PathStone Development has decided to no longer pursue its plans to renovate the Bewley Building into 100 affordable apartments, according to Charlie Oster of Edgemere Development, a consultant hired by PathStone.
After meetings this week with Castello Bewley, LLC, the owner of the Bewley Building, property manager Matt Martin said the company plans to keep the building open.
“The decision is to reinvest in the building,” Martin said. “There are some meetings being held over the next week or two to finalize. I’m waiting to see what it will be work-wise and plan-wise. I’m going to be at one this afternoon. I don’t know if it’s going to be $100,000 or $10,000. I don’t know if it’s going to be to clean up the first floor.”
Kevin Kirchberger, alderman at large, said Thursday that he asked Mayor John Lombardi about a television interview earlier that day, and Lombardi said to watch the news segment. Kirchberger said he was concerned that Lombardi mentioned moving forward to develop a hotel in the Bewley Building, since it has not been brought up to the Common Council.
“We had no prior notice of talking about making this into a hotel,” Kirchberger said Thursday. “The council did not know this. I was kind of shocked when we watched it. It kind of makes it look like we voted it down so he can have a hotel. We just voted on zoning of the parking lot. If he had any plans or knew it was happening, he could have discussed it. The vote would have still gone the way it went.”
Lombardi could not be reached Thursday morning for comment.
“I don’t know that jurisdictions could determine what to do or to pick out a project for a private developer,” Martin said. In the last month, Martin said he has received no new purchase offers for the building.
When asked if Lombardi seems to believe the Mayor’s Office has authority over the Bewley Building, Martin said, “Frankly, at this point it seems that way. If they think they can make a go of a hotel, I’d be more than happy to listen to an offer from them.”