Worth looking into

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Two things–the  [Lancaster Heritage] Trust stiffed some of its contractors, who then had to lay off employees. At the same time, the Trust was to receive money from the state, but LCCCA interfered and prevented that from happening. Worth looking into.

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  1. Anonymous

    In reply to “Worth looking into”:

    The Historic Preservation Trust (HTP) did receive $3 million from the state for the Stevens-Smith project, which was used to pay construction costs for the underground museum inside the convention center itself. This money did go to the LCCCA, but was passed through directly to contractors.

    Rumor has it that this $3 million was originally earmarked for the Lancaster Public Library, but was diverted by state officials to the convention center via the HPT when cost overruns became unmanageable.

    It cannot be emphasized enough that the HPT was taken advantage of by those who were behind the convention center project so a much more elaborate and expensive facility could be built. It was assumed that numerous generous donations to the HPT would be more than enough to both salvage the palace on S. Queen St. AND build a world-class museum. But like with the Pennsylvania Academy of Music’s failed palace on N. Prince St., donations of that magnitude were nothing more than wishful thinking.

    It would be a surprise indeed to see an actual museum be created inside the Stevens/Kleiss buildings within the foreseeable future.

    Former Stevens-Smith director Gail Tomlinson reported at several public meetings that the plan was to lease the Smith buildings at Vine and Christian to private businesses. I wonder whatever happened to that idea?

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