The Port Byron Hotel is now in the hands of a Mennonite mason, who hopes to restore the property as a restaurant and apartment building.

The hotel was purchased for $11,000 on April 17, according to Dean Cummins of Sun Harvest Realty. Buyer Glenn S. Martin, of Clyde, owns Martin Masonry, located in Clyde for the past 13 years.

“It's not going to be a hotel,” Martin said, “but we are looking into the prospects of keeping it historic. We are planning to have a restaurant on the bottom story, and probably four or five apartments on the top story.”

Martin's investment properties in three different locations include a former Waterloo nursing home at 97 Center St., refurbished and converted into apartments.

“I understand apartments better than restaurants,” he said.

But he also understood that the village had a negative outlook on apartments on the ground floor of the property.

“We are going to be looking for somebody with experience in the restaurant business who's interested in starting here,” Martin said.

He would like anyone interested to contact him now.

“Whatever we do has got to pay,” he said. “I want to make something profitable and I want to be an asset to the community.”

Martin, who moved from Lancaster, Pa., to Clyde, said there would be absolutely no bar because that conflicted with his Mennonite beliefs. He met with Port Byron Mayor Ronald Wilson, Tim Hodson, of Homsite, and Meg Parkins, from the state, and told the village that he would part with the building if he were asked to serve alcoholic beverages.

When he offered to buy the building, Martin wasn't aware of earlier issues - or the grant money secured to help save it.

Previous owner Gary Cole paid $20,000 for the hotel, assessed at $95,800 in 2004, from Michael Holbrook, of Florida, administrator of Robert F. Holbrook Jr.'s estate. While Cole was gutting the hotel, he discovered parts weren't structurally sound and would cost more than he had anticipated to restore.

By 2007, a $229,000 Restore NY grant and a $60,000 Main Street Program matching grant were available to help fund the $329,000 renovation, by then, two years in the making. Past engineering bids for $600,000 and $1.5 million were made, with the lowest bid down to $435,000. The State Historic Preservation Office estimated renovation costs at about $435,000 and $289,000 in grant money would have left Cole to raise about $150,000.

In September 2007, Cole, with about $60,000 invested, decided to sell as Canadian investors backed out.

At least 25 different owners managed the brick building since it was built in 1835. Under Holbrook, it caught fire in 1999. After his death in 2002, it stayed vacant until Cole bought it.

In March, the hotel's list price was cut to $19,900 from $39,900 in December 2007. With Restore NY grant funding extended to the end of 2009, the Village of Port Byron considered buying the hotel itself.

Martin said prior to buying the building, he didn't know about the possible grant money available to help with restoration.

“I just went past and it was a fair price,” he said.

Restore NY grant guidelines preserve the building's historical integrity with authentic building materials - wood windows, not vinyl, for example. The cupola and a Gothic arch must be restored. Martin will use pictures of the original structure to restore it with his own company.

Wilson said as long as Martin adheres to the approved plan for the grants, he will be eligible for a Restore NY grant of $229,000 through Dec. 31 and a $60,000 Homsite grant, extended to the end of September.

Martin's plan has to go to Michael F. Dopko, village building inspector and code enforcement officer, for a building permit. Martin plans to begin with the exterior. He said it would take a couple of months to get going on the outside and work on the inside would begin in the winter.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net