The historic General Lafayette Inn, whose restaurant past included the preparation and service of thousands of dishes, will transition into a site in which entrepreneurial ideas, not entrées, will simmer. Michael Klein brainstormed a way to chronicle the impending changes in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Lafayette Hill inn, closed since 2020, has been purchased by Michael M. Carter, a Main Line business guru. He intends to turn it into something of a business “club,” in which he believes members will foster a modern brand of capitalism with a social component.

The group’s marching orders are founded on concepts spelled out in Carter’s book The Mission Corporation (cowritten with friend Michael T. Moe). That volume advises companies to take actions that will impact the world in a positive way; it recommends, for example, that corporate policies enable employees to volunteer 3 percent of their work time to social or charitable causes.

Work on the building’s interior is taking place now, with a director overseeing the 1730s property’s historical assets to ensure their safety.

Carter has identified the creation of an organization of this type as being a personal passion project.

Further detail on the think-tank organization coming to the General Lafayette Inn — presumably coexisting with the ghost or ghosts thought to inhabit the site — is at The Philadelphia Inquirer.