COMMENTARY: Mayor Gray may be reaping what he helped sow

Mayor Rick Gray assured the audience at Thursday’s debate that “the Hotel Brunswick will reopen as soon as they make it safe for human occupancy. We have told them that any time they want the place inspected, we’ll be glad to have the place inspected.”

The inspectors were correct in withdrawing the occupancy permit from the hotel due to the number of fire code violations. Shortly after the closing, NewsLanc had observed the corrections could be made within four to six weeks.  Now, as many months have passed, when and even if the Brunswick will re-open may be more controlled by economic considerations.

Hotels such as the Brunswick require a minimum 55% occupancy at over a hundred dollars a night to cover expenses, even before debt service. Over most of its existence, the Brunswick had struggled to achieve that break-even point.

Former Mayor Charlie Smithgall sought to place convention facilities at the Brunswick, as recommended in 1997 by the Winterbottom report, to wit: “With upgrading of the [Brunswick] hotel,” wrote Winterbottom on page 52 of the report, “there is the opportunity to create a small, state-of-the-art conference center and additional hotel space.”

Under highly suspicious circumstances, Smithgall was unable to obtain a response from the management company that represented the owner. (Its representative later collected a million dollars in fees from the Convention Center Authority for questionable services.)

So when the convention center swelled from the originally perceived 40,000 to about 200,000 square feet, and the 299 room Marriott Hotel was added, the Brunswick faced stiff competition in an already inadequate downtown hotel market.

While campaigning, Gray had promised to bring the contending parties together to determine the viability of the Convention Center Project. He did not.

Gray later asked the Commissioners to obtain a true feasibility study. They did, at a cost of around $125,000.  However, Gray ignored the report’s recommendation that another use for the Watt & Shand location be sought.

Perhaps the delay in the re-opening of the Brunswick derives as much from the economic consequences of Gray’s early decision to continue with the Convention Center Project as any other factor. And even if the hotel does re-open, the reality of the downtown hotel market justifies speculation as to how long it will remain in operation.

If the Brunswick had been constructed in the ‘clear span’ method of the Marriott, the building might be converted for other uses. But the Brunswick, as are most hotels, was constructed like an egg crate stood on its side, with masonry walls dividing every second hotel room.   There is no practical alternative to its use as a hotel.

One may speculate whether the future years may see the currently vacant Bulova Building, the Brunswick, and the two story structures connecting these ‘anchors’ undergo demolition. Then Lancaster will have returned to the 1950’s dilemma of what to do with an empty block in the heart of downtown.