Re: “School district and Lancaster Newspapers settle dispute over taxes”
The documents provided by Lancaster Newspapers to justify their request for reducing the taxable value of their South Prince Street parking garage clearly stated that their investment has always lost money. It is easy to understand why.
When construction bids for the downtown Lancaster convention center were opened in the summer of 2006, they were so high that a funding gap of more than $20 million was the result. Several weeks later, officials released a complex “solution” which included the responsibility for building a parking garage being transferred from the LCCCA to Lancaster Newspapers. It was expected that the hotel and convention center would create so much economic development downtown that Lancaster Newspapers could earn a reasonable profit from operating the nearly $11 million parking garage.
According to Lancaster Newspapers’ own legal documents, this never happened.
The only new construction that ever resulted from the hotel and convention center project is a Subway restaurant across the street from the Marriott. A number of new businesses have since opened in downtown Lancaster, but just as many have closed during the same time period. It is true that certain events bring additional people downtown, but these are the exception rather than the rule. Consequently, Lancaster Newspapers’ new parking garage is not utilized nearly as much as the backers of the hotel and convention center project had expected.
It appears that Lancaster Newspapers was taken advantage of by those who were behind the hotel and convention center. Lancaster Newspapers’ once-enthusiastic faith in this project is now costing them serious money.
This “LNP once-enthusiastic faith costing it serious money” letter might contain the dopiest comment I’ve ever seen regarding the Convention Center project. The financial team at LNP/Steinman enterprises wasn’t “taken advantage” of. That someone would suggest so is just hilarious.
The folks at LNP/Steinman were willing participants and saw the parking garage as a great investment and revenue generator. Quite simply, they were wrong. But that doesn’t mean they were taken advantage of.
Look up the newspapers articles about Rick Gray’s “smoke and mirrors” solution to the more than $20 million budget gap, which the LNP parking garage was a big part of. LNP never made a major investment in the project before then. They didn’t want to put out money any more than High did, especially considering that the newspaper business was dramatically shrinking during this time.