Restaurant eyeing mid-month debut; long-term apartment rental applications to be accepted from June 1, with short-term rentals available starting July 1

√ Frontier House set to welcome people back for first time since 2004

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

The Frontier House has been closed for more than 20 years, but that’s about to change.

Lewiston’s crown jewel is expected to reopen to the public in June.

“The apartments and short-term rentals, we're looking at about three weeks from now for completion,” Ellicott Development Director of Development Thomas Fox said Tuesday.

He explained his company anticipates accepting applications for five long-term rentals – and maybe even starting to move people in – as of June 1.

“We're finalizing the rates now with our leasing staff. We'll start marketing those probably in the next week or so,” Fox said.

Director of Hotel Operations Tom Molenda said six short-term rentals are available for booking starting July 1, or possibly earlier, depending on how renovation wraps over the next few weeks.

“We tagged it at July 1 in order to give everybody enough time,” he said. “We operate the same when we're opening hotels. We'll put a date of open a little bit further out there, then we'll move it closer and closer as the professional trades tell us of their anticipated completions.”

Fairbanks, the first-floor restaurant operated by Billy Club owners Daniel Hagen and Jake Strawser, is preparing for a mid-June opening. See related story.

The Frontier House shut its doors in December 2004, shortly after the lease expired for then-tenant McDonald’s Restaurant. Former owner Hastings Lewiston sold the building and almost one acre of property, in February 2019, to a group including Ellicott Development CEO William Paladino and local property owners Bill Game, Jeff Williams and Jerry Williams.

According to Historical Association of Lewiston records, the Frontier House, when built by Joshua Fairbanks, Benjamin and Samuel Barton, was the “finest hotel in the United States west of Albany.”

An old sign on the front of the building read, “1824,” leading many to believe that’s when the Frontier House opened. But HAL is now of the mind this date was the start of construction – and that 1826 is more likely year one.

••••••••

Photo collections:

Frontier House renovations in photos

Part 1: Interior units, front porch and front door (PDF)

Part 2: Side porch, first floor and main sign (PDF)

See also: Top-notch Fairbanks team to spotlight local ingredients

••••••••

Latest on exterior renovations

Ellicott Development has been overseeing the Frontier House’s renovation, in close consultation with the Village of Lewiston and the New York State Historic Preservation Office – commonly called SHPO.

A series of notable exterior renovations have occurred this year, including replacement of the main sign and completion of an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramp and entryway on the building’s northwest side.

On many weekdays, residents could be seen watching the complete rebuild of the front porch (including new stairs, paint, lighting, a metal railing and doorway).

“Everything we see up here references back to the old photographs and other historic documentation” of the Frontier House, Fox said.

He noted, “There were some spongy areas” with the porch flooring. “We removed the old decking to expose the porch structure, allowing us to reconstruct compromised areas and making it safe; and then we came back with a new porch flooring, complementary to the historic wood floor replacement on the interior of the first floor.”

Still to come is skirting, landscaping and planters.

The framing above the front porch, particularly on the east corner, “This was all deteriorated,” Fox said. “That's all been repaired now.”

Additional signage will come in the way of a marker for Fairbanks and a label for the address, 460 Center St.

The parking lot was paved and striped, and now has spaces designated for future tenants.

Meanwhile, inside the building …

Fairbanks will use the Frontier House’s basement and first floor.

Behind the kitchen is one long-term, ADA-accessible studio apartment unit.

The second floor has four long-term units, including one with an entryway off the top of the staircase.

This A-frame unit “is actually one of the larger apartments,” Fox said. It has two bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen and living space.

Two original entry points outside of the room have become “blind doors”: They remain to honor the structure’s history, but have no functionality.

Kitty-corner to that room, another entranceway “will become a glazed partition,” Fox said, “and this will be a point of security” for tenants and renters, who will be given a fob to access the upper floors. A glass divider will provide occupants separation from restaurant patrons.

Another unit – the former ballroom – will get an all-new floor mirroring what’s on the first level. “Floating” bathroom and closet areas help to maintain the room’s original open look.

Across this level, bathrooms will be decked out in marble tile on the floor and above the bathtubs.

Stairs to the third floor were completely rebuilt and adorned with custom-molded pieces and handrails that match the original (and have some found materials).

On the third floor, there are five short-term rentals.

Guests will gain entry into the short-term rental units via a touchless “key.”

Molenda said, “A code will be sent to your smartphone, (via) secure Wi-Fi, and then you'll use that as the key to open the door – much like RFID within the hotel industry.”

These rooms have names – Barton, Morgan, Edison, McKinley and Nightingale – that “are symbolic to the building,” Molenda said. “Little touches” in each unit will reinforce the titles.

Though the Frontier House, as a historically designated building, is what it is, in terms of interior space, “Square-footage wise, these (short-term rental units) are comparable to a typical hotel room suite that we'd have,” Fox said.

“When we came in here, we had some diagrams. These upper floors are really untouched – the space layout. We didn't make much of any changes to those areas, except from dividing them up. There were a few more rooms up here as they were divided. So, we connected some spaces to allow that. And further we worked with SHPO to be able to truncate the historic common hallways a bit, adding valuable space to the rental units, while respecting the form of the original common spaces.”

Molenda said, “In hospitality – the lodging industry – we're going to first start with location, location, location. We're smack-dab in the middle of the activity of Lewiston. And you're a couple of miles to the falls; you're a couple of miles to state parks; you're a couple of miles to outlet shopping. You're not even a mile to the college campus. The list goes on and on and on, and we're going to play off of all of those things, as those being the reason to visit.”

The fourth floor has one short-term rental unit known as “1812.”

Here, “We had to rebuild the ceiling,” Fox said. “We templated what remained of the original barrel vault so it could be framed and finished in likeness to its original form, which was substantially deteriorated when we took the project on.”

At the far ends of the unit are original oval windows.

“They've been gone for some time now,” being restored, Fox said. “They're coming back and will soon be reinstalled.”

In the middle of the unit are skylights, which are on the back side of the roof, out of sight from the ground. These will provide natural light to this unit.

Reopening soon

Fox said the Frontier House will soon have a final certificate of occupancy, allowing it to reopen.

Following six years of planning – through a pandemic, a work shortage and a supply chain crisis – Fox said it’s nice to be nearing the goal line.

“It feels great,” he stressed.

Fox said it's “awesome” to be involved from start to finish on a historic project like this one.

“The place was vacant and discarded for decades. To soon have activity from visitors, great meals downstairs at Fairbanks, memorable experiences for families and friends, celebrations – so many opportunities. … It's rewarding to be able to be a part of the process in creating a space that allows people to make those memories now – and in such a unique and significant centerpiece of historic Lewiston,” Fox said.

Village of Lewiston Mayor Anne Welch said, “I am excited that the renovation of the Frontier House is near completion. Bill Paladino/Ellicott Development bought the Frontier House in 2019 and, shortly after, COVID-19 delayed any hopes of restoration until 2023.

“I routinely visited the Frontier House and witnessed the many different stages of the construction, from repointing the exterior stone, restructuring the existing building, plumbing, electrical, etc., and I know first-hand what a major project it is.

“I’m looking forward to the opening of the new restaurant, Fairbanks, which will draw residents and visitors alike to enjoy a delicious meal in the village’s most historic inn. I know people are going to be very pleased with the results.”

••••••••

>> See also: Top-notch Fairbanks team to spotlight local ingredients