The Garden City Telegram
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Study to look at future of Buffalo Hotel
Published 7/28/2009 in Local News
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
Because of where the Buffalo Hotel is situated — along Grant Avenue, taking up Nos. 111 to 117 — and the Windsor Hotel dominating much of the focus for preservation efforts for so long, the Buffalo is easy to miss, according to Downtown Vision Executive Director Beverly Schmitz Glass.
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Laurie Sisk/Telegram — The Buffalo Hotel is shown in this 2007 photo. Downtown Vision and several partners are looking into the feasibility of turning the hotel into a restaurant and apartments.
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But in Glass' mind, the former hotel "could be so much more than what it is" — such as housing in the upper floors and a restaurant possibly on the ground floor. Glass and others are at least exploring the possibility.
This month, Downtown Vision received a $2,606 matching grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to conduct a preliminary structural investigation and preliminary drawings to redevelop the mostly vacant Buffalo Hotel. The National Trust is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America's communities.
According to Glass, the National Trust grant, along with matching funds of about $2,500 from both the city of Garden City and Buffalo building owner Dean Ryan and about $1,500 apiece from Bruce Glass of The Architect, Garden City, and Brian Marshall of Building Solutions, Dodge City, will go to a feasibility study, the development of a business plan and preliminary drawings to redevelop the Buffalo Hotel into a multi-use facility.
"Redeeming this historic hotel into upper-floor apartments and redeveloping the ground floor back into a restaurant and entertainment space are elements that were mentioned in the recent discussions held during the city's comprehensive planning sessions and were cited throughout Downtown Vision's 2005 market analysis and economic development report," Glass said.
Glass believes serious discussion, at least through Downtown Vision, of revitalizing the hotel started around 2007. Discussion included developing some type of housing downtown since there's a demand for all types of housing, including rental property. And there also was space in the hotel to have a restaurant.
Glass sees the hotel as a way to cover two issues Downtown Vision has focused on for several years. The first step, she said, was getting the hotel recognized on the state and national level. The hotel currently houses attorney Dean Ryan's office, the Western Regional Public Defender's office and A.R. Music, 115 Grant Ave.
In 2008, the Buffalo was designated a national, Kansas and Garden City historic landmark and individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
From there, Glass said, those interested needed to see if the hotel was worthy of being renovated, explaining they have reason to believe the former hotel's "bones are still good."
According to Downtown Vision, C.J. "Buffalo" Jones constructed the hotel in 1885-86, making it older than the Windsor. At the time, the Buffalo was located in the middle of the downtown business district and was the first masonry hotel built in the community.
The Buffalo was used as a hotel for years before being converted to small apartments around 1920. The ground floor has seen many commercial uses over the years, Glass said, generally including some type of eating establishment, bar and pool hall in the mix. The hotel's two upper floors that contained hotel rooms and apartments — along with a historic two-story skylight atrium in the center — have been vacant since the early 1960s.
The feasibility study will determine the structural condition of the building, "and its viability for the proposed intended use and would include an analysis of the existing housing demand and availability, and the marketability of the proposed apartments," Glass said.
Downtown Vision had its last market study conducted around 2005. The study showed residents averaging eating out about 3.2 times a week. Glass feels there is demand for a third downtown restaurant — Traditions soda and sandwich shop, 121 Grant Ave., and Las Margaritas, 301 N. Main St., are open downtown. Patrick Dugan's Coffeehouse also serves bagels and other packaged items.
"In the meantime, we are putting together some preliminary but realistic business plans for both a restaurant and the apartments in order to check for economic viability," Glass said. "We will compile a preliminary budget for the renovations and do a development worksheet detailing the necessary costs for the project, including all of the relevant national, state and local incentives."
"Once we have all of the pertinent information, we will organize it into a comprehensive analysis and business plan form to be used by the owner and developers in attracting the investors necessary to land the capital needed to launch and complete this project," Glass said.
Another restaurant and more housing could stand to get people downtown after 5 p.m., she said, and if the State Theater ever turns into a multi-use facility and the Windsor is developed into an operational hotel, it could be easier for merchants to consider staying open later with people downtown.
On the Web:
National Trust for Historic Preservation: http://www.preservationnation.org/
What do you think should be done with the Buffalo Hotel? Talk about it at SWKTalk.com.
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