Owner of Buffalo Grand Hotel pushing ahead with plans to reopen

Harry Stinson, the owner of The Buffalo Grand Hotel, said he intends to finish what he started after receiving an insurance settlement for his fire-ravaged property.

As first reported by Buffalo Business First, Stinson confirmed that he was able to fight off foreclosure on his downtown hotel after recently receiving an insurance claim for a fire at the property in late 2021.

The Buffalo Grand Hotel has been closed since the fire, which was ruled as arson, and caused $50 million in damages. Stinson said he remains confident that he will be able to reopen the hotel and event center.

"We didn't win the Powerball lottery here," Stinson told me during a phone interview Friday afternoon. "We settled the insurance. We have a lot of work to do, but we will see it through."

According to Buffalo Business First, Stinson owed WNY Lodging LLC $20.4 million but worked out a deal with the mortgage holder to avoid foreclosure.

Stinson told me he couldn't share the details of the insurance settlement or the deal with WNY Lodging LLC calling them "confidential" but said he is now focused on "reviving the hotel."

"It needs an awful lot of work for sure, but it's not a wasteland and this is a prime site and this is a large piece of real estate," said Stinson.

Stinson said he will now begin the process of assessing the work that needs to be done, and will then focus his attention on getting the Buffalo Grand's more than 400 hotel rooms back online as soon as possible.

"I would say in the next 12 months for sure," said Stinson. "Obviously I'm going to be a little more optimistic than that."

When asked if he thought reopening the hotel within the next 12 months was realistic Stinson replied, "Well, just watch me."