Tenants announced for Old Kent Hotel

The restoration and renovation to the Kent Hotel are planned to be finished by December 31. Buffalo Wild Wings will be located in the newly restored building. Photo by Matt Hafley.

The restoration and renovation to the Kent Hotel are planned to be finished by December 31. Buffalo Wild Wings will be located in the newly restored building. Photo by Matt Hafley.

Nicole Aikens

Buffalo Wild Wings is packing its bags to move two blocks.

Developer Ron Burbick announced the restaurant will be one of the new tenants at the restored Kent Hotel during the annual Bowman Breakfast.

The Burbick Foundation bought the Old Kent Hotel, on the corner of South Depeyster and East Main streets, in November from the city of Kent for $400,000.

Matt Pipoly, owner of the Kent and Streetsboro locations of Buffalo Wild Wings, said moving into the hotel will allow the restaurant to have the amenities it has always wanted but never had the space for.

“More kitchen space. More big screens. Everything we do now will just be more grandiose,” Pipoly said.

In the new location, the restaurant will have room for about 250 diners, and there will still be standing room.

With a target completion date of December 2012, repairs are being made to the inside of the building, and Burbick said work on the outside could start by the middle of May.

“[The tenants] will be in before the end of December this year,” Burbick said. “Everything will pretty much be coming in at the same time.”

The five-floor building will house the restaurant on the first and mezzanine floors, Kent Area Chamber of Commerce and Marathon Financial Services on the third floor, five transitional-housing apartments for veterans on the fourth floor and luxury apartments on the fifth floor.

It has not been decided if there will be two or three apartments on the top floor, but Burbick said they will be from 1,000 to 1,300 square feet per unit.

“We’re planning it as three, but if the people want them larger, we will have to make it two,” Burbick said.

And these luxury apartments aren’t for your typical student. A price hasn’t been decided on for rent, but Burbick said they will be reasonable but not cheap.

“It probably won’t be for your everyday undergraduate student,” Burbick said. “Graduate students, or professors or young professionals in town — it would probably be more targeted for them.”

Burbick said his company is the major money contributor for the project, and the Kent Buffalo Wild Wings added more than $1 million for the renovations. Burbick has applied for state and federal grants and said it is likely they will come through.

While the project is still about $500,000 short to complete the restoration and renovation, Burbick said there are people who have pledged over a three-year period, and that should cover it.

Contact Nicole Aikens at [email protected].