Mr. Morris said “we have a use for the facility” What does that mean?
The Redevelopment Authority owns the hotel, and the County owns the CC. If the revenue does not come in and the city and county cannot pick up the bills as well as the debt service and the hotel tax is used up as well as the Commissioners not raising the tax to cover the expenses, my interpretation is that the hotel and cc go under, is this correct?
Now if the hotel and cc center cannot hold water like the similar project in Springfield Mass, then the hotel and cc go up for auction after all the tees are crossed and i’s are dotted. If the new owners want to put slots, they will put slots my friends, end of story. The group that wanted to put a casino in the Bulova building, chose the wrong site. If they would have used their heads and picked the site on Rt. 23, right off of Rt. 30 and tons of parking, that casino would be open and running today. Also the stock yard site, that could have been a great location.
From my trips to Harrisburg with several groups I was a part of and the Reps and Senators that I spoke with off the record, they always said that there were 2 licenses left and one is silently reserved for Lancaster County per Armstrong. If Easton was turned down which is was as per our off the record Harrisburg elected official, and that was passed to Valley Forge, where else in PA that has what Lancaster has could this last license go? My only site to mind would be Altoona, their CC is the same size as ours, has much better roads in and out, plenty of parking and most of the hotels and motels are within 2 miles. Johnstown would be another site but little to no rooms near by and not attractive.
We here will just continue to watch this escapade materialize for the next 5 years. Residential in the immediate city is hot due to out of town buyers from Phila, NJ and NY, not the convention center. Local people that once could afford to live in the city cannot and will not. To keep the taxes acceptable, one needs to generate revenue. Commercial is now going down like a roller coaster not only in the city but th County, it may dive lower than residential did. This project is going to run out of excuses as well as money and a use for that complex will need to cover the debt.
This week I met with a lady from Chicago that planned events for the Chicago center. Her position has dried up and she was passing through visiting friends, moving to Ronake with her friend where she is reinventing her career. She spent 2 weeks attending shows around the country networking and realized that her career has dried up. Hotels and CC are staffing very little for shows and events and looking to redefine the space and use of the space as they see no immediate end to the local, state and national cut backs on events except government related meeting and venues.
My thinking is when the taxpayers are done cleaning house, I do not think government will be planning meetings either.
