Troy

The new owners of the Trojan Hotel have told city planners and others that they'd like to restore it as a boutique hotel, although they weren't ready to speak on Friday about what the plans would include.

The most recent occupant was O'Brien's Public House, which closed earlier this week.

Much of the five-story hotel building has sat empty for the past 20 years. O'Brien's had reopened the bar and restaurant space in 2014 after it had been closed for more than a decade.

The Trojan Hotel bar and ballroom space date from 1830, while the five-story hotel addition was constructed in 1910.

"It's a million-dollar project," former owner Joseph DiGiorgio told the Times Union in a March 2005 interview. "I couldn't sell it. No one really was interested in it."

The latest owner is Bedarling Properties. Principals Robert Hirsch and Jim Scully declined to speak with a reporter, but Scully is the owner of Bacchus Wood-Fired, a basement restaurant in the former Christian Science building on Second Street downtown.

Troy's Planning Commission earlier this spring approved their proposal for the hotel, which likely would number 34 or fewer rooms.

The building likely would need a total rehabilitation, said one observer, estimating the cost would likely "be north of $5 million."

It wasn't clear Friday whether the new owners, who paid $196,000 at an auction for the building, according to The Alt, would approach the city or county industrial development agencies for assistance. They might also seek assistance through Gov. Andrew Cuomo's regional economic development council program, which has awarded several million dollars in grants to the city over the years.

One plus: The roof apparently is in good shape, helping to keep the upper floors dry, the observer said.