Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It has been more than three-and-a-half years since a fire at the Buffalo Grand Hotel caused an estimated $3 million of damage and shut down operations in Downtown Buffalo.
In the years since the fire, an insurance settlement this past September gave some hope for owner Harry Stinson to begin renovations of the former Adam's Mark Hotel and re-open the facility. While Stinson believes his group is nearly there to start the process, it's been financing that has delayed his efforts.
"We had a large insurance claim, but there's a difference between having an insurance claim and getting paid by the insurance company," Stinson explained in an interview with WBEN. "It was a three-year long soap opera, saga, battle, essentially, and in the end, we did settle. The mortgage was paid off because it was required under the mortgage. The lawyers were paid, the county, state, city, etc., were paid. ... In the end, there was essentially nothing left, in terms of spare cash. So we have a mortgage-free hotel, but we didn't get $50 million in cash. We got a very, very small amount left over. So we did have to refinance it, and we are very close to completing that refinancing."
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According to Stinson, the priority is going to be re-opening the guest rooms first, as they were not subject to the part of the hotel that sustained damage during the fire.
"They should be able to be re-opened within 60 days, once we get the first draw on the financing," Stinson said. "The hope, the prayer, the objective, is to have, at least, a few floors of the guest rooms open in the summer. I'm not sure whether it's going to be end of June, middle of July, but that really is our objective."
Stinson says within the guest wing of the approximately 500-room hotel, it's housekeeping and needing to clean up rooms in order to get back up and running. However another big challenges for Stinson is putting a staff back together.
"We have, basically, just a skeleton crew now doing security. Re-gathering a staff is going to be a challenge. We have people ready to call, but that is going to be a challenge," Stinson said. "In the guest wing, it's not as extensive. It is mostly clean up and getting it back into a visual state. There's some roof leaks here-and-there that we have to address, but it can be done relatively swiftly and concurrent with the cleanup."
What Stinson says will take somewhat longer to get back to operational is the event spaces, particularly the third floor. He can't see the main ballroom being opened before mid-fall. As for the main floor, where the club used to be and the event spaces that were part of the original Hilton, he believes that should be ready to go sometime in the mid-to-late summer.
"They're, in pretty good shape too. The kitchen needs a heck of a lot of cleanup and work, that's for sure, but putting in a brand new, sleek kitchen is something we should have done in the first place," Stinson added. "But first priority, again, it's guest rooms, and hopefully that's mid-summer."
While Stinson is confident in his ability to get the Buffalo Grand Hotel ready for business once he gets finances in order, president and CEO of Visit Buffalo Niagara, Patrick Kaler is less optimistic.
"I've toured it with the county executive [Mark Poloncarz], and there's a lot of work that needs to be done inside that building. I don't necessarily think he could open in 90 days, there's a lot to be done," Kaler said during an appearance Saturday on "r-House" with Peter Hunt on WBEN. "But we do need that hotel. That property offered a certain price point as well for some of the military reunion groups, so it did help us in that respect. So not only having those 500 rooms, but also that price point was something very important to our destination."
Kaler adds that while the city's hotel occupancy is strong, they are challenged by not having the Buffalo Grand Hotel available to them.
"That's 500 hotel rooms that I need back in my toolbox to be able to market and sell for large conventions," he said. "Meeting planners don't like to sign multiple contracts, so by not having those 500 rooms is a challenge for us, because now we have to spread that out through about 5-to-8 other hotels."
As for the financing part of re-opening the hotel, Stinson does have a target timetable he's hoping for, but he admits it's hard to say if, or when that's going to click in.
"We do have a specific financing proposal on the table right now, there are some conditions that we're working through. We're trying to get them done as quick as we can," Stinson explained. "I believe we will have them resolved within the coming month or the existing month of May. And if we can get, at least, a bit of a first draw out of it, we'll hit the ground running."
Stinson still believes that when the Buffalo Grand Hotel re-opens, the appeal of the building is still to be a potential event destination for the city.
"Not just hope that there's another hockey game, another football game, another concert, but to actually become producers ourselves in the main ballroom, which is now opened up," Stinson said. "We had nearly finished the renovations on that. That room, which hasn't been publicly seen since the renovations were done on it, which were nearly complete at the fire time, that room will now seat over 4,000 people in one room. That's going to be a game changer."