BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Could Buffalo's largest hotel be only months away from a partial reopening? That's the plan according to Harry Stinson, the owner of the Buffalo Grand Hotel in Downtown Buffalo.
Stinson tells me he's working with officials from Erie County and the City of Buffalo to lay out a "phased reopening" of the sprawling complex.
"It's exciting to see some light at the end of the tunnel," said Stinson. "Now there's no reasonable other route than to see this through and get it open. Selling now would be you know foolish and economically ridiculous. We have to get this open."
The Buffalo Grand Hotel has sat idle for about five years, first due to COVID-19, then a fire that caused $50 million in damage. Investigators ruled that the fire was an arson.
Stinson reached an insurance settlement on the fire earlier this year and said construction will begin in late January with the hope of having the hotel's more than 400 guest rooms back online by as early as March or April.
"The rooms themselves you know, they survived pretty well," said Stinson, "In fact when the fire happened, Serve Pro was in there right away and they basically cleaned up the guest areas, the guest level, so if you were to walk those floors now there's furniture in the rooms, there's linen on the beds, you know they're basically visually intact."
Stinson said future phases of work will include the main floor event spaces, followed by the third-floor event space. He also tells me he's working with Radisson Hotels on a potential affiliation deal which he believes will be a big step forward for the property.
"It's not a done deal yet because they've given us the wish list, what they call a PIP program, which is the property improvement program," said Stinson. "Sort of a standard thing in the biz."
