In 1997, an agreement for the Harrisburg Area Community College to open a major branch in the Watt & Shand building was in place and ready to be enacted. However, (then) newly-elected mayor Charlie Smithgall promptly blocked its implementation. Now HACC is located on a large campus between Old Philadelphia Pike and Pitney Road, where thousands of young adults attend. Imagine the amount of economic development in downtown Lancaster that would have been created by that many additional people frequenting shops and restaurants.
This would have allowed one of the prime recommendations of the LDR/Winterbottom report to be implemented: a convention center in Lancaster Square, accompanied with a major renovation of the Brunswick Hotel.
