May 11–The new owners of the long-vacant Copper King Hotel in Butte plan to do a complete make-over of the building and reopen as a full-fledged hotel with convention space and a nationally-known restaurant.
But first they want to give away most of the hotel's current contents — including beds, TVs, dressers and other furniture — to anyone who shows up at the empty hotel Saturday with ways to haul it out.
Matt Nistler, who now owns the hotel with his brother, Ben, and Rex Leipheimer, said the building at 4655 Harrison Ave. across from Bert Mooney Airport will be open to the public starting at 8 a.m. Saturday. Most of the contents will be given away free, but they will not include commercial kitchen equipment.
People should just have pickups or other vehicles capable of hauling off the furniture, Nistler said.
He said if he and the other owners can get some financial assistance from Butte-Silver Bow County and general community support, they would invest more than $8 million to remake the hotel into something Butte would be proud of once again. The amount includes the purchase price for the hotel and land, he said.
The hotel has been vacant since it was closed in January 2014, but Nistler said it "has been an iconic part of Butte's history."
"It will be quite nice if it goes the way we want," Nistler told The Montana Standard, adding that the Copper King has been "an iconic part of Butte's history."
Most of the rooms will be kept intact, he said, meaning the walls will remain. But they will be remodeled and rooms that were adjacent to the old ballroom will be turned into family suites.
The remodeled hotel would have convention space that has been missing in Butte since the building was closed.
"Without it, Butte has been crippled for event space," he said.
The owners are getting close to landing a nationally known restaurant for the site, Nistler said, and could announce that soon.
Karen Byrnes, Butte-Silver Bow's director of community development, said county officials were thrilled with the plans.
"It is an asset to our community to have it come back to Butte fully used is a dream come true," she said.
The co-owners, who are operating as 3D Development, are experienced and "know what they are doing," Byrnes said.
The project is not eligible for grants or other assistance that properties in tax-increment districts are, Byrnes said, but they could be eligible for local Hard Rock economic development funds or local tax abatements for reconstruction of existing commercial buildings. Those are allowed by state law.
They have not formally applied for such assistance, Byrnes said, but county officials have talked with them about it and will work to see what can be done. There is a public process for getting such assistance that ultimately must be approved by the Council of Commissioners, she said.
"We welcome this investment," Byrnes said. "We will be working with them."
Pam Haxby-Cote, executive director of the Butte Local Development Corp., said she was impressed with the plans.
"Their facility will once again provided much needed convention, meeting space, and hotel rooms for our community — and, the redevelopment will create jobs," she said.
The Cimarron Group Inc. and its president, Ken Burningham of the Seattle area, filed for bankruptcy in federal court last year and averted a public sale of the empty hotel. Burningham initially sought $2.5 million for it.
A federal judge approved one sale of the hotel last year to Scott Haeffner, who runs a financial services business in Butte, but Haeffner later backed out. That purchase price was $1.075 million.
The judge approved the sale to the new co-owners last December for about $1.2 million. Around that time, Leipheimer said an inspection of the building — including its systems for water, sewer and heating and cooling — turned up numerous problems that were not part of a previous purchase price.
