Kinsley picked for Yorktowne renovation

York County-based Kinsley Construction Inc. has been chosen as construction manager for the Yorktowne Hotel renovation project in downtown York.

Kinsley was unanimously chosen by the hotel's owners, the York County Industrial Development Authority, at its meeting Tuesday morning.

The Yorktowne closed in November for what its owners have called a two-year, $20 million renovation project.

Kinsley was chosen from among four firms that were finalists for the Yorktowne project, all from Central Pennsylvania, authority chairman Jack Kay said.

"They are the ones that will be responsible for the overview and management of the construction" work as the renovation proceeds, Kay said.

Kinsley will be "following the lead of the architect, who is developing the concepts" for what the renovated East Market Street hotel will look like, the IDA chairman said.

As construction manager, Kinsley will provide cost estimates during the design phase of the project and will be responsible for securing and scheduling more than 20 different contractors when construction begins this year, IDA officials said.

The IDA had bought the nearly century-old hotel for $1.8 million in late 2015.

It hired a York-area firm, Nutec Group of Springettsbury Township, in late 2016 to handle the architectural and engineering design for the Yorktowne’s renovation. It is working with a Maryland firm, BHC Architects LLP of Baltimore, on the Yorktowne project.

"We're fortunate in Central Pennsylvania" to have so many good firms to choose from, Kay commented. "The four finalists were all qualified, we felt, but at the end of the day, we felt Kinsley was the best fit."

The IDA had received 12 responses to a public request for proposals to apply for the Yorktowne renovation, Kay said.

He declined to name the other firms under consideration. Two were from the York area, while one was Lancaster-based and the other from Harrisburg-based, he added.

The IDA had received a key $10 million grant from the state last fall to help with the hotel project.

Final plans for what the renovated Yorktowne will look like have not been announced, and a variety of ideas, from condominiums and apartments to a new rooftop restaurant, have been proposed.

Kinsley Construction was founded in 1963 by Robert Kinsley, beginning as a subcontracting firm in the concrete trade and now having grown to seven divisions focusing on specific areas of construction.

Kinsley has completed 200 projects in York City over the last 20 years.

Its projects included the recent renovation of downtown York's former Lafayette Club for York College and renovation of York's Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center, and it had previously renovated the Yorktowne’s lobby and eighth floor, IDA officials said.

Kinsley’s hotel experience includes serving as general contractor for a renovation project at the Gettysburg Hotel.

“We are fully committed to delivering the re-envisioned Yorktowne. With deep roots in the York community for over 50 years, Kinsley understands the significance of this project,” Jon Kinsley, the firm's president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Source: Central Penn Business Journal