With insurance settled, it's full speed ahead at Buffalo Grand Hotel

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Nearly three years after an arson heavily damaged the Buffalo Grand Hotel, owner Harry Stinson says an insurance settlement is in place, and he can finally begin renovations. This also avoids foreclosure proceedings against Stinson.

With the insurance settlement behind him, Stinson can turn his attention and resources towards revitalizing and reopening the hotel, something that's been a long time coming.

"When you think about it, it's been nearly five years, two years of pandemic, which was essentially a wasteland, and two years and eight months of insurance battle. That's a pretty long drought, and we're very happy to see the end of that," said Stinson in an interview with WBEN.

While guest rooms do need repair, Stinson says the bigger concern is the Event Center.

"The guest rooms are in pretty good shape. I won't say they're perfect. There was a lot of smoke and water damage, and we certainly have some cleanup to do," Stinson explained.

But the physical damage was several hundred yards away in the Event Center.

"When it was the Buffalo Hilton, which was the place in town that's where you had your big events, your meetings, weddings and political events, it was, and still is, the biggest hotel in the region. And that was our intent," Stinson said. "We did not see this as something where we'd simply take over and hang our shingle out and life would go on. The intent was to upgrade it, restore it, and make it into a complete self-contained Event Center."

Stinson says he was two weeks away from opening the expanded guest ballroom when the fire broke. According to Stinson, capacity then was 1,000. When it's finished, the Event Center can have a capacity of 4,000.

The hope for Stinson is to open in time for the start of the 2025 tourism season in Buffalo.