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The Frontier House at 460 Center St., Lewiston.
The Frontier House at 460 Center St., Lewiston.

2024 opening still the goal for Frontier House

by jmaloni
Fri, Oct 4th 2024 07:00 am

Porch work underway, short-term rental plan rolling out

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

The Frontier House did not reopen over the summer, as ownership hoped, but it’s still on track to welcome visitors back in 2024 – the building’s 200th anniversary year. Lewiston’s historic crown jewel has been closed since December 2004, and under construction since December 2020.

Spearheading the renovation is Buffalo-based Ellicott Development Co. On Monday, Director of Development Tom Fox said, “It’s coming along.”

He explained, “We were hoping for Labor Day, but that got pushed. We are up against a lot of tough lead times given the number of custom finishes that are going in as part of the historic rehab that take a little bit of extra time to get. In many cases, we’re dealing with specialized trades. …

“In general, there's labor issues right now, too, that we're still dealing with, that slow things down. Availability, guys, that sort of thing, to get folks up here to get the work done.”

Crews of people have been seen going in and out of the Frontier House over the past month, with work underway shoring up the front porch; the addition of a westside porch with a new walkway and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant entrance; a Center Street-level restaurant; and upper-level short- and long-term rental units. Several pieces of kitchen and restaurant-related mechanical equipment, including the hood exhaust, have been installed. A handful are noticeable right behind the building.

“We've got a lot happening inside and out right now,” Fox said.

Work is underway on building the new Frontier House side porch, which will connect to both the restaurant and the one street-level rental unit.

••••••••

Rebuilding and enhancing the Frontier House

On the building’s front exterior, a new “Frontier House” sign will soon be installed.

“That sign, it's not the original sign – believe it or not,” Fox said of the existing marker. “The original sign actually went from the second window edge all the way to the fourth window. It was much longer. We're coming back with a sign that will say ‘Frontier House’ stylized to align with our new branding for the historic property. The sign will feature pushed-through acrylic letters on a back panel, giving off a nice, modern, updated look, refreshing the historic Frontier House text. It will be nice.

“With that,” Fox said, “you’re going to see a series of wall-wash lights on the front façade to subtly illuminate the upper floors of the front façade at night. Paired with that, the front porch will have a series of black frame pendant fixtures with glass to illuminate the patio space.”

Entering the building, the most noticeable change from when former tenant McDonald’s Restaurant departed 20 years ago is a new staircase leading to the upper floors. This walkway also will serve as a buffer between the Fairbanks Restaurant and the dwelling units.

“We met with the stair supplier last week to get final details and drawings released now for all the railings and stair details that are all replicas to what was the original,” Fox said. “There will be custom-spun newel posts to match the original. The balusters and rails, as well, will be a historic match. There was one extant historic rail section on the third floor that we’ve been able to dimension from. That's all being done now. They're going to replace all these treads and risers, too, on the stairs, so it'll be all fresh. Several non-historic framed sections in the center staircase will be removed as well, taking the space back to its original form.

“We're going to have a fully glazed secure access point on the second floor, which will be a security point for any folks downstairs. They can't get up past this security point to get to the Airbnbs or residential units.” For renters, “Their same fob access that gets them into the unit door will unlock this door here.”

Within the units, molded MDF (custom wood) doors are about to be hung. They’re “replicas of the original style that was left,” Fox said. Bathrooms are starting to come together and tubs have been set. Sound and fire separation work is taking place on the ceilings, and structural metal is in place to frame unit rooms.

“It’s a challenging building – there's nothing square,” Fox said with a laugh.

“In the next couple of weeks, once … all the drywall work continues to progress, it’s really going to start to take shape.”

On the top floor, the original barrel-vaulted wood plank ceiling was given a second layer, new flooring was installed, and “these oval windows on the side elevations were original that we had pulled out, they're being fully restored,” Fox said. “These will be great when they’re put back in.”

All of this, then, contributes to the time it takes to reopen the Frontier House.

“Doing it right, taking the extra time to do that – I think that's important,” Fox said. “It's a lot different than ordering a stock stair that just comes out, and you get it in a week, quick-ship type building products. It's all custom. It's having these newel posts having to be spun to produce a match. You can't just open up a supplier catalog and pick it out, and it's here in a week.”

Mayor Anne Welch visited the Frontier House this week. She called the work she saw a “good sign” of progress.

The Frontier House’s front porch is being firmed up.

A newly painted front door.

••••••••

Timeline to opening

So, with all of that said, “where we stand today, it appears reopening will be achievable by end of this year,” Fox said.

“There may be still a bit of work left at a certain point, maybe in a phased completion with a couple of the upper floor units or something like that. But the goal is to get the ground floor, basement, common areas, get the restaurant open, get the Airbnbs opened up – that sort of stuff – by the end of the year.”

As far as what has to happen for the building to get a green light to welcome the public, Fox said, “We want to have a complete presentation for the common areas that are shared. So, when you have the front porch done, the front door, and the back porch, the grounds finished – have a complete package for (the restaurant) so, when their patrons come in, they're seeing a finished space. That's really what it comes down to, outside of code requirements – fire, life safety, all that sort of stuff – which would go hand-in-hand with that.”

With regard to the short- and long-term rentals, “We’re not in pre-lease just yet. Our hotel staff is preparing to go live with the Airbnb units; not quite yet, but getting everything in order,” Fox said. “They're working on historically relevant branding for the individual rooms that ties in with the famous names that have stayed here in the past. We're going to have those Airbnb suites titled to those individuals, and themed in such a way, as well, which is neat. They're working on those things, getting all that ready, getting ready to tell that story, to be able to put that on and go live with it, hopefully soon.”

Static oval windows are being refurbished and will be re-placed.

Structural metal framing is defining interior rooms.

New doors are about to be hung inside.

Painting the shutter area.

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