Posted: 2:54 p.m.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Redevelopment plan for Manchester hotel taking shape
By Ed Richter
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
City
leaders got an update this week on the $12.7 million redevelopment plan for the
former Manchester Inn, which includes operating it as a 70-room/suite hotel
again.
Middletown
City Manager Doug Adkins shared information from a recently completed feasibility
study with City Council, along with other details provided by William Grau, the
Illinois
developer who owns the building.
The
93-year-old Manchester Inn hotel on Manchester
Avenue has been closed for nearly four years.
Since acquiring the hotel, Grau and his ownership group have made repairs to
the building’s leaking roof, treated it for mold and removed several metal
awnings to prevent water damage to the structure.
Plans
for the Manchester
include renovating it back into a hotel with a restaurant, banquet facilities
and office space.
The
former hotel has been nominated to be included on the National Register of
Historic Places. Grau is finalizing the hotel design with the Ohio State
Historical Preservation Office to allow changes that would include expanding
pre-function area outside of the ballroom with the option to partition the
ballroom into three event spaces at the request of the hotel management company
he will be partnering with.
A
new second floor design will take up space planned for rooms and will require
rooms to be added to the first floor to maintain the 70-room/suite count. To
accommodate that change, five large rooms/suites will be added to the first
floor that were formerly offices along with two large executive offices,
according to Grau’s update.
Grau
also said the hotel’s kitchen would be gutted during the demolition, and he is
hoping to repurpose some of the equipment in another downtown building. Grau
indicated that he is working with the state and an elevator company to ensure
elevator compliance for the Manchester.
According to the update, they have went through the building and are
determining options and preparing bids to lower and seal or bring the hotel’s
three elevators into compliance.
As
for other matters, Grau has also told the city that both buildings are being
rechecked and re-secured at least monthly and a roofing contractor has been
hired to make additional roof repairs to the Manchester and Snider buildings. In addition,
Duke Energy has already switched out the meters at the Snider
Building and is scheduled to do the
same at the Manchester,
according to the update.
In
addition, Grau said in the update that he is also working with Patriot and
Verizon to obtain permission from the State Historic Preservation Office to
install cell towers on the roof of the Manchester
as well as redesigning a shed to match the hotel’s brick to be placed in the Manchester’s courtyard.
The
update also said Grau has contracted with a mowing and landscaping company to
cut the grass and keep the landscaping up as well as seeking bids for tree
trimming/removal as part of the streetscaping plan.
The
city, who acquired the hotel, was asking $325,000 for the Manchester, but accepted Grau’s $1 offer in
2014.
Adkins
said Grau and the management group are also making efforts to plan for green
renovation and are seeking a green 504 loan for this financing. The developers
say they would be working Access Financial who has expressed interest and has
the financial capacity for the project. In addition, Grau’s update said he is
also working with tax credit syndicators to secure New Markets Tax Credits
allocations and New Market and Historic Tax Credit purchasers.
Grau
also plans to submit an Ohio Historic Tax Credit application for the hotel
project that is due on Sept. 31.