Friday afternoon, the Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square received a permanent occupancy permit from the city, clearing the way for the integrated facility to open after earlier target dates were missed.
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Tom Smithgall, senior vice president of development for High Associates, the project's master developer, said Saturday that an official opening date for the $174.4 million hotel and convention center is expected to be announced Wednesday.
Officials have said the first major event at the center will be the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities' annual convention June 24-26.
The occupancy permit was hand-delivered to Smithgall by Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, who stopped by the hotel and convention center on his way home from city hall.
"[Tom's] been through a lot to get to this point," the mayor said Saturday.
The facility has been operating with a temporary occupancy permit for a few weeks. Getting the permanent one "is a great milestone," said Mark Moosic, the facility's general manager.
Gray said he told city inspectors to make absolutely sure everything was up to code before issuing the permit.
The last two or three weeks, a lot of testing was completed, and progress was made on having the facility meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, Smithgall said.
There's still some work left, including "a massive cleanup" from the top floor of the 18-level, 299-room hotel on down, he said.
Also by the end of this weekend, "a lot of the heavy construction will be done," Smithgall said.
Gray said he visited the site every day last week, "and without exaggeration, I can say there have been dramatic changes."
This coming week, furniture will be brought in and light fixtures hooked up, Smithgall said.
He noted that the bar and restaurant "are pretty much set up."
"We're anxious to get people in" and show off the facility, Smithgall said, but it's not quite ready.
"I tell people we have a dusty house," he said.
The hotel and convention center project is a joint venture of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster, Lancaster County Convention Center Authority and Penn Square Partners.
About a decade in the making, the project was delayed by years of litigation. More recently, missed deadlines held up the opening by a few months.
Penn Square Partners, a limited partnership, consists of general partners Penn Square General Corp., a High Industries affiliate, and Penn Square Ltd. LLC, an affiliate of Lancaster Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Sunday News, Lancaster New Era and Intelligencer Journal.
While finishing touches are still being done, the facility's 170 employees started orientation and training last week, Moosic said.
Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the company contracted to run the hotel and convention center, is conducting the training along with Marriott Hotels, he said.
The employees are learning "basic service techniques" and other skills, and that training will continue this week, Moosic said.
Menus also are being finalized, he said.
The 170 workers — whom Moosic called "the best of the best" — were hired from more than 4,000 applicants.
And plenty of responsibility comes with these jobs, he said, because "a lot of people are expecting great things."
Representatives from Interstate and Marriott have already noticed how energetic and enthusiastic this group of workers is, Moosic said.
Gray agreed. The employees "are so excited and juiced," he said.
He's also proud that 73 percent of them are city residents, and he credited PA CareerLink of Lancaster County with doing "a fabulous job."
CareerLink screened many of those who initially applied for jobs. Hundreds of them also participated in the Ready2Work program and received a Career Readiness Certificate.
Asked about the hotel and convention center's role in revitalizing Lancaster, Gray sounded hopeful but realistic.
"It's not any silver bullet," he said, "but it's a positive building block."
Paula Wolf is a staff writer for the Sunday News. She can be reached by e-mail at pwolf@lnpnews.com.
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