Lancaster County Convention Center

The Lancaster County Convention Center, including the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square, is a new convention center under construction in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. With initial site preparation in late 2006 and a projected opening in the spring of 2009, the Lancaster County Convention Center is one of several projects intended to help revitalize downtown Lancaster. The other projects include Clipper Magazine Stadium, the Lancaster Quilt Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, and the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. The Lancaster County Convention Center is also designed to keep the city of Lancaster and its surrounding county a contender for business and tourist dollars on the East Coast. [cite web | title=Lancaster County Convention Center | work= Lancaster County Convention Center Authority | url=http://www.lccca.com | accessdate=December 29 | accessyear=2006] The architecture of the planned hotel lobby and "shared space" includes the façade of the former Watt & Shand Department Store building [http://www.pennsquarepartners.com/plans.asp] , which was at one time listed on the National Register of Historic Places [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/pa/Lancaster/state4.html] . When the City-owned hotel tower is finished [http://www.pennsquarepartners.com/faq.asp#WHO_WILL_OWN_THE_WATT] , it will be the one of the tallest buildings in Lancaster.

The approximate cost of the combined hotel and convention center is $170.5 million [http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/28665] (as of December 2006), all but $11 million of which is either taxpayer dollars, or guaranteed by taxpayer dollars [http://www.lancasterfirst.org/FinancingPlan_121306.pdf] . The project's supporters believe it would promote the revitalization of the city's center. Its opponents, however, feel it poses a significant risk to taxpayers.

History

Lancaster’s Economic Development Action Agenda

In 1997, the Lancaster Campaign and the Economic Development Action Group, made up of community leaders, signed a contract with LDR International to create a plan to stimulate the economic revitalization of the city of Lancaster. Through a process involving community participation, research, urban design, and strategic planning, LDR International developed Lancaster’s Economic Development Action Agenda for Prince and South Duke streets and downtown Lancaster. The plan identifies projects and strategies important to the development of these commercial areas. This list was reduced to seventeen strategies, including separate proposals to develop a state-of-the-art downtown conference center and to revitalize Lancaster’s historic Watt & Shand Building, which had been vacant since The Bon-Ton Department Store departed in 1995.

As proposed, the action agenda envisions the conference center as part of a redevelopment of Lancaster Square, including the former Armstrong/Lancaster Square Building and the Hotel Brunswick. Separately, the plan recommends adaptive reuse of the Watt & Shand Building to include a mix of retail stores and offices, with one or more tourism attraction venues.

Task Force Evaluates strategy; project evolves

Through the efforts of the Lancaster Campaign, a Convention Center Task Force was formed in 1998 to address the Economic Action Agenda strategy that called for the development of a first-class meeting facility. As a result of the task force’s deliberations and initiatives, the original strategy from the Economic Development Action Agenda evolved to become a combined Lancaster County Convention Center and first-class hotel at Penn Square.

Task force members approached Penn Square Partners, who purchased the dormant Watt & Shand Building in February 1998, about the potential of developing the Watt & Shand site for the privately-owned headquarters hotel. The Penn Square Partners comprise general partner Penn Square General Corporation, which is affiliated with High Industries, and Lancaster Newspapers.

After a feasibility study of the hotel and convention center idea, Penn Square Partners and the Lancaster Foundation jointly petitioned the Lancaster County Commissioners to create a Convention Center Authority and to initiate a hotel room tax to support the project. County officials sought public input and debated the proposals before taking action in September 1999.

Convention Center Authority Forms, Partners with Private Sector

On September 15, 1999, the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority is established under the Municipal Authority Act of 1945 and the Third-Class County Convention Center Authority Act. The Convention Center Authority is run by a seven-member volunteer board, which is appointed by city and county officials.

In 2001, the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority and Penn Square Partners formalize their relationship for the purpose of developing, designing, building, and operating a convention center and hotel. The partnership agreements between Penn Square Partners and the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority establish performance covenants and carefully protect the interests of the community.

Convention Center Project Funded with Hotel Room Tax

In January 2000, Lancaster County imposes a 3.9-percent tax on hotel room rentals to generate funding to construct and market a publicly owned convention center. Twenty percent of this funding is distributed to the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote Lancaster County as a convention and meeting destination.

In March 2000, local hoteliers file the first of several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the hotel room tax. For 3½ years, the Lancaster County Convention Center project is, in effect, put on hold while the first round of litigation is resolved.

In April 2003, the project was substantially redesigned and enlarged. [http://www.pennsquarepartners.com/history.asp#Year2003] The result is a much larger and far more costly project than the original proposal. These changes resulted in the creation of a new set of plans by Cooper Carry that were not completed until 2006.

In early 2006, the Penn Square Partners sold the former Watt & Shand property to the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster. [http://www.pennsquarepartners.com/pdfs/tif022505.pdf] $7 million taxpayer dollars were paid for a property that originally sold for $1.25 million. Construction bonds are expected to be repaid with "lease payments" from future earnings of the hotel. [http://www.pennsquarepartners.com/pdfs/tif022505.pdf]

One of the original promises made to the public about this project was the adaptive reuse of the historic Watt & Shand building, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/pa/Lancaster/state4.html] . However, from late 2006 into early 2007 the entire building was demolished, except for the façade. The reason given by the LCCCA was that the building was mostly wood and could not be rehabilitated [http://www.pennsquarepartners.com/Acrobat/LTE%20121605.pdf] , however demolition revealed that all but a small section along East King Street was actually steel-frame construction [http://lookingatlancaster.blogspot.com/2006/11/steel-structure-of-watt-shand-is.html] .

Project Partners

Cooper Carry, Inc.: Atlanta-based architects contracted to design the Lancaster County Convention Center and the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square.

George K. Baum & Company: A West Conshohocken-based advisory firm under contract to assist the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority with financial matters.

High Associates, Ltd.: Master developer of the Lancaster County Convention Center and the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square

High Construction Company: The Lancaster-based construction manager for the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square.

Interstate Hotels: Hired by Penn Square Partners and the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority to manage the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square and the convention center, respectively. The selection of a common hotel and convention center operator is expected to enhance operational efficiency and allow for better coordination in handling large conventions and trade shows.

MM Architects, Inc.: Lancaster-based architectural firm contracted to design a parking garage to enhance downtown parking.

Reynolds Construction, Inc.: Harrisburg-based construction manager for the convention center project.

tevens and Smith Historic Site

The Lancaster County Convention Center will include a multi-level 20,000 square foot museum and interpretive education center, as well as the preserved home and other structures of Thaddeus Stevens and his confidante Lydia Hamilton Smith. Among its variety of exhibits the underground portion of the site will feature a recently discovered Underground Railroad feature, a converted water cistern utilized in the nineteenth century to hide runaway slaves escaping to freedom. The historic site will be integrated into the Vine Street entrance and lobby of the convention center.

External links

* [http://www.lancasterconventioncenter Lancaster County Convention Center]
* [http://www.lccca.com Lancaster County Convention Center Authority]
* [http://www.cityoflancasterpa.com City of Lancaster, PA]
* [http://www.lancasterfirst.org Lancaster First]

References