Shelly Kaltenbaugh, Zelienople zoning and code enforcement officer, looks around on the old steps in the Kaufman House in Zelienople during a tour on Tuesday. A restaurant in the building may be ready to open in September.

ZELIENOPLE — Seven years after a fire forced the Kaufman House to shut down, reconstruction is nearing completion, and the building will soon reopen for business.

While there is still a lot of work to be done across the four floors, including the basement, Aaron Rieger, the owner of R & R Construction Co., said the restaurant should reopen by the end of the year.

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“They want to get the restaurant going this fall,” Rieger said. “At least turned over to the guys so they can do their final things to get the restaurant going.”

The borough hired R & R Construction to work on the outside of the building and they also have worked for Pat Boylan on the interior of the building.

Looking inside now, wooden beams and exposed drywall can be seen throughout the building as workers hurry through holding brooms and power tools. Layers of remodeling and additions peel away, revealing decades of changes. Old wallpaper and murals, unseen for decades, are now revealed.

The upper floors, which will be populated by offices, will likely be done after the restaurant and have yet to be leased, Rieger said.

“But there's been people walking through already,” he said. “You could put two or three different companies up here.”

Rieger also expects to have the exterior of the building finished in the next two to three months.

While currently in the midst of a full renovation, the building was once the crown jewel of the borough.

Built in 1903 by Henry Stokey, the Kaufman House served as the main showpiece of Zelienople for over 100 years.

The reconstruction project began in March 2017, after the borough bought the building from Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau.

“If you would've listened to what they had to do, this building was almost ready to collapse,” said Drew Matthew, borough council vice president. “This staircase was basically holding up this whole building.”

The borough agreed to pay for as much of the exterior refurbishment of the Zelienople landmark as possible through a grant, while Boylan will fund the interior refurbishment and any exterior work not covered by the grant.

In the end, the borough had some money left over and could finish the outside.

In no more than 15 years, Boylan will own the building and restaurant, according to the agreement.