Pittsburgh Region’s Political Leaders Again Consider Hotel Next To Convention Center

It’s becoming the Lazarus of Downtown projects.

Left for dead a year ago, and several times before that, a plan to build a 500-room hotel attached to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center is being resurrected by top political leaders.

Mayor Bill Peduto said Thursday that he and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald have asked the Sports & Exhibition Authority to gauge the interest in and to study the feasibility of the proposed hotel, which would be built in a parking lot next to the convention center.

The full-service hotel, Mr. Peduto said, always was meant to be “the final part” of the convention center and to serve as its front entrance. “The building’s never been completed,” he said. “The hotel was supposed to be done.”

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2014/10/03/Political-leaders-revive-plan-for-hotel-attached-to-convention-center/stories/201410030099

Groundbreaking Set For Reading Hotel And Convention Center

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

Albert R. Boscov was excitedly making and receiving countless phone calls in his Exeter Township office Monday after getting word that the last of the financing for a downtown hotel and convention center was finally in place.

He immediately began making plans to break ground Friday at 11:30 a.m. in the 700 block of Penn Street across from the Santander Arena.

“It’s been a long wait but we got it,” Boscov said.

The renowned retailer has been working on the block-long, four-star hotel, which will cost at least $56 million, since 2007.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article/20131217/NEWS/312169896/1052#.UrDeuPRDsxI

With Financing Woes Resolved, Construction Begins At Allentown’s Schoen’s Building

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

With its financing woes behind it, construction began today on the $9.8 million renovation of the former Schoen’s Furniture Store in Allentown.

The 612 W. Hamilton St. structure has now been dubbed the Trifecta Building after its primary tenant, Trifecta Technologies, the software firm that will occupy the top three of the building’s six floors.

During an open house and construction launch party today, Trifecta founder and CEO Doug Pelletier expressed excitement about being part of the City Center neighborhood’s ongoing revitalization.

“We’re coming downtown, and we’re not just coming here to work,” Pelletier said. “We’re going to drink in your bars, we’re going to eat in your restaurants, we’re going to cheer at the arena. That’s what we love about coming here.”

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/allentown/index.ssf/2013/11/with_financing_woes_resolved_c.html

Developer Scales Down Grandiose Project For Mount Washington

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some five years after it was first proposed, a developer is scrapping plans for a grandiose $100 million hotel-condominium project on Mount Washington in favor of a more modest apartment complex.

Gone will be the 20-story high-rise featuring a four- to five-star, 163-room luxury hotel. Gone will be about 58 condos perched on a cliff overlooking Downtown.  Gone, apparently, will be amenities like a scenic overlook and a giant plaza that would have been open to the public.

Instead, Sycamore Grandview Development is proposing to construct about 300 market rate apartments in four buildings wrapped around a “grand central yard” at the four-acre site at the end of Grandview Avenue near the Monongahela Incline.

Developer Beau Beemsterboer is expected to present the revised plans to the community at a meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Mount Washington Senior Center.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/developer-scales-down-grandiose-project-for-mount-washington-702313/#ixzz2eDmwdroM

Financing For Pennsylvania Turnpike/I-95 Connector Concerns Auditor General

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

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Friday that an unusual plan to finance construction of the I-95/Pennsylvania Turnpike connection “raises alarms” and may prompt an investigation by his office.

DePasquale said he was especially interested in why an entity was created to broker the deal, in which wealthy foreign investors would lend the turnpike $200 million in exchange for possible permanent residence in the United States.

DePasquale said his office was legally bound to wait until a transaction is completed before launching an audit, so “it may be several months or longer” before he formally investigates the turnpike plan.

“I am going to follow this situation carefully,” DePasquale said.  “It raises some alarms.  I’m not taking a position that it’s wrong yet. . . . We’ll wait till the issue is ripe for an audit.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/20130511_Financing_for_turnpike_I-95_connector_concerns_auditor_general.html#KbbfJ65OCH8owKzj.99

Brick House Owner Dave Walsh Seeks Funding To Buy Building

Kudos to Dave Walsh for stepping up to the plate and once again trying to do a great thing for Pottstown.  The Brick House has been wildly successful and a huge benefit to downtown Pottstown.  Walsh runs a first class operation at the Brick House along with several other companies he owns.  Dave embodies the entrepreneurial spirit as well as being someone who cares about Pottstown!

I had the honor of interviewing Dave a couple of years ago and got to know him.  I can think of no better person to buy the most significant piece of real estate in our downtown because I know Dave will make sure it prospers for years to come.

It sounds as though Borough Council is behind Dave’s plan to seek funding to buy the building.  I can only say I 110% support this venture and am glad to see that Borough Council and Jason appear willing to issue a letter of support.  Assisting Dave in securing the necessary financing would be one of the best investments this council could make for Pottstown’s revitalization!

Two Roy’s Rants thumbs up for Dave Walsh and Borough Council!