Mohegan Sun Pocono Downs Plans June 18 Job Fair – Needs To Fill 250 Positions

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

PLAINS TOWNSHIP— With regional unemployment above 9 percent, a job fair in five weeks to fill 250 positions at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs’ soon-to-open hotel/convention center is likely to draw thousands.

Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Assistant General Manager Kara Fox-LaRose on Wednesday said rather than just inviting job seekers to send in resumes or applications, the venue will hold an on-site job fair 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 18.  Interviews will take place in July and the staff will be hired throughout the summer to be trained, she said.

The $50 million hotel and convention center will have seven floors, 238 hotel rooms, a bistro, a 4,150-square-foot Spa Sapphire, an indoor pool and fitness center and the 20,000-square-foot convention center able to seat 850 people for dinners and other events.  It also will be able to hold entertainment events for 1,500 people.

Its targeted opening date is Oct. 1.  It will be the largest hotel in Luzerne County and will give the casino the ability to attract customers from farther distances.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/497024/Casino-hotel-seeking-250-employees

To Stay Open, Hotel Brunswick Must Meet 21 Conditions

It’s time for the Hotel Brunswick in downtown Lancaster to clean up its act, according to a judge’s order signed this morning.

Lancaster County Judge Jeffery Wright approved a series of agreements between the city and hotel owners that would essentially clean up numerous ongoing issues at 151 N. Queen St.

Wright ordered that 21 specific improvements be made or ownership risks a future court hearing that could shutter the hotel, deemed a “nuisance” last year.

The city and district attorney’s office each filed complaints last year alleging the hotel as a site of drug use, brawls and underage drinking.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/845230_To-stay-open–Hotel-Brunswick-must-meet-21-conditions.html#ixzz2SFCC9hVP

Allentown Arena Construction On Schedule, Mayor Is Pleased

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Six years ago Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, his city still smarting from losing the Sands casino to Bethlehem, first suggested that an arena might make a fine consolation prize.

Pawlowski on Wednesday, standing at the city’s $272 million arena complex, surrounded by dust and gravel, hard hats and heavy machines, looked downright satisfied.

With construction in full swing, steel and concrete rising from what was once a block of low-end stores and for a time just a muddy hole at Seventh and Hamilton streets, Pawlowski, media in tow, got his first tour of a project that he has been trying to make a reality for most of his time in office.

“It really is amazing when you think about going from the conceptual stage to something that is physically under construction,” Pawlowski said afterward.  ”I wanted to show the amount of planning that has really gone into this construction process.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-hockey-arena-site-tour-20130424,0,2991685.story

Abe Lincoln Hotel Sold; $10 Million Renovation Planned

It took more than a year and a half, but Reading entrepreneur Alan Shuman finally got what he wanted: The Abraham Lincoln hotel all to himself.

With settlement completed Tuesday, Shuman’s entity, Lincoln Hotel LP, paid $5.05 million to add the 104-room historic hotel to his downtown real estate portfolio. That figure includes about $2.25 million in real estate and the rest in furnishings, fixtures, equipment, contents and the assumption of debt.

Shuman said he plans a $10 million renovation, of which $300,000 has been spent.

His plans include restoring the hotel and its rooms, adding a pool two-thirds of the size of an Olympic pool and reopening the Abe Saloon.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=470286

State Adds Extra Money To Reading Hotel Project

The long-planned 220-room Doubletree Convention Center Hotel on Penn Street has received a $500,000 bolster from the state.

The developers, led by retailer Albert R. Boscov, had applied for an additional $2.5 million state grant.

“The governor came in with $3 million,” Boscov said Thursday.

He said the project earlier had been approved for $14 million in grants from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, but the developers applied for more.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=466670

N.J. Company Proposes Spring Ridge Hotel

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A New Jersey development company wants to build a 111-room hotel on Meridian Boulevard in Spring Township’s Spring Ridge development.

AVA Development Co. of Parsippany hopes to buy 4½ acres for a three-story Fairfield Inn & Suites from BPG Properties of Philadelphia.

AVA won’t buy the property unless BPG gets township approval for the project.  The 576-acre Spring Ridge is a planned residential development that allows office uses but not hotels.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=443766

Reading City Council Approves Loan Tied To Hotel Project

A 1947 topographic map of the Reading, Pennsylvania area. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At the request of retailer Albert R. Boscov, City Council on Monday approved adding a $1 million city loan to the financing package for the $59 million Doubletree Hotel that Boscov’s nonprofit agency is trying to bring downtown.

Boscov’s Our City Reading is planning the 200-room hotel to be built in the 700 block of Penn Street opposite the Sovereign Center.

The city loan would not come from local tax revenues but from federal funds – so-called Section 108 money – that the city gets to fund development projects.

Boscov’s nonprofit has borrowed millions of dollars in Section 108 funds in the past.  Boscov noted that it’s always paid off the loans early, never taking the allowed 20 years, and this year will make a $1.5 million early repayment of another Section 108 loan.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=434432

Boscov Asks Reading To Take $1 Million Loan For Proposed Hotel

Retailer Albert R. Boscov, whose nonprofit Our City Reading is trying to get financing for a four-star Doubletree Hotel along Penn Street, asked City Council on Monday to approve a $1 million federal loan as part of the package.

“If you can help us here, I promise you a hotel,” Boscov told council members.

Council is slated to vote on the deal Monday.

Read more:   http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=432953

Owner Plans $7 Million Expansion Project At Intercourse Village Inn

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kurt Thomas knows the situation.

He sees that interest rates and construction costs are unusually low.

He hears industry experts predict an upturn for the tourism industry.

So Thomas realizes that, if he was ever going to renovate and expand his Intercourse Village Inn, the ideal opportunity is now.

“We just feel like the timing is perfect,” Thomas said.

For all those reasons, the inn this month launched a far-reaching project that will roughly double its size, at a cost exceeding $7 million.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/763980_Owner-plans–7M-expansion-project-at-Intercourse-Village-Inn.html#ixzz2ALznNcof

Sheraton Valley Forge Takes It Up A Notch

English: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — The building that has known incarnations such as Sheraton Park Ridge Hotel & Conference Center, Park Ridge Hotel and, briefly, Clarion Hotel, was demolished to bare bones more than a year ago and reinvented as the Sheraton Valley Forge.

The $30 million-plus facility at 480 N. Gulph Road ups the ante — even by King of Prussia’s emerging platinum standards.

“We gutted the entire property,” said Eric Davies, COO of the hotel’s owner and operator Wurzak Hotel Group, standing near a dramatic, high-ceilinged entrance way shimmering with reflective daylight.  “Everything is pretty much 100 percent new.  We raised the bar area to lobby level and opened up a two-story entrance to have natural light coming through and into the lounge seating area.”

Philadelphia-based Wurzak purchased the 9-acre property in 2009 and continued operating it as a Clarion Hotel such for a time prior to franchising the Sheraton brand from Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., through a deal that was closed by HREC Investments Advisors.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20121019/FINANCE01/121019353/sheraton-valley-forge-takes-it-up-a-notch&pager=full_story

Hotel Brunswick Given Reprieve To Decide On Repairs

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Congrats to the City of Lancaster for being proactive with problem properties!

Owners of the property housing the Hotel Brunswick and an unused annex that the city has condemned have four months to let Lancaster city officials know what they plan to do.

The owners are considering either demolishing the annex, making repairs or making repairs and gutting it for another use, the owners’ attorney, Paula Leicht, said Thursday.

The annex was last used about three years ago to house the Rumba Club. In condemning it July 16, the city said a leaking roof, toilets and other fixtures had led to mold growth and made it unfit for human occupancy.

Leicht told the Housing Code Board of Appeals the owners needed more time to get job bids and decide which option to pursue.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/715594_Hotel-Brunswick-given-reprieve-to-decide-on-repairs.html#ixzz23ome5XCQ

Harrisburg Area Hotels Reach Capacity – Irene Drives People West

Harrisburg area hotels are filled this weekend.  Many guests are checking in from NY, NJ and DE.  They are fleeing Hurricane Irene.

Area hotels are diverting business to Carlisle as they have reached capacity.  One local hotel manager contacted 20 other Harrisburg area hotels looking for anyone with a vacancy, but they were all full.

If you are looking to head inland to escape Irene, you will have to look somewhere else!  Harrisburg is booked!

Sands Casino Plans Hotel And Mall In Bethlehem

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The very successful Sands Casino in Bethlehem is adding more attractions to lure gamblers.  A new 300-room hotel is opening by Memorial Day which will allow gamblers to make the Sands an overnight destination.  In addition, the casino is opening a 35-store mall on the property which will give gamblers (and non-gamblers) a shopping and dining diversion.  The mall has a proposed soft opening date of November 1^st.  Grand opening is scheduled for President’s Day weekend, in February of 2012.

Another project in the works is a conference facility that could accommodate 2,500 people.  This would allow the casino to compete in the lucrative convention and trade show market.  The conference facility could become a reality by the end of the year.  There are eight other buildings on the site which the casino hopes to develop and a residential area is also being considered.

Adjacent to the casino is the Steel Stacks complex and ArtsQuest Center.  The ten-acre entertainment area includes a concert pavilion, farmers market, antique market for starters. 

The economic impact of these projects will benefit Bethlehem for generations to come.

Costco To Anchor The Gateway At Sanatoga Shopping Center

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Costco is coming to Limerick Township!  The new store will be an anchor in the Gateway at Sanatoga Shopping Center, which is now under construction, next to the Philadelphia Premium Outlets.

According to the website, the center will be 412,000 square feet and feature a Costco, 170,000 square feet of in-line retail space, 6 restaurants, 1 cinema, 2 banks and a hotel.  When combined with the Philadelphia Premium Outlets there will 1,000,000 square feet of retail space, upon completion, at this location.

http://www.oneillproperties.com/pdf/51149-Sanatoga-Fly-Sheet-050709_proof.pdf