Midtown Western Inn and The Lodge location, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
KEARNEY — The Buffalo County Commissioners approved the bid for the demolition of the Midtown Western Inn during their meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
The commissioners voted, 6-0, to award the bid for the demolition of the Midtown Western Inn to Myers Construction of Broken Bow. The bid was for around $145,000.
The county had approved the purchase of the property in late 2023.
Per the Dec. 29 minutes of the Buffalo County Commissioners emergency meeting, the county is purchasing the property for $1,270,000. The board members voted unanimously to authorize board chairman Ivan Klein to sign the purchase agreement.
Klein said in 2023 that the commissioners are securing the property for future use by the county. He noted the Buffalo County courthouse is landlocked with no means for expansion.
Klien said that the courthouse if full and with potential new requirements coming down the pipe, they moved on the purchase agreement when the county was approached about acquiring the property.
He noted that if the county doesn’t move on securing property today, the price could increase substantially if they waited to purchase ground in the future.
The tenants of the building are expected to have left the location by mid-October, with demolition to begin in November.
After the demolition, the property will be held by the county for future development, Klien said.
The property also includes The Lodge, which opened in 1971 and is the community’s oldest continuously operating restaurant.
The Lodge has been owned and operated since 2014 by Cindy Houlden and brother Robert James. The space has been leased from Rod and Lonna Rasmussen, who own the Western Inn-Midtown property.
The Lodge announced in late August that it will relocate south to the former Skeeter Barnes location, which recently shut down.
Their current plan is to continue to host diners at their current location until Sunday, Sept. 29 and transition to the former Skeeter Barnes location on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
The Lodge had initially planned to relocate to University Village, until the Skeeter Barnes location became available.
