Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Work to start on historic West Chester building
Myles Development Co. turning Farmers & Mechanics building into new hotel with restaurants
A developer who fell in love with the Farmers & Mechanics building is about to begin renovations.
WESTCHESTER>> A developer who fell in love with the Farmers and Mechanics building while he was still in high school is about to begin renovating the historic structure at Market and High streets in the borough’s central business district.
A. Thomas Myles IV and three partners in the Myles Development Co. plan to turn the building into a boutique hotel with 40 rooms, a restaurant on the first floor and a rooftop bar.
Myles bought the building in November 2013 for $3.2 million, and he expects to spend $8 million to $8.5 million on the renovations.
The exterior of the building is faced in Indiana limestone and yellowhard face brick, with terra cotta decorative details.
Work, which will include extensive interior renovations to turn former offices into hotel rooms and restaurant space as well as pointing and cleaning the outside facade, will begin next week. It is expected to be completed in the spring of 2017, Myles saidMonday.
It is Myles’ first foray into the world of commercial real estate development.
Prior to purchasing the Farmers & Mechanics building, he was the Chief Principal/Financial Officer of Wellsboro & Corning Railroad Co., a short-line in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.
“Just the love of the building,” Myles, 43, of Exton, said when asked what motivated him to make the career change.
His admiration goes back to his time as a student at Bishop Shanahan High School, when the school was located in West Chester and he would frequently pass by it.
“I’ve always loved the building, it’s one of the most beautiful buildings inWest Chester,” the 1990 Shanahan graduate said. “I wanted the public to be able to enjoy it.”
Myles is joined in the development company by Seth I. Gentile, who has been a senior level staff member within the Myles Group family of companies since 2008; Kim Seaman, who is developing the marketing and sales plan for
the building; and Kevin Traynor, who oversees all aspects of project development.
The developer is in talks with a hotel operator for that portion of the project
The Myles Development website describes the Farmers and Mechanics Building, designed by architect William C. Prichett in classical revival style, is West Chester’s “first and only skyscraper.”
Once the tallest building between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the six-story historical landmark has been the source of commerce since 1908. Occupants included The Farmers andMechanics Trust Company, The Overtown Restaurant, and the only rooftop garden known at one time in the Brandywine Valley. In 1918, the Boy Scoutswere founded inChester County using The Farmers and Mechanics Building as their headquarters, the website added.
In more recent years, the building was used by Merill Lynch and Wilmington Trust. The last tenant, Synchrony Group, recently moved out to a nearby location, Myles said.
The new hotel will have valet parking, room service and breakfast, lunch and dinner.
When completed, it will be the second of three hotels that have been discussed in West Chester to become reality.
In 2012, theWarnerHotel opened two blocks away at High and Chestnut streets with 77 rooms.
Another, at Walnut and Gay streets, has also been approved, said West ChesterMayor Carolyn Comitta.
“He answered all the questions borough council had,” Comitta said of Myles. “I think the overall sentiment was excitement for the adaptive reuse of this building. There’s no question that for a historic building to be preserved, it needs to be used today for things people do today.
“He has been passionate about this building from the beginning.”
Myles said getting the necessary approvals from borough council and the Historic & Architectural Review Board was “an interesting process.”
Now, however, the project has the backing of not only council, but of tourist and business officials in the area as well, Seaman noted.
“They’re all pretty excited about it,” she said.