ZELIENOPLE — Bids for the renovation of the Kaufman House have been delayed about a week.

Jack Cohen, Butler County Tourism Foundation president, said bids will be received Friday and opened next Monday.

The original deadline for bids was Monday.

“People were just not able to get everything done in time,” Cohen said.

He said the tourism foundation will review the bids Monday with Joe Saeler, assistant director and manager of operations for the Butler County Community Development Corporation, and architect company Foremost Group to determine who will receive the bid.

Saeler said the extra few days will give contractors more time to get their pricing together.

“Some of the contractors just asked for a little more time to get prices back from their subcontractors,” he said. “It will allow them to bring the bid down.”

Saeler also said it will give more time for state grants to be received. One grant is about $780,000 and the other is about $500,000.

“The grants are still in the process of getting signed,” Saeler said. “I know they (state officials) were hoping to get that resolved shortly.”

The hotel and restaurant’s reopening, part of the borough’s ongoing revitalization project, is expected to open in 2017.

The hotel portion of the project is expected to cost $2.3 million to $2.5 million. Renovations to be done include electric, plumbing, air conditioning, interior and exterior work.

Eighteen guest rooms are expected to be restores, about 12 fewer than before. The hotel portion has not been used since the 1970s.

The Kaufman House was built in 1902. A kitchen fire closed the entire building in 2011.

The building also will provide culinary arts and hospitality management students from Butler County Community College with internship opportunities.

Cohen last week announced the start of the Kaufman House Community Connection Campaign. It will offer residents and businesses an opportunity to invest in the restoration project by sponsoring certain areas of the hotel.

Construction could begin in June if all goes according to plan.

“Hopefully we get some good bids, and we’re able to get the project started very quickly,” Saeler said.