Convention Center Delay

Reproduced by permission from  www.LookingatLancaster.com

“Some things simply do not make sense. A good example is the announcement of yet another delay in the completion of the hotel and convention center project in downtown Lancaster, PA.

“When the project’s construction bonds were sold at the end of March in 2007, which allowed construction to proceed, it was announced that the hotel and convention center would open for business in March of 2009. Every month, the master developer and the construction manager of the project reported to the LCCCA board that construction was proceeding well. The construction manager did report on “slippage” from the original plan, but the LCCCA board was repeatedly promised that there was enough time allotted in the schedule to meet the promised opening date.

“Not until late November of 2008 was a firm opening date set, which was April 21, 2009. A number of events which had already been booked for before that date had to be moved. As late as the fourth week of March 2009, the LCCCA board was repeatedly promised that the April 21 opening date would be met.

“The day before the scheduled March 2009 LCCCA board meeting, an article in a local newspaper mentioned in passing that the project would be delayed once again; the new opening date was promised to be during the week of May 11, 2009. Unfortunately, most LCCCA board members learned about this in the news. During the board meeting held on March 26th, its members were assured that this new deadline could easily be met.

“At an LCCCA Facilities Programming Committee meeting held two weeks later, the project’s construction manager mentioned that construction was tracking about another week behind. LCCCA board members were assured that this time should be able to be made up by working extra hours.

“At the LCCCA Finance Committee meeting on April 27, 2009, board members were assured by the executive director that the facility should be able to open by May 15th. Yet two days later, it was announced in the local media that the facility’s opening would be delayed once more; this time, no opening date was promised. Once again, most LCCCA board members learned about the latest delay from the local media.

“The April 30th LCCCA meeting revealed just how angry its board members really are. When questioned about the latest delay, the master developer’s representative initially declined to answer any questions. Only when irate board members made it clear that they expected some kind of accountability did the representatives of the project’s master developer and construction manager respond, but then only with evasive and distracting answers. The majority of the LCCCA board made it clear that they want to know why this latest delay was not anticipated a few weeks earlier, and demanded that a report be presented during a special meeting to be held the following week.

“Why was this delay in opening the hotel and convention center not anticipated?

“The agreements which were sealed at the time of the March 2007 bond sale took all control of the project out of the hands of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority. From that time on, the authority is limited to a caretaker role, with no power to make changes to the project or its schedule. The LCCCA cannot schedule events in its own convention center, nor can it even pick out the furnishings, floor coverings, or color of the wall! All of these are reserved for Interstate Hotels and Resorts, by agreements made years ago. It was even a struggle for the LCCCA to get the right to select artwork which is to be displayed inside its own building.

“Apparently the LCCCA never even had the right to agree to their own project’s construction schedule. When former LCCCA chairman Ted Darcus was asked at an April 2009 committee meeting if the board had agreed to the construction schedule during his tenure, he said that it did not. In any event, it is clear that the LCCCA cannot be responsible for any delays which occurred after the project was turned over to the master developer and construction manager after the March 2007 bond sale.

“The LCCCA was consistently promised by the project’s master developer and construction manager that the project would open on schedule. Why would they have made these promises, if they knew the schedule could not be met? The construction manager has been involved in hundreds of projects worth billions of dollars. The master developer has had even more real-world experience. Why would these seasoned professionals have not anticipated these supposedly last-minute delays?…

“All of this is complicated by the fact that the master developer is the same company which is the general partner in the operation of the hotel, the general trades contractor for the entire project, and the precast concrete contractor for the entire project. These last-minute “unanticipated” delays have made the entire project, and every company associated with it, look very bad indeed. It would have been much better for all involved to have scheduled a June 2009 opening date in late 2008, rather than springing such an unpleasant surprise on the many people who had made plans for earlier events.

“The claims made by the master developer and construction manager of the hotel and convention center that the complexity of the project led to these unexpected delays simply do not make sense. But then again, what else about this project does make any kind of sense?”