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"Well, we're here at last after a long journey," Mark Moosic, general manager of the $177.6 million complex, said during the ceremony.
Convention center, hotel unveiled 
Tour convention center, hotel Preserving Watt & Shand facade Architect on center/hotel design
Today's opening marks the start of efforts to operate a successful facility and pay down tens of millions of dollars in debt.
To that end, private developer Penn Square Partners appears to have cleared a major tax hurdle.
Patrick Hopkins, the city's chief financial officer, said Thursday that the Lancaster County Property Assessment Office had deemed the 300-room Marriott Hotel to be exempt from county, city and school property taxes. That's because the building is owned by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster and leased back to Penn Square Partners.
The Intelligencer Journal confirmed the hotel's tax status with John Malrides, interim director of the Lancaster County Office of Property Assessment.
Had the property been deemed taxable, Lancaster city government would have been liable for county and school district taxes, but assuming there's no future legal challenge, that appears to no longer be a concern.
The convention center, as a public facility, is not subject to local taxes either.
Penn Square Partners teamed with the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority and the Redevelopment Authority of Lancaster City to construct the 300-room Marriott Hotel and 220,000-square-foot convention center on Penn Square.
Penn Square Partners pledged $11 million in cash up front and $24 million in lease payments to the redevelopment authority during the next 20 years. The other $142 million is public funding of various types. Should developers default on their debt or lease payments, which are worth tens of millions of dollars, local government would assume responsibility.
An enthusiastic 45-minute ceremony was held in the convention center's main lobby before about 300 people. Dignitaries and hotel/convention center leaders, flanked by dozens of staffers dressed in red, white or black uniforms, spoke about the effort over the last decade to spirit the project forward and about its role in the future of Lancaster city's economy.
"No businessman would say that this is the economy that you want to open a business in," Nevin Cooley, president of Penn Square Partners, said about the national economic malaise. "But maybe, just maybe, the fact that we are bringing 200 new jobs to this community in this economy is the exact right time to open this facility."
The audience was composed mainly of elected officials and other community leaders, as well as a horde of media.
Retired state Sen. Gibson E. Armstrong, an advocate for a city convention center since 1985, called Thursday an "emotional" day and said the community will determine the facility's success.
"Because when people come here they're going to have a great time," Armstrong said. "When they walk out that door and they meet someone on the street, it's how that person greets them or talks to them (that will determine) whether they're coming back or not or they'll tell their friends.
"So if you see a conventioneer on the street, thank them for coming."
At one point, a staffer collapsed and needed medical attention. Moosic told the crowd after a five-minute interruption that the unnamed staffer was taken to the hospital and "should be OK."
Thursday's ceremony was the first of two public events. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, the hotel/convention center will be open for public viewing.
Penn Square Partners 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 Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster New Era and Sunday News.
E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com
