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Work progressing on former restaurant

by JOSH McDONALD
Local Editor | November 20, 2020 11:49 AM

KELLOGG — Passerbys may have noticed framing crews working on the building formerly known as Patrick’s Steakhouse recently.

The building has slowly been under renovation over the last few years after being a casualty in the McConnell Hotel fire in August 2017.

Patrick’s was one of many smaller fires that were sparked in the Uptown Kellogg area by falling embers from the McConnell, but the former steakhouse took some of the worst damage.

Silver Mountain had purchased the building a few months prior to the fire in the spring of 2017 with the plans of turning the former steakhouse into a 10-unit living residence that would be available on a month-to-month basis.

During the fire, thousands of gallons of water were pumped into the building, not only putting out the fire, but also causing extensive water damage to the non-affected parts of the building. Despite all of the damage, the bones of the structure were still in good shape and Silver Mountain moved forward with their original plans for the building — but with some remodeling.

“We have a framing crew working hard to get it dried in for the winter,” said Silver Mountain General Manager Jeff Colburn. “It is a big project with 10 bedrooms and common living and kitchen areas, so it will take some time to complete.”

Employees at Silver Mountain will have first crack at renting the rooms, but Colburn believes that some rooms will be occupied by the general public if there isn’t as high of an internal demand. Silver Mountain’s plans are to rebuild the building to the same specifications of the original Patrick’s Steakhouse.

“The decision was to put the building back up the way it was because we feel that it is a historic building,” Colburn said in a previous interview. “It is part of Kellogg’s history and we want to make sure that we remember to preserve as much of it as possible.”

From a reconstructing perspective, the building would have been easier to completely tear down according to Colburn, but as he said, the goal is to preserve history as best as possible. Over the years, the building had been used as a steakhouse, a bed and breakfast, and as a halfway house of sorts where miners could stay.

“We do not have a set completion date as COVID and high demand for the trades make for a challenging environment to set date targets,” Colburn said.