2009-06-26 10:40:00
TIM MEKEEL
Home improvement rip-offs have been one of the most common types of fraud in Pennsylvania for years. Starting Wednesday, state officials hope that will no longer be the case. That's when the state Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act goes into effect, putting new, tough requirements on......
2009-06-26 00:36:00
JEFF HAWKES
I think public money should support upscale housing in redevelopment projects like the Lancaster Press Building, and I wrote about that issue last week.Jeremy Raff, a reader in Leola, sees it as a handout to the rich and says I'm wrong."I simply fail to see why this should happen," ......
2009-06-24 10:19:00
E. MARTIN HULSE
Not sure if you heard, but a convention center opened the other day. There might have been something in the news. You may have seen it in person, if you actually brave the mean streets of Lancaster City. It's the building that's taller than downtown's former grande dame, the Griest Bu......
2009-06-19 01:26:00
JEFF HAWKES
Developers say the century-old Lancaster Press building, a vacant, six-story, industrial-age structure at North Prince and Lemon, has promise.Since 2006, they've been hoping to remake the former cigar factory into a posh residential building with retail space and 47 condos going for up......
2009-06-07 00:06:00
DENNIS LARISON, Business Editor
The timbers supporting the upper deck of the outdoor dining pavilion at the Heritage Hotel converge like wheel spokes on a living tree growing through the project. The timbers extend past the handmade mortise and tenon joints that hold the structure together to point at the tree. At the other e......
2009-06-06 00:01:00
PATRICK BURNS
The developer of a new local Web site boasts that it's the place to get the real facts about the housing market here in Lancaster County.The Building Industry Association of Lancaster County (BIA) Monday launched Lanca......
2009-05-30 01:00:00
JOAN KERN
Russel "Rusty" W. Dicks goes to Guatemala to build houses for lots of reasons — but not to hone his building skills. "The reason I work with numbers is because I have 10 thumbs," said Dicks, a Lititz resident and an associate with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans....
2009-05-30 00:48:00
STEPHANIE WEAVER
After breaking ground about 10 months ago, contractors at the new Lancaster city YMCA are reaching the final stages.Slated to open in September, the "green" building will offer members state-of-the-art facilities while conserving natural resources.Friday afternoon, members......
2009-05-23 00:39:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Now that bids have been awarded for the first four projects in School District of Lancaster's proposed $198 million school upgrade program, officials are considering what buildings to work on next.So far, the "to-do list" for Phase II looks a lot different than what was recom......
2009-05-14 00:06:00
JEFF HAWKES
Susanne Mundok sharpened a No. 2 pencil, blew a shaving from the tip and returned to a 4-foot canvas leaning against a table in the spare bedroom of her home in a leafy neighborhood west of Lancaster.She picked up a framed photo of her grandmother from the 1940s and studied it. Then, with ......
2009-05-11 11:32:00
RYAN ROBINSON
After four years of planning the project and getting most necessary approvals for it, a developer has killed plans to build 347 homes in West Lampeter Township. Keystone Custom Homes of Willow Street wanted to build Astonshire on 65 acres on the north side of Millport Road, east of Lancaster......
2009-05-01 19:41:00
ELLEN BORZA, 15
The hard economic times have touched virtually all Americans, including teenagers. Often, America's adolescents are stuck asking parents for money or spending hours behind a counter making minimum wage. Especially during the school year, getting a good job and maintaining satisfactory grades ......
2009-04-30 11:10:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Walk around the city of Lancaster, and he's everywhere. No one person did more to change the landscape of Lancaster. There are Southern Market, the Hager Building, the Lancaster Trust Company, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster, the Watt & Shand facade, the St. James Parish ......
2009-04-30 05:00:00
CATHY MOLITORIS
The best seat in Peg and Jeff Kay's house isn't actually in their house. It's the swing on their new front porch. The Kays, who live in Manheim Township, added a spacious front porch to their 19-year-old home earlier this spring. "It's a wonderful way to enjoy the......
2009-04-20 00:53:00
MADELYN PENNINO
The persistent subject of conversation during Manheim Township High School's open house Sunday was its new gymnasium.People gravitated to the gym, called "the arena," to view its indoor track, full-size basketball court, electronic scoreboards and concession stand.The ......
2009-04-09 11:03:00
ALEJANDRO RIOS
Central Pennsylvania's diverse music scene will be on full display next week when the LAUNCH Music Conference presents four days of instructional seminars and live entertainment in downtown Lancaster. Several national acts will share stages with local favorites at venues like the Chamele......
2009-04-09 05:00:00
MARY BETH SCHWEIGERT
There are a lot of gray areas when it comes to going green. Installing solar panels and harnessing wind power may be ideal but not always realistic. Many green-living wannabes run into a daunting obstacle: money. "For the average person, (going completely green) is just not fe......
2009-03-27 00:11:00
ROXANNE McROBERTS
In most households, spending is considered and reconsidered on a purchase-by-purchase basis, especially now with the questionable economy. While the gut feeling would be that building and home improvement projects might be shelved for the time being, it turns out many folks are opting to put any ......
2009-03-26 05:00:00
New Era Staff
Ad Lib Cafe 51 N. Market St., Lancaster
www.adlibcafepa.com
7 p.m. Friday, March 27: Lampeter-Strasburg High School bands The Rodans, Radio Flyer, Oil, The State and The Klondike Kings 7 p.m. Saturday,......
2009-03-24 10:04:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
Mel Ruth was a 110-pound Navy enlistee reject when he discovered a passion that would sculpt his entire life — even his community. When the Navy said Ruth had to weigh in at 115 pounds, he started pumping iron. "It was like sculpting my body," says Ruth, who grew up in L......
2009-03-24 00:26:00
PATRICK BURNS
The sour economy has stalled many local construction projects, but not the $110 million expansion of Brethren Village Retirement Community.The 112-year-old retirement community today will unveil Covenant Crossing, which features new residential options and adds to existing amenities....
2009-03-21 02:00:00
JOAN KERN
Manheim Brethren in Christ Church is a growing congregation with an over-sized heart for its community. It's well-known for its Warehouse 54, a program for teens that draws crowds. To accommodate growth, the congregation has undertaken a $10 million expansion project for a sanctuary/au......
2009-03-20 00:34:00
PATRICK BURNS
The 2009 Spring Home Show opening today at Franklin & Marshall College is unlike any other in the event's 34-year history.Sponsored by Building Industry Association of Lancaster County, this year's show focuses on how to improve your home during this economic downturn and still......
2009-03-19 04:58:00
New Era Staff
Ad Lib Cafe 51 N. Market St., Lancaster
www.adlibcafepa.com
6:30 p.m. Friday: Music for Everyone benefit; open mic 6 p.m. Saturday: Cartoon Guild art jam; open mic 5 p.m. Sunday: Arise this Day ......
2009-03-14 00:35:00
JOAN KERN
In 1909, President William Howard Taft was inaugurated as the 27th president during a 10-inch snowstorm; the Pirates beat the Tigers, 4 games to 3, in the sixth World Series; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was formed; and a cornerstone was laid at the first home in Te...
2009-03-07 01:15:00
JOAN KERN
The Rev. Steve W. Taylor began his faith journey on a church bus in Indiana when he was 10 years old. Today he is shepherding Manheim Township's 125-member Celebrate Life Christian Church through its plans for a new $2 million church in Kissel Hill Commons, north of Landis Valley. &......
2009-03-01 00:14:00
JON RUTTER
She was the kind of kid who combed her neighborhood for returnable Coke bottles. The kind who munched on organic carrots. Who eventually grew disenchanted with the materialism and isolation of the suburban lifestyle. So when Janet H. Pelletier learned about Concord Ecovillage a year a......
2009-02-27 01:02:00
PATRICK BURNS
Armstrong World Industries said Thursday it will cut more jobs in the wake of a $25.5 million fourth-quarter loss that was fueled in part by a 17 percent decline in sales.Michael D. Lockhart, Armstrong chairman and chief executive, said in a conference call Thursday that the ailing economy......
2009-02-23 10:12:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
Whether it takes cartwheels or 75-pound snakes, mentors like Heidi Wert are willing to go the distance to reach kids. Her face framed by blonde dreadlocks, a limber Wert trades cartwheels and kicks with students in the gym of Ross Elementary, located in the heart of Lancaster City. &quo......
2009-02-19 07:04:00
New Era Staff
Building Character 342 N. Queen St., warehouse C, Lancaster; www.buildingcharacter.biz
8 p.m. Friday: The Main Street Mystics 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27: Emily Long and friends 7:30 p.m. Saturday,......
2009-02-18 00:31:00
DAVE PIDGEON
People may not be dancing in the streets nor banks overflowing with money, but optimism is running high across Lancaster County about the newly minted federal economic stimulus package.From construction companies to car dealerships to municipal governments, the talk is about the stimulus b......
2009-02-17 17:55:00
JENNIFER TODD
Correction — A conceptual drawing of the Central Market and Heritage Center Museum quadrant of Penn Square published with the article below, posted on LancasterOnline on Feb. 10, was created by Thomas Comitta Associates....
2009-02-08 00:04:00
PAULA WOLF
With the housing market in the doldrums, many homebuilders nationwide are offering incentives to attract buyers. Local contractors are no exception. Keystone Custom Homes' "Live Free for a Year" billboards have been a common sight in Lancaster County, but the builder's in......
2009-01-30 00:41:00
JEFF HAWKES
The first thing to be said is Jim Miller served on the Government Study Commission and worked hard in the failed effort to have the county adopt a home-rule charter. Miller's ardent advocacy would not have gone unnoticed by county commissioners Scott Martin and Dennis Stuckey, who sought the ......
2009-01-29 08:19:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
A. Tamasin Sterner wants to provide a blueprint for reducing city-dwellers' carbon footprints. Sometimes those footprints run deep. Through her Lancaster business, Pure Energy, dedicated to helping people discover ways to reduce energy use, Sterner fields calls from concerned consu......
2009-01-22 11:36:00
By JANE HOLAHAN
Anyone who visits downtown Lancaster can see it. New galleries are popping up; First Fridays turn into a mob scene; artists are exploring all kinds of subjects. Clearly, Lancaster's art scene is thriving. But what about those working artists who don't have their own galleri......
2009-01-15 10:00:00
CHAD UMBLE
"It is bright, it's airy it's new, it's clean," Charlie Douts, the county administrator, said while taking a reporter on a tour of county government's new headquarters. Last week, commissioners left the offices of their predecessors and moved from the Lancaster County ......
2009-01-09 10:57:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A former bank drive-through would be replaced by a two-story retail and commercial office building in downtown Lancaster under a real estate developer's plans. John Meeder, of Meeder Development Corp., is asking for city approval to demolish the former drive-through building, at 19-21 E.......
2009-01-06 00:25:00
CIVIA KATZ
A four-day workweek was introduced Monday in Penn Township to increase energy savings in 2009, and four office employees will maintain the schedule on a trial basis.Supervisor Ron Krause said Monday, "Today was the first day. From what I gather all the workers like it. I'm sure th......
2009-01-05 00:33:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Stroll the 19th-century aisles of Columbia Market House, and it's amazing what's offered: fresh fruits and vegetables, ice cream, flowers and Columbia's signature sandwich made with ham, cheese and pickles, The Shifter.When Columbia Market House reopened in 2005, elected offici......
2008-12-07 00:14:00
KRISTY BULLER
This time of year, Lancaster's Penn Square glistens with holiday charm. Garland hugs every lamppost, festively adorned with lights and red bows, and at the center of it all stands the shimmering tree, a familiar reminder of downtown holiday tradition. Only steps away from the square awaits ......
2008-11-16 00:19:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
It's actually been a pretty good year for Larry Wisdom's company, Keystone Custom Homes, which built and sold about as many homes in 2008 — 300 — as it did in 2007. And if you think the status quo is nothing to get excited about, you haven't paid much attention to the na......
2008-11-16 00:04:00
PAULA WOLF
In the residential building industry, it's typical for contractors to respond to customer demands, whether it's a desire for first-floor bedrooms or more walk-in closets. But when it comes to the fast-emerging focus on green building, the roles appear to be somewhat reversed — at ......
2008-11-03 12:30:00
TIM MEKEEL
A competitor of Miller Building Systems has acquired the company for an undisclosed price. Mobile/Modular Express president Ken Zuromski and majority owner Corckran Investments completed the purchase Friday. The new owners are operating the former Miller plants in Leola and Elkhart, Ind......
2008-10-26 00:10:00
SALLY MELCHER JARVIS
There's a ghost city alive in Lancaster as you read this newspaper. It's a city where you can park next to The Hamilton Club for 25 cents an hour; where smoking is "Melo" and where you can you sip your Coca-Cola at a drug store. These ghost signs of Lancaster are sti......
2008-10-08 01:10:00
TOM KNAPP
Lancaster and Columbia are the big winners in a $5.7 million loan package approved Tuesday in Harrisburg.Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday the loans approved by the Commonwealth Financing Authority are a good investment that will secure millions more in private capital while assisting in local ......
2008-09-26 02:07:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
Building Character owners Tony Nies and Marty Hulse knew their architectural salvage shop was cool. But they didn't know it was this cool."When Marty and I opened the store, we just wanted to be the first and only architectural store," Nies said. "We never even ......
2008-09-22 00:24:00
MICHAEL YODER
The largest hospice center in Pennsylvania will become even larger in a few weeks when the doors of a new building are opened to the terminally ill and their families.People of all ages turned out Sunday afternoon to get a peek at Hospice of Lancaster County's second facility, a $17.3 ......
2008-09-19 13:30:00
TIM MEKEEL
Miller Building Systems is closing its doors at its Leola plant and Elkhart, Ind., headquarters, according to news reports. The actions will idle about 175 people here at the 64 Hess Road facility and about 125 in Elkhart, the news stories said. Two officials at the Elkhart office &mdas......
2008-09-17 11:18:00
AD CRABLE
An instantaneous hot water heater. Super insulation. Solar heat. Energy Star appliances. Capturing rainwater. Will they really save me money? How much do they cost? Have any problems popped up with this new technology? Lancaster County residents will have an opportunity to pose these qu......
2008-08-15 02:28:00
TOM KNAPP
First Friday, a 10-year-old tradition in Lancaster that combines art, food and music with evening shopping opportunities, has company.Third Friday isn't new — it had its genesis with a group of Queen Street merchants back in March — but now, after several months of success,......
2008-08-04 01:00:00
BRIAN WALLACE
School District of Lancaster parents wondering how construction projects at four district schools will affect their children can find out this month.SDL is hosting information meetings at the four schools — Wharton, Washington, Ross and Lafayette elementary — where $48 million ......
2008-06-24 14:44:00
TIM MEKEEL
Home values here are no longer booming. That's obvious. But they aren't going bust, either. Far from it. Home values here are among the fastest rising in the nation, the Building Industry Association of Lancaster County says. Citing a recent federal report, the BIA said home apprec......
2008-06-24 01:29:00
PATRICK BURNS
Doom and gloom have dominated news stories about the real estate market of late.However, things here may not be so bad after all.Recent data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight indicate Lancaster County home values rose 2.77 percent in the first quarter of 2008 a......
2008-06-16 18:49:00
LIZ WELCH, 17
At BUiLDiNG CHARACTER, 342 N. Queen St., you can find almost anything that has jumped onto the art bandwagon, including art by teens.In May, Tony Nies and Marty Hulse, the owners of BUiLDiNG CHARACTER, opened their doors to the First Friday crowd with a display of teen artwork by McCaskey&......
2008-06-07 02:54:00
KIM O’BRIEN
Who says there's nothing to do in downtown Lancaster on a Sunday?Building Character, a downtown Lancaster antique gallery, will host the Sunday Swap flea market from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday."This was born out of the need for a little culture and activity on Sunday," s......
2008-06-01 00:04:00
PAULA WOLF
Larry and Stan Stauffer run a thriving business. That alone hardly set these brothers apart, but they also share something that makes their situation more than a little unusual. Both have been disabled almost since birth with a genetic neuromuscular disease and rely on electric wheelchairs......
2008-05-28 00:54:00
JENNIFER TODD
Skateboarders are wreaking havoc in downtown Lancaster, according to one businessman. And he has asked for the city's help in curbing the destructive activity.Bill Roberts said skateboarders have become a "serious problem" and have caused significant damage to the exterior of......
2008-05-16 03:09:00
MICHAEL YODER
The road to creating a feature-length movie has taken Racheal Droege years of planning, hundreds of hours of filming and editing and a fistful of trials and errors.And after working furiously for the last few months, Droege's artistic creation, "To Meet the Stranger," is read......
2008-05-12 00:01:00
JOHN DUFFY
Manheim Central School District will lease the remainder of its old middle school to Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 beginning this fall and likely sell three vacant elementary school buildings.At a special meeting May 6, the school board approved the final version of a contract wit......
2008-05-08 01:01:00
JENNIFER TODD
These days, it's common for businesses to "go green."In fact, environmental action on the corporate level has become a somewhat trendy approach to the critical issue of global warming.National Novelty Brush Co. is no exception. But the Lancaster firm has gone far beyon......
2008-05-07 10:50:00
RYAN ROBINSON
When a possible safety threat led to Millersville University locking all its buildings April 1, Lancaster County-Wide Communications and Millersville Borough police were not notified. Some university baseball players warming up for a game at their field weren't carrying cell phones, so they als......
2008-05-03 01:47:00
PATRICK BURNS
Two men were arrested Friday afternoon after they broke into a vacant downtown building to strip it of its wiring, Lancaster city police said. Police had put the Lancaster Press building at Prince and Lemon streets under video surveillance. They arrested Miguel Angel Landrau-Melendez, 22, and D......
2008-05-01 08:07:00
CATHY MOLITORIS
For Ruth Pham, a senior at McCaskey High School, photography provides an outlet to express herself. "I love that when you have the camera and the lens in front of you, you can show things that you want to reveal about yourself," says the International Baccalaureate student, 18. &qu......
2008-04-27 00:18:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Whether or not Thaddeus Stevens' property on South Queen Street served as a safe house for runaway slaves on the underground railroad is, for some, open to debate. What is not debatable, said Gail Tomlinson, director of the Stevens -Smith Historic Site (a project operated under the auspices......
2008-04-25 00:01:00
PATRICK BURNS
The Economic Development Co. of Lancaster County will receive $4 million to provide gap financing for business projects within the city of Lancaster and six other county municipalities.The program will offer low-interest loans for either commercial or combined commercial-residential constr......
2008-04-24 12:56:00
TIM MEKEEL
The Economic Development Co. of Lancaster County believes what's good for the city can be good for the county. So it has obtained $4 million that it will use to take the state's Building PA financing program here, previously just available in the city, to six boroughs across the county. "T......
2008-04-15 00:27:00
P.J. REILLY
Lloyd Smucker garnered $33,500 Thursday at a fundraising dinner for his campaign to become the next state senator in the 13th District.Most of that money, like many of Smucker's other campaign contributions, came from the construction community — a fact that drew fire Monday from......
2008-04-14 11:28:00
TOM MURSE
Republican state Senate candidate Lloyd Smucker, who has taken flak for his ties to builders, raised $33,500 at a construction-industry fundraiser last week, a new campaign finance report shows. That figure includes $20,000 alone from the Associated Builders and Contractors political-action com......
2008-03-30 00:09:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Lancaster's long pursuit of its most notorious landlord continues Thursday when William McMichael III goes to trial in county court. McMichael faces charges of not addressing code violations on four separate properties he owns in the city: 526 E. King St., 25 Chester St., 451 E. Mifflin St.......
2008-03-28 01:37:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
Lancaster's popular First Fridays have now morphed into the more intimate Artists' Saturday.The event is billed as a chance for art lovers to get a more personal experience with artists than offered on First Fridays."On First Fridays, artists don't always have the c......
2008-03-27 11:18:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
HOME & GARDEN Food for thought
Here's your chance to get home- trend ideas and give back to the community. At this year's Spring Home Show, produced annually by the Building Industry Association of Lancaster County, attendees can bring a nonperishable food item fo......
2008-03-27 00:24:00
MADELYN PENNINO
A roofer by trade, Chris Ortiz spends long days at construction sites.Lately, instead of always heading home at quitting time, Ortiz attends an evening class on vintage wood window repair at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.The class is offered through a partnership between th......
2008-03-26 02:05:00
PATRICK BURNS
A three-year decline that's slowed construction crews and cut profits for Lancaster County home builders resumed with a fury in the past two months as residential building fell 75 percent compared to the same period in 2007.McGraw-Hill Construction reported that contract values of new ......
2008-03-23 00:06:00
PAULA WOLF
About two years ago, Michele and Craig Consylman started their own business, The Garage Works, which builds cabinets and other organizing systems for garages. "We always love getting out there and showing what we can do," Michele Consylman said. So the couple is showcasing its pr......
2008-03-16 00:08:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
Despite a funding gap that currently exceeds $6 million, both city officials and the lead developer declare the plan to renovate the Lancaster Press building will still come to fruition. "I was hoping to have more progress in filling the gap," Randy Patterson, the city's Economic ......
2008-03-15 00:23:00
MADELYN PENNINO
Some local colleges are replacing high-watt light bulbs, computerizing their heating systems and opting to use alternative power — all in the name of "going green."John Colarusso, director of maintenance and technical operations at Millersville University, said MU, over the......
2008-03-13 01:47:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
After peace, what?Even as local groups ramp up for Saturday's peace rally marking the Iraq war's fifth anniversary, they're thinking about life after the war."What happens to us then?" asked John Schreck, administrator of Lancaster Coalition for Peace and ......
2008-03-12 10:09:00
TIM MEKEEL
Lee Shertzer wanted to do more than own a building for his Norlanco Financial. He wanted to develop a center that brought together like-minded organizations that believe values and finance can work together. That's what Shertzer will have in the new $2.5 million office building at 960 E. M......
2008-03-10 12:16:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Motorists and pedestrians crossing Penn Square haven't had an exciting view of the rising Lancaster County Convention Center this winter. Construction crews have been steadily building the $170 million meeting center and hotel for more than a year, but much of their work has been hidden beh......
2008-03-03 00:07:00
BRIAN WALLACE
The public's perception of Lafayette Elementary School may be changing 180 degrees in the near future.Architects developing plans to upgrade the school are considering two designs that could make what is now the rear of the school the main entrance.Instead of facing St. Joseph S......
2008-03-02 00:08:00
PAULA WOLF
Darl Yoder knows change is hard. So he realizes that persuading local builders to switch to steel framing after they've used lumber for generations is an uphill battle. But it's an effort that his company, Steel Tech Wall & Truss System, is launching in the hope of getting a fo......
2008-02-28 11:05:00
TIM MEKEEL
Local businessman Tom Ponessa says his new project is both fun and scary. Fun, because of the exhilaration of developing a vacant downtown property. Scary, because it's a big undertaking. As in $20 million big. Ponessa is planning a seven-story mixed-use building on the northwe......
2008-02-26 10:03:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster is just not ready for Bill Roberts' farm-to-table restaurant. Roberts, a real estate developer, had planned last year to open a restaurant in the former city fire headquarters, at East Chestnut and North Duke streets, that would serve food from local farms. Roberts, of Harrisburg......
2008-02-18 10:53:00
ROBYN MEADOWS
On a recent afternoon, construction crews endured the bitter cold as they worked on the shell of the new Paradise Elementary School in the Pequea Valley School District. The new school in progress sits behind the current Paradise Elementary on Route 30 and Belmont Road. You can see the sha......
2008-02-15 00:01:00
CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE
With the long winter nights, there is less to do outside and more to tackle inside. Getting organized is one of those New Year's resolutions I make every year, and every year it takes me longer to accomplish it.So, while it was blowing and snowing outside, I got busy.Organizatio......
2008-01-20 00:02:00
PAULA WOLF
In 2007, Randy Hess had a record year as a real estate agent. Considering how sluggish the market was, that might seem like an aberration. It's not, said Hess, a real estate veteran and developer who's the new president of the Building Industry Association of Lancaster County....
2008-01-19 12:21:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Little has changed since initial restoration work was stopped on Excelsior Hall a decade ago. Yet, on paper — and soon on the building itself — changes are being made. For the first time since 1998, a year dawned in which the city Redevelopment Authority did not own the former ......
2008-01-10 11:17:00
TIM MEKEEL
More than anybody, Phil Wenger knows that a key to the success of Isaac's Restaurant & Deli is its family-friendly image. He started the business 25 years ago. And as he's expanded the business to 20 locations, he's made sure it kept its wholesome reputation. Wenger believe......
2008-01-09 10:34:00
TIM MEKEEL
A city business, crushed by the loss of a state contract, has been sold, its office closed and its building soon to be auctioned. G.E. Richards Inc. couldn't recover from the change in state purchasing policy in 2004 that triggered the end of its biggest contract, said president William W. ......
2008-01-01 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY
New Holland and state police are investigating three arsons that occurred within a 20-minute period early on New Year's Eve.Collectively, the blazes, which occurred in Earl Township, caused an estimated $30,000 in damage. No injuries were reported.The first fire was reported at ......
2007-12-31 12:08:00
JOHN M. HOOBER III and JANET KELLEY
An unknown arsonist set fire to a shed and two vehicles early today in the New Holland area, police and fire officials report. The fires — all discovered between 3:20 and 3:40 a.m — did about $26,600 total damage. No injuries were reported. Lancaster County Control received the......
2007-12-27 00:55:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Four founding members of a teenage gang in New Holland have been arrested and charged with a recent vandalism spree, police said Wednesday.The New Holland teens — three boys and a girl — are members of a small gang and call themselves Riders For Life, New Holland police Detecti......
2007-12-26 11:44:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster City is building. In a year in which the tallest object on the city skyline became the giant crane at the convention center site, construction has become commonplace. The $2.7 million renovation and addition to the Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum was recently completed. T......
2007-12-23 00:21:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
In September 2005, Democratic mayoral candidate Rick Gray opened his campaign office and declared that slumlords "will rue the day that I am elected mayor." He is about to fulfill that vow. Last week the mayor unveiled the findings and recommendations of his Task Force on Rental ......
2007-12-23 00:14:00
CHIP SMEDLEY and MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
In May 2006, a Lancaster city landlord was taken from the courtroom of Lancaster County Court Judge Dennis Reinaker in handcuffs for refusing to pay fines resulting from unabated housing code violations. The man spent a night in Lancaster County Prison when the court decided it had seen and hea......
2007-12-16 00:21:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
A bucket filled with feces sits next to a clogged toilet. Tenants use individual urine buckets in their bedrooms. Drain traps have been removed from sinks so they don't clog. But without traps, gases from the sewer line seep into the house. A basement electrical panel is rigged to......
2007-12-16 00:20:00
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ and CHIP SMEDLEY
William H. McMichael III had his day in court. It was one of many and it lasted less than five minutes. "I didn't come here to be involved in a media circus," McMichael told Magisterial District Judge Kelly Ballentine Monday. "I'm leaving." "Excuse me?"......
2007-12-16 00:17:00
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
"Tenants are adults," said city landlord Alan Cherkin. "They should be held accountable for their actions." The landlord-tenant relationship is a two-way street, and if a tenant acts in bad faith, well-meaning landlords can be left holding the bag — and the bills....
2007-12-16 00:13:00
CHIP SMEDLEY and MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
Tony Papadimitriou had waited long enough. He, two housing inspectors and two reporters were crammed into the vestibule of his rental property on North Shippen Street. The once-gracious single-family home showed the strains of multi-family use. Its ornate wood parquet floor at one time wel......
2007-12-07 11:56:00
TIM MEKEEL
A national chain of used-car superstores, which wants to build one at Manheim Pike and Plaza Boulevard, has disclosed its vision for the project. And, compared to the look of the six aging industrial buildings on the property now, CarMax definitely foresees a very different sight. The p......
2007-11-26 00:01:00
STAFF REPORT
Crafting 101 columnist Claudia Esbenshade will be a guest of BUiLDiNG Character, 342 N. Queen St., Warehouse B, during Music Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30.The event, held at the architectural salvage business, is titled "Claudia, Coffee, Kahlua & Classics" and will include a ......
2007-11-17 11:59:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
It wasn't quite a new-car smell, but there was a clear, fresh scent inside the building this week as Elizabethtown College alumnus Rick Jordan marveled at the new surroundings. Jordan, who graduated from Elizabethtown in 1970, was in an easy chair just off the shiny lobby of the college'......
2007-11-16 02:09:00
JON FERGUSON
Loch Lomond's first trip to the East Coast got off to a rocky start when a guy was found dead in the bathroom of the club where the Portland, Ore., band made its New York City debut. Things improved slightly the next day, but the band members did get lost trying to make the subway trip from......
2007-11-04 00:06:00
PAULA WOLF
After decades of being dominated by local contractors, the new-home-construction market in Lancaster County is seeing national builders gain a small foothold. D.R. Horton, Lennar Corp. and K. Hovnanian Homes, which ranked first, second and sixth, respectively, in the number of houses sold last ......
2007-11-01 01:25:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A better way to create jewelry, economically and ecologically, than stripping precious minerals and ores from the earth is to recycle the unwanted pieces already cluttering dresser drawers and jewelry boxes across America.That's the belief of Christina Miller, assistant professor of fi......
2007-10-31 10:50:00
CHAD UMBLE
Koser Jewelers, 64 E. Main St. in Mount Joy, plans to move to a new and larger store at the site of the former Twin Kiss Drive-In, 811 E. Main St., Mount Joy, which closed this week. Koser Jewelers plans to tear down the Twin Kiss and build a new jewelry store in its place, possibly opening it ......
2007-10-28 00:05:00
JON RUTTER
Marty Hulse and Tony Nies are both 35, broken-in but still serviceable, just like the items in their new architectural salvage shop at 342 N. Queen St. Actually, most of the materials in the store predate their young owners by quite a bit. A prized entranceway from 156 E. King St. was buil......
2007-10-26 00:01:00
ROXANNE McROBERTS
A fluoride treatment at the dentist isn't critical but can't hurt, and carrying an umbrella when the forecast calls for rain is just a good idea.Preventive measures can end up saving you big headaches and, potentially, lots of money down the road.Using a windowsill pan on th......
2007-10-25 11:51:00
CINDY STAUFFER
If you want to donate blood at Lancaster General Hospital, you have to find your way to the blood bank on the third floor. If you need tests before surgery, you have to go to the first floor for a blood test and then make your way to the other side of the building and go down one floor for a ch......
2007-10-17 01:56:00
MADELYN PENNINO
Students of fine metalworking at Hempfield High School are learning something old is sometimes better than something new.Nathan Boring, a student art teacher at Hempfield, has begun participating a project called Radical Jewelry Makeover. In it, metal students discover recycled jewelry is ......
2007-09-25 11:10:00
BERNARD HARRIS
With the recent opening of the $50 million Barshinger Life Science & Philosophy Building, Franklin & Marshall College's former Whitely Psychology lab stands empty. With Lancaster City Council approval tonight, the building, at 629 Lancaster Ave., won't stand there for long....
2007-09-20 11:20:00
CINDY STAUFFER
When Hospice of Lancaster County opened its East Hempfield Township headquarters in 1996, it was caring for about 140 patients a day. The brand-new Essa Flory Hospice Center had 12 beds for terminally ill patients who needed inpatient care. Now, 11 years later, Hospice's volume has alm......
2007-09-19 11:20:00
TIM MEKEEL
Responding to a demand for larger accommodations, Garden Spot Village on Tuesday broke ground for a $19 million luxury apartment building. Village Square Apartments, set to be completed in November 2008, will provide 72 units, plus underground parking and other amenities. "It's ou......
2007-09-18 11:20:00
TIM MEKEEL
The idea, Roy Clair recalled, was to give employees something to do when they wanted to come off the road. So 18 years ago, Clair Brothers started its systems division, a small operation using the former touring division employees to install sound equipment in churches, auditoriums and nightclu......
2007-09-14 10:43:00
Cathy Molitoris
Mom always said it's what's on the inside that matters. That's certainly true when it comes to your home, says Richard W. Brown Sr., executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Lancaster County. Knowing how important the inside of a home is, Brown and hi......
2007-09-06 01:13:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The fall election for three Lancaster City Council seats experienced its first major event Wednesday as city Democrats unveiled their "Building Lancaster Together" platform at a press conference.The three Democratic nominees — incumbent Nelson Polite, state legislative aide......
2007-08-31 11:22:00
ROBYN MEADOWS
The clock is ticking for the Manheim Township and Manheim Central school districts. Both have major construction projects in motion as they prepare for their first day of school Tuesday. Both districts still are hosting construction zones. And both, as a result, have made transportation ch......
2007-08-28 11:27:00
ROBYN MEADOWS
It was 7:15 a.m. on the first day of school in the Hempfield School District. Students filed off buses and filled the lobby of the newly renovated Centerville Middle School. Many of the eighth-graders stopped and said things such as, "Wow, we've got a floor!" as they gazed at t......
2007-08-27 00:23:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County Planning Commission today will consider the YMCA's plans to build a new headquarters in the city.Lancaster Family YMCA wants to build a 78,000-square-foot building on a 1.79-acre lot at 265 Harrisburg Ave.The Y bought the property earlier this year after a three-yea......
2007-08-26 00:02:00
PAULA WOLF
It seems only fitting that the Franklin & Marshall College football team practices in the shadow of the campus' massive, new Life Sciences Building — which is, as F&M President John A. Fry likes to point out, almost the length of a football field. Completed this summer, the $4......
2007-08-24 11:35:00
TIM MEKEEL
The long-awaited e-mail arrived Wednesday morning, giving Rodney Hess a choice. He and his 45 fellow subcontractors on the Harrisburg Area Community College expansion project finally could pick up their last checks. Or the checks could be mailed to them. But after waiting three years to......
2007-08-24 11:24:00
BERNARD HARRIS
You can't tell by a casual glance that Franklin & Marshall College's new Barshinger Life Science & Philosophy Building is new. The Georgian-style academic building looks like it belongs on the northwest Lancaster City campus. With its red brick, dormer windows and pre-cast-concr......
2007-08-20 01:00:00
P.J. REILLY
Every Monday night, about 25 members of New Holland's Liberty Fire Company get together for training.Oftentimes, the volunteer firefighters drive out to Lancaster County's emergency training center in East Hempfield Township.But that's an hourlong round trip from New Hol......
2007-08-17 10:52:00
JOAN KERN
Asmall group of faithful Christians began a journey in 1990 without a destination. They founded Grace Bible Church of Strasburg to serve the Strasburg area community, but languished for years in a makeshift home at Locust Grove Mennonite School in Smoketown. With no air conditioning, hard me......
2007-08-15 11:20:00
MEAGAN INGERSON
Fourth- through sixth-graders in the Elizabethtown Area School District may be getting a brand-new building in a few years. School board officials are looking at constructing an intermediate school, instead of turning East High Elementary into an intermediate school, as previously proposed....
2007-08-03 11:26:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Last year, the Spanish American Civic Association cut the ribbon on some of the first new houses to be built in the southeast part of Lancaster City in decades. And the "Porches on Plum Street," in the 500 block of Plum Street and around the corner on East End Avenue, ......
2007-07-25 20:09:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Lancaster City Council has approved a measure aimed at pumping new life into the northwestern section of the city.Council voted Tuesday to allow Mayor Rick Gray's administration to establish an Infrastructure Investment District.The city is planning an ambitious program of const......
2007-07-13 10:34:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
A big red balloon bearing the word "CONGRATS" stands above a fresh-flower delivery inside the sparkling new building. A few feet away is the spacious, state-of-the-art municipal meeting room that Millersville Borough Council will use for its first official monthly meeting on Tuesda......
2007-06-28 12:29:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Gil Ulmer put his measuring stick up against the ceiling of a second-floor apartment in the northwest section of Lancaster City. The smoke detector falls short. "The lower they are, the less they will help you," Ulmer, a city housing inspector, tells the landlord. Under the city's building......
2007-06-28 09:07:00
Susan Jurgelski
In Mount Joy, the earth moved for the environmental-minded when fresh ground was broken for four green houses in 2006. A new green way was laid out like a red carpet. Thanks to the Lancaster County Career & Technology Center, green construction — a one-time "fringe" ......
2007-06-27 01:11:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray plans to detail the results of the city's 18-month effort to get illegal guns off the streets at an upcoming press conference.•••In the 18 months Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray has been in office, he has fought a wa......
2007-06-21 01:09:00
JEFF HAWKES
Carol Aubitz, who runs a small marketing firm on the top floor of the landmark W.W. Griest Building, likes that her view wows clients.The highest office in town offers a certain thrill. It also attracts unexpected visitors.They step off a rattling elevator having no interest in Exce......
2007-06-18 18:09:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The best way to learn about history is firsthand, and that's what visitors to Ephrata Cloister got to do Saturday and Sunday through a special program entitled "Building History: Making and Saving Historic Architecture."The idea behind the program, said Michael Showalter, the......
2007-06-16 00:01:00
PATRICK BURNS
Costello Builders and H.R. Weaver Building Systems Inc. took home top honors Friday at the Lancaster/Lebanon Parade of Homes gala held on the corporate campus of Armstrong World Industries Inc.Costello Builders was awarded the 2007 Fulton Award for its Lancaster County entry, and H.R. Weav......
2007-06-15 02:21:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
For years, the historians and guides at the Ephrata Cloister have been telling visitors exactly who lived in those austere, Gothic buildings — and why. But this weekend, they will tell visitors how those buildings came to be, as the Cloister presents "Building History: Making and Savin......
2007-06-13 00:46:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A restaurant planned for the city's former public safety building got a big boost Tuesday when Lancaster City Council approved transfer of a liquor license to the new establishment.Tentatively called Windows On Duke, the restaurant — owned by real-estate developer Bill Roberts an......
2007-06-11 00:37:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Manheim Township school board may hire an architect this month for a proposed expansion at Bucher Elementary School.The project is part of a master plan to increase the capacity of district elementary and middle schools by more than 1,300 students.A facilities committee has been rev......
2007-05-31 01:06:00
JENNIFER TODD
A New Jersey developer has filed a lawsuit against a local municipality, claiming the municipality's actions strained the firm's relations with residents of one of its developments and damaged its credibility with prospective buyers.D.R. Horton Inc., a nationally recognized Fortune 500 com......
2007-05-30 01:33:00
TOM KNAPP
It seems like a perfect solution to those hot summer doldrums: Buy a cheap inflatable pool from a local store, pump it full of air, fill it with water, connect an extension cord to power the filter and bask in cool water until autumn arrives.Not so fast, buddy.Before enjoying the be......
2007-05-30 01:30:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A fire in an East Hempfield Township apartment building forced 22 families from their homes Tuesday evening.The flames gutted at least one apartment in Meadow Green Estates on Swarr Run Road, and smoke and water damaged several others.Rohrerstown Fire Company was the first on the sc......
2007-05-30 01:07:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A legal row between Lancaster County and one of its tenants at the former Armstrong building was resolved Tuesday, clearing the way for renovations there to resume next week, the county solicitor said.Smith Barney and the county commissioners reached a tentative agreement to be signed toda......
2007-05-27 00:14:00
GIL SMART
It's as if the Keystone Cops went into construction. Over the course of the past two weeks, one problem after another has slowed, then stopped work on the former Armstrong building, 150 N. Queen St. The structure is owned by the county, which seized it via eminent domain in 2004; it's b......
2007-05-25 03:04:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Lancaster's newest residential/commercial project kicked off in high style Thursday, with a gala party complete with hors d'oeuvres, wine and the music of a three-piece jazz combo.Northgate, the $10 million brainchild of developer Steve Messner, will rise from the rubble and vacant buildin......
2007-05-24 13:48:00
LISA GRIMAUD
Working with property owners and several Lancaster County agencies, the borough of Mount Joy and the nonprofit revitalization group Main Street Mount Joy are trying a new approach to redevelop five downtown properties destroyed by fire Feb. 14. Both the borough and the nonprofit group would lik......
2007-05-23 00:52:00
Brian Wallace
To the untrained eye, the construction at Manheim Township High School may look like any other large-scale school building project.But deep beneath and within the new corridors and floors of the school are miles of polyethylene tubes, coursing through the project like veins through a human......
2007-05-18 03:12:00
JENNIFER TODD
East Hempfield Township is tired of waiting for the developer of the Village Grande community to correct problems.On Wednesday night, supervisors voted to give D.R. Horton, based in Texas, a May 24 deadline to contact homeowners regarding building code deficiencies in several homes in the ......
2007-05-17 13:44:00
CINDY HUMMEL
After 32 months of raising funds, the Pequea Valley Library will break ground for its new home in Intercourse on Monday. The public is invited to the 6 p.m. event at the future site of the new library at 31 Center St. Assistant library director Lisa High said she was "speechless" at the th......
2007-05-09 01:35:00
Larry Alexander
Lancaster Fire Chief Timothy Gregg wants to encourage more city residents to apply for jobs as firefighters.To that end, Lancaster City Council Tuesday approved Gregg's plan to give city residents a leg up in the application process.Under the plan, an applicant will get one poin......
2007-05-06 00:05:00
JON RUTTER
You wouldn't know it, now that the drywall is up. You can't see it. But the handsome single-story rancher taking shape at 43 Bloomfield Drive has a green heart. It should consume at least 50 percent less heating and cooling energy. Garman Builders Inc. broke ground on the proj......
2007-05-04 03:20:00
Dave Pidgeon
Republicans Dennis Stuckey and Scott Martin have received about $107,000 in campaign contributions this year, according to campaign finance reports the two Lancaster County commissioner candidates released Thursday.They have spent more than $31,000 on consultants, a radio advertisement, ca......
2007-04-27 14:32:00
CHAD UMBLE
A local company is playing a supporting role in rebuilding efforts at the World Trade Center site. Greiner Industries, of Mount Joy, is making six columns for the base of New York City's Freedom Tower, which is now being built. The massive underground beams will help brace the building......
2007-04-26 14:18:00
TIM MEKEEL and CINDY STAUFFER
More housing. More offices. More vitality. The state has agreed to fund three economic-development projects in Lancaster city, valued at a combined $20 million and adding a total of 400 jobs. With the support of nearly $3 million in state loans, the ventures will create loft apar......
2007-04-25 14:41:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Franklin & Marshall College students are finishing classes this week, and after final exams next week, most will be packing up and leaving Lancaster for the summer. But unlike past years, a lot of them won't be coming back to their off-campus apartments. With the opening of College Row......
2007-04-21 02:14:00
Brian Wallace
School District of Lancaster board members Thursday agreed to delay naming a group of architects and designers to develop a master plan for the district's schools until members can tour some of the schools the firms have worked on.The board was expected to select one of four architectu......
2007-04-19 01:41:00
Jennifer Todd
Residents of East Hempfield Township's Village Grande development complained to supervisors Wednesday night about what they said is confusing terminology in a letter they received from developer D.R. Horton.•••Some residents of the Village Grande de......
2007-04-19 01:28:00
Brian Wallace
Lancaster County Board of Elections Wednesday approved the relocation of polling places in Manheim Borough and East Hempfield, Lancaster, Martic and Manheim townships.If approved next week by the county commissioners, the new polling places will be used in the May 15 primary.Mary Z.......
2007-04-13 01:57:00
Brian Wallace
School District of Lancaster next week is expected to begin a multiyear process that will significantly alter how its schools look and function, affecting students and taxpayers for decades to come.The school board Thursday is scheduled to select a team of architects and designers to devel......
2007-04-08 00:05:00
PAULA WOLF
Family Service, an advocacy, counseling and education agency that's helped Lancaster County residents for more than a century, is close to merging with another nonprofit organization. Wednesday, a special meeting of the members of Family Service, to vote on the proposed merger, will be held at ......
2007-03-26 14:38:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The $2.77 million expansion of the Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum, at 37-41 N. Market St., is ready to begin. In a groundbreaking ceremony this morning, about a dozen people, including builders, politicians and business people, were buzzing about the project as well as the growing activit......
2007-03-23 00:02:00
Patrick Burns
Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn, 240 Hartman Bridge Road, Ronks, has opened Cupboard, a new retail food and bakery shop.Deryl Stoltzfus, general manager of Hershey Farm, said the takeout shop is an extension of its restaurant.• Artist Julia Swartz has opened the latest downto......
2007-03-16 00:06:00
Roberta Strickler
The hanging gardens of Babylon, city hall in Chicago, a Ford Motor Company assembly plant building the size of five city blocks — all have been topped with layers of soil and plants to create green roofs.Advocates say living roofs are one way — a beautiful way — to captur......
2007-03-16 00:02:00
Roberta Strickler
In Lancaster city, the Kendig C. Bare Public Safety Building at Duke and Chestnut streets is being rehabbed into offices with plans to include a green roof, according to owner/developer Bill Roberts of IBS Development Corporation.A permeable membrane roof covering has been installed on the......
2007-03-12 14:53:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
A giant windmill perched next to the tallest building in Lancaster County, marking a gateway to the county along the Susquehanna River at Columbia. And, adjacent to that, a "destination" spa, complete with a swimming pool and upscale inn, on Columbia's Chestnut Street. These are the newly ......
2007-03-06 08:09:00
Jennifer Todd
Two building code inspectors have received warnings from the state regarding violations found in the Village Grande development in East Hempfield Township.Ron Kistler and Joseph Finn worked as code officials for the township in 2006 when they signed off on inspections at the home of Gary a......
2007-02-19 08:20:00
Carla Di Fonzo
Ornithology fans agree — Lancaster County is for the birders.According to the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment, bird-watching is on the rise, and it just so happens Lancaster County is a migratory haven for many fine feathered friends, like bluebirds, hawks and kestr......
2007-02-16 13:19:00
staff reports
A man killed in a fire that devastated Mount Joy's Main Street still had not been positively identified, authorities said at mid-morning. In addition to the man's death, officials said the fire caused more than $1 million damage, displaced 16 people and destroyed several homes and businesses....
2007-02-14 01:33:00
P.J. Reilly
The winter storm that rolled into the area Tuesday deprived Commissioner Pete Shaub of one final meeting.Shaub, who decided earlier this year to resign, had expected to bow out after a scheduled meeting of the commissioners today.That meeting, however, was canceled because of the ex......
2007-02-14 01:29:00
Susan E. Lindt
Relief is on the way for frustrated drivers and pedestrians at the crosswalk smack in the middle of the 500 block of North Duke Street by Lancaster General Hospital.LGH spokesman John Lines said construction of a two-story, glass-enclosed walkway over Duke Street to alleviate start-and-sto......
2007-02-07 03:34:00
Larry Alexander
In last week's column I discussed marching with a bunch of peaceniks during the March on Washington anti-war rally at the nation's capital.An ocean of humanity gathered Jan. 27 on the Mall, with most marchers waving signs such as "End the war now" and "Down with the Bush regime."A s......
2007-02-03 01:30:00
P.J. Reilly
Dale Foulk crouched behind a counter in the Lancaster Archery Supply travel trailer parked inside the state Farm Show Complex and plugged and unplugged a series of computer cords."I can't get this to work," Foulk said. "I guess it's time to call someone who knows abo......
2007-02-01 13:19:00
RYAN ROBINSON
What is possibly the world's leading retailer of natural and organic foods is not hanging a shingle near Franklin & Marshall College. The developer of the $30 million College Row complex being built along Harrisburg Pike previously said one of the complex's three buildings would house a spe......
2007-01-30 01:40:00
Patrick Burns
A Lancaster company has been awarded a $6.5 million low-interest federal loan to clean up a 13.8-acre brownfield in Manheim Township and rebuild the site for retail-business use.The three-year project, proposed by Horst Ventures, 2294 New Holland Pike, calls for incorporating the Jack Trei......
2007-01-25 16:40:00
Steve Seeber
Published Jan. 25, 2007: Newport Square is heading into the final phase of a development project that began in 1999. And the last piece of the puzzle will be a small commercial area, anchored by a Turkey Hill convenience store, at the intersection of East Newport Road and......
2007-01-24 14:53:00
AD CRABLE
CarMax, the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, plans to build its first auto superstore in Pennsylvania along Manheim Pike as part of a 14-acre brownfields environmental cleanup project. Jack Treier Moving and Storage and the former Lancaster Building Supply buildings are among th......
2007-01-24 14:28:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Over the objections of two Historic Architectural Review Board members, Lancaster City Council on Tuesday approved the demolition of three buildings to make way for a parking lot. The former Lancaster Laundry, 144 E. King St., and the rear portions of the former Cooper & Jackson building......
2007-01-22 14:36:00
ANYA LITVAK
It’s cold outside — not exactly news for anyone awake enough to be reading the paper. It’s cold inside, too, in the county courthouse, where employees this morning performed a silent dramatization of their condition. They huffed over steaming coffee and hid beneath afghans.......
2007-01-19 13:11:00
TIM MEKEEL
Demand for office space can be measured by two simple things: Phone calls and vacancies. Based on those indicators, a medical office building proposed in Willow Street by Willow Valley Associates should be a resounding success. “There’s definitely a shortage of office space ......
2007-01-19 10:11:00
Staff Reports
In loud, dusty bites, a demolition crew takes down an adjoining pair of six-story buildings at the former Armstrong World Industries floor plant. These photos, taken Thursday from the Fruitville Pike bridge, show Brandenburg Industrial Service Co. workers tearing down the large side-by-side structur...
2007-01-17 14:48:00
JANET KELLEY
A police search for a suspect interrupted life along Mount Joy’s Main Street on Tuesday afternoon and ended without an arrest there. But the suspect was eventually caught in Marietta later in the evening and is now in Lancaster County Prison. Christopher J. Thomas, 24, of the 1000......
2007-01-17 10:59:00
JACK BRUBAKER
To everything, the Bible says, there is a season. A time to rend... Following the horrifying shootings of young girls in the one-room schoolhouse at Nickel Mines last October, Amish workmen quickly tore down the old school, removed the debris and returned the lot to pasture. ... an......
2007-01-10 01:29:20
Larry Alexander
Speaking to City Council and spectators Tuesday, Gray said parents must determine the impact of the advice they give their children.
“Parents must be concerned about the message sent by invoking rights rather than cooperating with police,” Gray said. “What do they want their child to be: one ...
2007-01-09 15:46:45
Bernard Harris And Tim Mekeel
Trucking company owner Steve Messner is making his first foray into city investment with the acquisition and redevelopment of the former James F. Wild auto parts properties, at the southeast corner of North Queen and East Lemon streets. City Council is slated to vote on a zoning change for the pr......
2007-01-08 12:59:26
Ad Crable
Rather, the old buildings and trappings that made up the Watt & Shand department store and about 75 percent of Armstrong’s world’s-largest floor plant are being assiduously picked over. Think of them as non-human organ donors, their cannibalized innards scattered to the four winds. They will l......
2007-01-06 11:36:58
Jane Holahan
Liberty Place, the Dispensing Company, the Hager Building and the Brickyard restaurant are all projects Drogaris developed in a career that has spanned more than 30 years. And now, Drogaris is a key player in the development of the Lancaster Press building, at the corner of Prince and Lemon stree......
2007-01-04 12:30:05
Jane Holahan
Four different exhibits will fill the museum beginning with a reception Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. Downstairs, classic rock posters from 1966 through 1969 will be on display in the Von Hess Gallery and the portraits of Lancaster artist James J. Riley will be displayed in the Armstrong Gallery. Up......
2007-01-03 18:03:05
Ad Crable
The bridge will be closed to traffic on that date and may remain closed until late August. Motorists using the increasingly busy Strasburg Pike will be detoured onto a route that includes Route 462, Lampeter Road and Route 741. PennDOT has long sought to replace the narrow bridge, calling it a......
2007-01-03 18:01:36
Bernard Harris
The plans discussed for the Lancaster Press building Tuesday can only be considered modest by comparison. Nearly a year after city officials rejected a proposal by New York real estate developer Harry Eng to create a grandiose, $200 million condominium project, plans for renovation of the existin......
2007-01-03 01:30:48
Larry Alexander
On Jan. 9, Lancaster City Council will likely vote to sell the Lancaster Press building at North Prince and West Lemon streets to Lancaster Press Partners, a partnership consisting of Wagman Construction, Drogaris Cos., Tippetts/Weaver Architects Inc., Susquehanna Real Estate and Fourth River Develo...
2006-12-29 12:55:48
Bernard Harris
In 2006, the city had a record-smashing $239 million in construction spending — more than triple the 2003 record of $75.5 million. “That’s a fabulous year. That’s explosive development,” said city Housing & Structural Inspections Bureau Chief William Burke. And, while it will probably not top ......
2006-12-29 11:29:14
Catherine S. Molitoris
Radiator enclosures offer consumers the chance to turn a utilitarian piece of equipment into a thing of beauty. SMK Enterprises, Leola, offers custom-made radiator covers in wood and metal styles. Founded in 2000, it is the only Lancaster County company to offer such services, owner Frank Werts s......
2006-12-25 00:24:49
Michael Yoder
This year more than 600 students took time to make cards for soldiers serving overseas as part of the Intelligencer Journal’s 50th annual Holiday Greeting Card Contest.
The theme for the contest was “Honoring Our Troops,” and the cards will be sent to soldiers serving in the Middle East. It a...
2006-12-21 00:26:55
Carla Di Fonzo
The expansion is expected to cost about $10 million and is being sought to accommodate the church’s growing youth and ministry programs.
Carl Colton, a member of the church’s building committee, said Calvary’s preschool is growing as well.
“We’re just running out of room,” he told the ...
2006-12-19 14:48:35
Ad Crable
Recently, the Pennsylvania Game Commission dispatched its peregrine falcon coordinator to the top of Lancaster’s tallest building to investigate. On a windswept late-fall day, F. Arthur McMorris peered over the open-air, very top of the building and liked what he saw. Bird carcasses, bones, fe......
2006-12-14 12:20:30
We waited in eager anticipation for those shows to come on. It meant that Santa would soon be here. Well, ho, ho, ho and he, he, he. Guess what? Tonight at 7, ABC Family will air "The Little Drummer Boy,'' followed by "The Little Drummer Boy Book II.'' Can St. Nick be far behind? FRIDAY: The bonf......
2006-12-13 10:42:47
Katharine Fair And Christopher Scanlan / Illustration By Valerie Totire
The three of them stared wide-eyed, clutching their Christmas stockings. The last time they’d seen Brian Radcliff, he was a hacker — Blake High’s computer outlaw, a long-haired troublemaker dressed in dirty jeans, black T-shirt and high-top sneakers. The opening bar of “Jingle Bells” chimed from ......
2006-12-08 15:39:02
Chad Umble
By this time next year, the buildings are expected to be cleared and site preparation -- including designing a new street grid -- will be beginning, he said.
"This is just a start," Nikoloff said. "We're going to clean the entire site to a residential standard."
The demolition, which b...
2006-11-30 15:25:06
Bernard Harris
A new mural, officially unveiled this morning, depicts the North Prince Street corridor as an emerging entertainment area. “We, at HDC, wanted to show what it is and what it is becoming,” said Kylee Bowman, marketing manager for the Housing Development Corp. HDC commissioned muralists Jenny Pa......
2006-11-30 15:21:38
Jane Holahan
But this atlas went further. A lot further. It included homes, noting whether they were brick, stone or wooden; barns; schools and greenhouses. And whenever possible, it included the name of the owner of the property, whether it was a private home, a farm or a business. Fast forward 107 yea......
2006-11-30 19:10:36
Jeff Hawkes
But judging from Birney’s recent presentation at Franklin & Marshall College, acquiring, developing and marketing properties is not what gets his juices flowing.
It’s trying to do those things in a way that minimizes harm to the land, water and air.
Take his new roof.
“It blooms...
