ZELIENOPLE — The Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau has begun contacting restaurant and hotel groups that might be interested in buying the Kaufman House in the borough.

The landmark eatery, which has been closed for more than three years after a fire in the kitchen, has been vacant on Main Street since the fire.

The tourism bureau announced earlier this year that it was partnering with the Butler County Community College to open a for-profit boutique hotel at the Kaufman House that would serve both as a business and as a training ground for culinary and hospitality students at the community college.

The tourism bureau has already received a $400,000 grant from the state in addition to kicking in $500,000 from its own budget.

Jack Cohen, president of the tourism bureau, said Friday that any company that buys the Kaufman House would eventually repay the tourism bureau for the money it put into the project. Cohen recently met with a trade group, a meeting that could go a long way in determining who moves into the Kaufman House.

“We recently met with the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association, which represents all sorts of different chains of hotels and restaurants,” Cohen said. “Right now we’re just putting the information out there to them, and it’s garnering significant interest.”

Cohen said it is sometimes tough to remain patient as the project progresses, given how important the Kaufman House is to the economy in Zelienople and Butler County as a whole.

“It would be nice to start tomorrow, but that’s not how it works,” Cohen said. “We’re still going through all the right paperwork with the state to get the right approvals. We have to do our due diligence.”

Cohen said he wants to have a prospective owner in place before hiring an architectural firm to draw up designs. That way, Cohen said, any new potential owner could have his say in how the new Kaufman House would look when it reopens.

He added that a new owner should be in place in several months, although it’s hard to contain his excitement for the project.

Cohen said the revitalization of the Kaufman House is perhaps his biggest project while at the tourism bureau.

“Everybody is excited about it, but nobody more than me,” he said. “This is one of the biggest things we’ve ever done at the tourism bureau. I thought the Jeep festival was a big deal, but this is even more important.”

Cohen said the project is so important because it will create jobs, stimulate the economy and help in Zelienople’s efforts to revitalize its Main Street.

Despite the progress, Cohen said there’s still “a long way to go yet.”

“We’re going to meet with six or eight or 10 companies, and then we’ll make a decision,” Cohen said.

He added that the Kaufman House could be reopened in as soon as a year and a half.