PROSPECT — Officials with two state agencies are slated to visit sites in Butler County next month.

Jack Cohen, the president of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, said at a board meeting Thursday night that officials with the state’s tourism agency are coming on Sept. 17 to tour North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock as well as the under-construction UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township.

On Sept. 18, Cohen said officials with the state Department of Community and Economic Development will tour the Kaufman House in Zelienople, a site that remains closed from a fire in October 2011.

Cohen said DCED Secretary C. Alan Walker will tour the Kaufman House, which could become the site of a joint partnership between the tourism bureau and Butler County Community College.

Under a proposal, BC3 would use the hotel as a training ground for cooking and hospitality classes, while the second floor of the building would be operated as a boutique hotel by a management company that would be hired by the tourism agency.

Cohen said Thursday night that the proposal to reopen the Kaufman House could cost as much as $2.1 million. His organization has applied for several grants to help fund the project, and the DCED secretary visiting in September certainly can’t hurt that cause, he said.

“The secretary chose to tour that site,” Cohen said. “Maybe that’s a good indication of what’s in line.”

DCED officials are planning on touring several sites in Western Pennsylvania, while the Kaufman House is just one of those on the list.