The Buffalo Grill’s last day with be October 22nd. The announcement email that went out was signed by Dean & Becky Mann. It cited a statistic that fast food chains have seen a 22% decrease in customer visits over the last five years and that the pace had accelerated at the beginning of this year.
The River Room will still be available for rent as will the space where The Buffalo Grill restaurant is currently.
The previous owners of the Fort Scott Middle School gave up on their plans to turn it into an art center after partially renovated some of the rooms into a very modern looking apartment. The fate of the building has been uncertain for some time.
If you’ve driven by the old Fort Scott Middle School in the past few days, you’ve probably noticed a “Sold” sign in the yard. The property was purchased by Paul Feeney and his wife. Their goal is to turn the building into a large entertainment venue. They plan to start off with indoor electric race carts and eventually add a video arcade, rock climbing wall and a restaurant. They would also like to look at renovating the auditorium so it could be used for events.
Paul said it is a long term project, but they are moving to Fort Scott in the next few weeks and plan to live here full time. The initial attractions probably won’t open for two years because there is going to be a lot of work necessary to renovate the building to accomodate the planned changes and he is expecting some regulatory hurdles particularly concerning retrofitting an older building for handicap access.
The work will be self funded and they are not seeking for outside investors. However, they are open to partnering with local businesses. For example if a local restaurant was interested in opening a location in the building once the attractions are running, they would prefer to partner with an existing business rather than opening up competition. Paul said, “The last thing we want to do is to step on anyone’s toes.”
The big difference between some of the other failures in this type of building is that we are going to be in the town and living in the building. This isn’t going to be an offsite project done remotely. ~ Paul Feeney
Paul is 43 years old and a veteran of the automotive industry in California. He said his goal is for the project to support itself. He and his wife are very excited to being part of a smaller community like Fort Scott.
Here are some photos of the middle school from the real estate site where it was offered for sale. These pictures are several years old, so there has probably been some deterioration.
The old Newman Young Clinic is now the Fort Scott Professional Building. It was purchased by David Gibson in 2006 and renovated to convert it from a medical facility to a multi tenant office building.
Current tenants include:
There are a number of “move-in-ready” suites. David said he offers three months of free rent for those suites with a 24 month lease agreement. He can also build out suites to a tenant’s specifications with longer term lease agreements.
The building features a Red Cross approved storm shelter, ADA compliant access, and both covered and uncovered parking. Tenants have access to a shared conference room and there is a larger meeting room available by the day that will seat up to 100 visitors.
The website has photos of a number of the suites and common areas. Leases include electricity, gas, water, and janitorial services for the common areas and common bathrooms. There are suites available that can accomodate everything from a small one person office to a 10,000 sq. foot business.
AT&T has recently installed 100 fiber optic cable lines into the building, so it is one of the few places in Fort Scott with pre-existing fiber. This alleviates the worries and hassle of getting fiber pulled to the building for companies that need data services provided by fiber.
The Fort Scott Professional Building pays a $500 referral fee to individuals or businesses who suggest a lead that ends up signing a lease. If you know of a business that is looking for space, give David Gibson a call at 856-669-8634 or email [email protected]. You can also contact the offic manager, Kim Reagan, at [email protected]