Burbick Agrees to Restore, Not Demolish, Old Kent Hotel

For a cool $3 million, Ron Burbick could demolish the old Kent hotel and rebuild something more like his Acorn Alley projects in its place.

Instead, Burbick's taking the higher — and perhaps more difficult — road: restoration. It's a project he estimates will cost about $4 million.

"It may be not the smartest thing to do in the world, but that’s what we’re going to try to do," he said.

Grass-roots restoration

Burbick agreed to from the city last week for $400,000 just a few days after for it. Part of that agreement, Burbick said, was that he would invest between $500,000 and $750,000 of his own money in the building, which will be owned by his non-profit The Burbick Foundation, to renew its historic character and add some modern-day flare.

His goal is a community-based restoration of the beloved, 91-year-old building with monetary, time and in-kind donations from anyone willing to help.

"The plan is to raise another $3 million,” Burbick said.

That additional $3 million will come from other organizations like Burbick's foundation. He plans to approach local contractors and architects to ask for materials, time and labor. And prospective new tenants, whether a wine bar or commercial company, will be expected to contribute significantly to the build-out of their space in the building.

Burbick also plans to pursue different tax credits for the project. And a separate fund will be created at so members of the community can donate to help restore the building.

"It is going to require a lot of help from the community to make it happen," Burbick said. "Even though I do fairly well, I don’t have $4 million just laying around. So hopefully, all those people who walked up to me over the years that said 'If you ever get that hotel, we’ll help' ... Well, now’s the time for them to help."

The grass-roots approach has the support of many on Kent City Council, including Councilwoman Tracy Wallach, who said previously she would like to see the community take part in the restoration by donating time and resources.

"It certainly is a shell of a building, however I do see lots of possibilities," Councilman Jack Amrhein said.

Burbick's foundation will own the building, so he won't profit off any future rent or other profit generated by the old hotel. The purchase agreement mandates that, each year, 25 percent of income generated by the building will help support Kent-area non-profits. Another 25 percent will go to Portage County area non-profits, and the remaining balance will go to other non-profits Burbick has worked with in the past.

"Basically, neither I nor anyone else outside the foundation makes any money off of this whatsoever," he said. "It all goes back into the community."

People and organizations interested in helping restore the building can contact Burbick via email at rlb11@aol.com.

A massive endeavor

Bringing new life to a building that's been largely vacant for almost 40 years is no small task.

As Kent City Councilman Erik Valenta said, "anything's possible if you're pockets are deep enough and you have enough love and passion for this project."

"I think the right person can do this project and do it right," he said.

Burbick expects to spend the next three to five months designing a plan of attack for renovating the old Kent hotel before actual restoration work starts.

"But once the planning is done, it’ll start," he said. "Probably in the early spring. And it will be constant work from that point on. Once we start it’s going to be full steam ahead.”

To start, masons will have to remove all the mortar from the brick facade on the building's east and north faces. The brick must be cleaned, treated and repainted before it can be retucked with fresh mortar. The west and south facades require less work, and masons will be able to simply strip, treat and repaint the brick.

Next, likely starting late summer or early fall 2012, new windows will be installed throughout the entire building. Following that, workers will install new water and electric lines and new heating, ventilation and air conditioning units.

Perhaps the biggest task of the restoration will be building a new elevator tower to service all five floors of the building. The tower will be built on the rear, or south side, of the building. The old elevator shaft, which is too small to accomodate a modern-sized elevator, would likely house utility lines.

Burbick said a preliminary timeline shows all that work finished by the end of 2012 with build-out work on the lower three floors starting in the fall and winter of 2012. The basement and first and second floors could open in spring of 2013 when work would start on the new elevator.

"We still have to clear this for a lot of people, but we feel because of the historic building we don’t have to be totally (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant from the beginning, so we feel we can open those three floors without an elevator," he said. "Hopefully by the end of 2013 everything would be open. So the whole project would take, give or take, from now about two years. But from actual work probably about a year and three quarters.”

When finished, the exterior won't look much different than it does now — except for the new elevator tower.

"We’re going to try to keep it as historically accurate as possible," Burbick said.

Future tenants

Ideas are pouring in for what types of uses people think would work best in the old building, Burbick said.

"The plan right now is kind of dependent on who has money to contribute," he said. "What we’re hoping for is, in the basement to put some sort of wine bar, jazz club or something like that. And then on the main floor in the mezzanine there will be some offices there. Possibly the , but then there will be a restaurant that will probably be on the main floor and the mezzanine."

The upper three floors are less obvious. Suggestions for the top floors have ranged from subsidized housing to luxury condominiums or offices.

"We have so many people with different ideas for those floors," Burbick said. "We’re talking with all of them to see what makes the most sense."

Nervous, exciting beginning

Burbick's move to put the building in the hands of his non-profit organization represents the first movement towards new life for the building in decades.

The hotel, built in 1919, has seen its share of ups and downs. The building was known as the Franklin Hotel and Ellis Hotel during its lifetime, and past owners struggled to make it profitable. The upper floors eventually morphed into student housing before they were vacated and condemned in the 1970s.

The lower floors housed various, intermittent businesses — mostly bars — before they, too, became vacant around the turn of the century. For many, it's been an eyesore longing for new life for at least a decade.

For Burbick, it's both satisfying to know he's helping achieve a goal of many Kent residents and nervewracking.

"I feel good in one respect," he said. "I feel nervous in another way in that I just hope I’m able to deliver on everyone’s expectations. We’re certainly going to give it our all. At least we’re going to do something with it. We’re not going to just let it sit there."

Many in the community, including city officials, are confident he will live up to those expectations.

"Burbick's reputation is outstanding," Kent City Manager Dave Ruller said previously. "He's the most obvious candidate to do this right."