Corey “Lynn” Loghry may buy and manage houses in Cheyenne, but owning and operating a commercial building with a hotel and restaurant seemed like it might be a little more than she could handle.
But there was just something about the Central Plaza in downtown Cheyenne.
“I looked at the Central Plaza about four years ago because I thought it would make some terrific condos, but the numbers just didn’t work out,” Loghry told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
“So I had to walk away from it due to financial reasons, but I just fell in love with the owners. They know they’re just people that had a big dream that through a variety of circumstances, they couldn’t make the dream a reality,” she said.
The Central Plaza is a decades-old hotel that sits in the heart of downtown Cheyenne. On the ground floor of the building, there is space for a restaurant and the upper floors boast around 85 rooms for weary travelers to lay their heads.
At one time, the Central Plaza was a gem in the city, but over time, it has lost its luster. The restaurant space has been unoccupied for at least three years and the building itself needed all types of upgrades.
But even though Loghry could not buy the building four years ago, she did not let the idea of owning the Central Plaza slip away.
So she continued to run her own business, “Lynn Buys Houses,” which buys homes and renovates them for resale.
In 2021, the Central Plaza’s owners contacted Loghry, asking her to consider at least managing the building.
“They were so devoted to being here and they would man it 24 hours a day, they hadn’t been out to dinner as a family in 20 years,” Loghry said. “They said they just wanted a different life.”
After some discussion, Loghry agreed to take on the building as a management property. But the owners continued to ask her to consider buying it.
For several months, Loghry said she could not do it. But one morning, she woke up and realized, maybe it was possible to buy the Central Plaza.
She soon brought on a business partner, Cheyenne native and business owner Carter Ward, to purchase the building with her.
Over the last several months, Loghry and Ward have been renovating the building, as “everything” needed an update, inside and out, she said.
“I want to see if we can do our part to help rejuvenate this building, because it has so much potential,” she said. “It’s unique, it has a ton of space. I think it could be a community and a catalyst toward enhancing downtown.”
Loghry said she hopes the entire renovation project will be completed by March 2023. Now, the team is working in phases to complete the renovation.
This week, a new restaurant will open on the ground floor of the Plaza, Paris West. The name stems from Cheyenne’s nickname as the “Paris of the West” in its early days.
Loghry said the restaurant will offer a limited menu for the Cheyenne Frontier Days crowd, with the introduction of French fusion cuisine coming by Sept. 1.
She said she intends to have a mixture of long- and short-term rentals available at the complex. All of the rooms are being renovated and Loghry said there are about 20 occupants in the building right now.
“We have to do new mechanical, plumbing and electric, so there’s really not one part of the building that’s going untouched,” Loghry said. “The residents we have right now, their rooms aren’t updated, but they do have new furniture. We’re planning on turning the rooms into studios with a kitchenette.”
The team will also install 65 underground parking spaces, as well as create a dog park inside of the building and a rooftop bar.
The project has been a massive undertaking, but Loghry said the response from the community has been positive.
“We’ve had some soft openings so far and the response has been great,” Loghry said. “We want to offer something unique, for both people who live in Cheyenne and looking to downsize or if they’re traveling through for a time.”
