The Wedding Nightmare Ends: Jakobstettel Inn is Sold

By Rose Simone, Record staff

ST. JACOBS The Jakobstettel Inn has been sold to a numbered company headed by Jim McConnell, president of Kitchener trucking company BLM Transportation Group. The inn was sold for $1.45 million in a cash deal on July 16, according to land registry documents.

McConnell said Friday he is not yet prepared to make a formal statement about why he was interested in the inn on Isabella Street in St. Jacobs, and what he intends to do with it. However, a note posted on the Jakobstettel website that says: “The Inn will be opening under new management in August with ten beautiful, distinctly furnished rooms for $199 to $399 per night.”

The two-hectare property includes a gated three-storey Victorian home with 10 guest suites, a heated inground pool with poolside cabana bar and grill, tennis courts and gardens, as well as meeting room facilities.

BLM was founded in 1984 with one truck and has grown into a company with 170 tractors and 500 trailers. It transports electronics, office furniture, general merchandise and foodstuffs throughout Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The Jakobstettel Inn was one of the businesses run by Daniel P. Reeve, whose troubled business ventures are now the subject of a criminal investigation by the Waterloo Regional Police fraud branch.

The fraud branch has received about 110 complaints and is looking into alleged investment losses of about $19 million, according to Sgt. Rob Zensner of the police fraud division. The investments are related to various businesses that were run by Reeve, including DPR Financial Inc., which was based in Cambridge, the Millionaire Group and Millionaire in You Wealth Institute in Waterloo, as well as the Jakobstettel Inn.

When the inn closed this spring, couples who had booked weddings there lost their deposits and were left scrambling to find other locations for their weddings.

Reeve left the inn heavily in debt. Tuerr Holdings Inc., which had first and second mortgages on the property was owed $680,765 on the second mortgage and Brunen Holdings Inc was owed $350,000 on a third mortgage, according to court judgments.

When the inn was advertised in a power of sale process last month, Grant Hagerty of DTZ Barnicke in Waterloo-Wellington, the real estate company that was appointed as broker of record, said the purpose of the “sealed bid” auction process was to get the best possible offer in the shortest time frame.


IMO: What is taking the Waterloo Regional Police so long to make an arrest?

Wedding Nightmare, North of Waterloo

No answer at the inn! Horror of horrors! What's going on north of Waterloo, Ontario?

Couples who had wedding plans at the Jakobstettel Inn in St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada are suddenly scrambling to find other venues after the inn located in an old mansion closed.

Meanwhile, Waterloo Regional Police are reviewing 22 complaints about investment products offered by various businesses headed by Jakobstettel Inn's owner, Daniel P. Reeve, who also runs DPR Financial Inc. and The Millionaire in You Wealth Institute on King Street in Waterloo.

Staff Sgt. Wally Hogg of the Waterloo Regional Police fraud squad said the review is taking place to see whether a full investigation is warranted.

In a telephone interview with The Record, Reeve denied that there were any problems.

"We have hid nothing . . . we have done nothing wrong," he said.

Reeve said he fully intends to reopen the Jakobstettel Inn for business on April 21 and is training new staff.

He promised to refund money owed couples who booked weddings, but are now worried and want to cancel the bookings.

"If anybody wants to cancel, they will get their deposit back. If they want to continue on, great . . . we will honour any commitment," Reeve said.

Some couples haven't heard anything from Reeve or anyone else from Jakobstettel Inn. Others have started a Facebook group in an effort to find out what is going on.

The inn was found locked with no information on its door. The phone was unanswered and there was no answering machine picking up messages.

Reeve said if anyone has any problems or questions, they should call his assistant at 519-883-8414 or 1-866-240-6737.