Refinancing Deadline Extended Third Time For Lancaster County Convention Center

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

For the third time, the deadline for the refinancing of the Lancaster County Convention Center’s debt has loomed and for the third time the deadline has been extended.

On Thursday, board members of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority approved a 120-day extension of the terms of the $64 million debt agreement. The September 3 deadline was extended to January 2.

County Commissioner Scott Martin has been negotiating on the authority’s behalf with Wells Fargo, the sole bond holder, on the terms of a subsequent agreement.

“We’re going to need some additional time to dot the i’s and cross the t’s,” authority board chairman Kevin Fry said in announcing the extension.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/886288_Refinancing-deadline-extended-third-time-for-Lancaster-County-Convention-Center.html#ixzz2coPiuDDR

Genetti Pushes Plan To Restore Historic Wilkes-Barre Train Station

WEST PITTSTON— It was this important to area hotelier Gus Genetti:  He admitted he had donned a suit “for the first time in two weeks” since having open heart surgery.

The cause that spurred him? Saving Wilkes-Barre’s historic New Jersey Central train station.

“This is a gateway to the historic part of Wilkes-Barre,” Genetti told the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority Board at its meeting Tuesday afternoon.

The authority bought the train station and surrounding land, including a strip mall on Market Street near Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, in 2006 using most of a $6.1 million loan from Luzerne County.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/681056/Genetti-pushes-plan-to-restore-train-station

Berks Commissioners Expand Hotel Tax To Include Entire County

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

All hotels and motels in Berks County must begin collecting a 5 percent room tax starting Oct. 1.

The county commissioners in a 2-1 vote Thursday extended the tax to facilities beyond the 15-mile radius of the Sovereign Center established when the tax went into effect March 1, 1997.

The tax currently produces about $1.7 million annually, with 80 percent going to the Berks County Convention Center Authority to repay money borrowed to build the center and 20 percent going to the Greater Reading Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The expansion is expected to bring in an additional $310,000 in 2014.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=488474

Lancaster County Convention Center Gets Deadline Extension On Debt

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

The Lancaster County Convention Center is living on borrowed time.

With less than three weeks to go before the center’s $64 million in construction debt was due to be restructured — pushing interest rates higher — officials on Friday extended the financing for three more months.

The move buys time for negotiation with lender Wells Fargo to come to terms the center can live with.

A consultant sounded the alarm a year ago that the nearly 4-year-old center could be forced to close if revenues were not significantly increased or financing fees cut.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/813342_Convention-center-gets-deadline-extension-on-debt.html#ixzz2KX1XXIeh

Lancaster County Convention Center Has Good Month, But Future Cloudy

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

Lancaster County Convention Center finances had a good month in November.

Reserve funds topped $5.6 million for the public meeting center.  And center officials believe this month will also end well.

That means the 20 percent stake of the Lancaster County hotel room tax which has been diverted to the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority will once again be paid to the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau.

That money, which totals about $900,000 annually, has been going to the center authority since spring when the reserves required under the center’s bond indenture fell below $5.25 million.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/795319_Lancaster-County-Convention-Center-has-good-month–but-future-cloudy.html#ixzz2FhIxkHdZ