants. In the missive, he wrote that he plans to foreclose on the property in the fall to convert it to single-family homes and lakefront condominiums.

Blasberg had the property on the market when the outbreak hit before it was listed earlier this year. Regarding the few interested buyers who approached him, Blasberg was concerned that no one had the necessary funds to protect the property. He decided to go ahead with his $5 million condominium project.

“We didn’t want this to happen on the island,” Tappan said. “I really feel it [that] Especially the community in the village would change forever. Not only does North Hero House have history, but it has been a community space for generations…you can never get something like this back.

Blasberg knew Nede and Tapa as regular restaurant customers, but didn’t think they’d be interested in buying the property until they approached him. “They have the initiative and the capital,” he said. “They are dream investors.”

The couple said they are looking for partners who are interested in running the day-to-day operations and are not necessarily interested in owning the business.

“We really need the right people,” Nedde said. “We’re really flexible given how long we’ve held this property. One of our goals may be to transfer ownership to a management team at some point if we find the right leadership team.

“Their motivation is to keep the North Hero home as a community asset,” Blesberg said. “They make everyone happy.”

Well, not everyone, he allowed – “not eight people who put down deposits on condominiums.”