LETTER: I’m interested in your thoughts on the Bulova building, as it is in the same general area (see link).
Perhaps you could post your ideas on NewsLanc.com?
ROBERT FIELD: I refer you to article “Lancaster blunders and missed opportunities in 2015”
As a long time developer, I think the land underneath the structure has value but the building itself has none, actually negative due to the cost of tearing it down.
Moreover, the site itself may be polluted due the manufacturing of explosive there for more than a decade, a use that never should have been allowed by the City.
I believe he highest and best use of the site likely would be for a residential condominium building. It is tragic and testimony to city government short sightedness that the Brunswick, its Annex, and the Bulova Building were not acquired and sold to a developer for a large scale mid-rise residential development which would have been a major asset to downtown.
POST SCRIPT: As has been suggested by a reader, a conversion of the building to residential condominiums may prove practical. If so, good. But this hardly what might have been achieved with conscientious and competent planning on the part of the city administration. They have had ten years now without any accomplishments. What progress that has taken place downtown has been the result of the national trend of young people (and seniors) back to downtown residential living.
The city needs hotel rooms downtown. Successfully convert the Bulova Building into condos, to prove the Brunswick can be successfully converted as well.
EDITOR: There is absolutely evidence proffered to date that a new hotel in downtown Lancaster would prove successful. What is good for the Convention Center for generating a dozen or so extra days of business is disastrous for hotels that need at least 65% occupancy on average over the course of the year to even pay their expenses.
A possible use of the Bulova Building would be residential condos. It would have to be carefully studied. If so, there might be some residual value in the structure. But this would be but a shadow of what could have been done with Lancaster Square East in its entirety except for the parking garage.