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A
50-plus room hotel is planned for the the Teachers Protective Mutual Life
building at 116-122 N. Prince St. |
A 50-plus room hotel is planned for downtown Lancaster in
the three-story building that now houses Teachers Protective Mutual Life
Insurance Co.
Crystal Weaver, owner of Prince Street Cafe, and Kyle
Sollenberger, an entrepreneur who works with technology start-ups, have
unveiled their plans for the Surveyor Hotel at the property they just bought at
116-122 N. Prince St.
Over the next 18 to 24 months, Weaver and Sollenberger
say, they will work to develop the boutique hotel, which will include a
first-floor restaurant a little more than a block from Lancaster Central
Market.
The project will require some demolition at the back of
the building as well as some construction, including the addition of a fourth
floor and building on portions of the surface parking lot included in the
property.
Weaver and Sollenberger said they have not yet filed
plans with the city but hope to be able to begin construction this fall, with a
possible opening of the hotel in the spring of 2017.
“We're small business owners who see this as a real
opportunity and want to continue to contribute to our city's momentum,” Weaver
said. “We're up for the challenge this new venture presents.”
Details to be
determined
The business partners didn’t give many details about the
plans Wednesday, although Weaver said she hoped the Surveyor Hotel would create
40 jobs while describing it as an “independent urban lifestyle hotel and
restaurant.” They did not estimate possible room prices.
In a deal that was finalized Wednesday, the property was
sold for $875,000, a price that included the adjacent 35-space parking lot.
The lot was once the site of Degel Israel's Hebrew
School, which was sold in 1961 to Teachers Protective and turned that year into
a parking lot.
Weaver and Sollenberger said it is too early to give a
cost estimate for their planned renovations, adding that they will be
finalizing plans with an architect as well as securing financing for the
project.
Because the property is in City Revitalization and
Improvement Zone, where state taxes can be tapped for redevelopment,
Sollenberger said they would consider pursuing a CRIZ grant of some amount for
the project.
Ed Young, president and CEO of the Teachers Protective
Mutual, which has owned the building since the 1930s, said he plans to move the
13-employee firm to another office in the “Lancaster County area” by the middle
of the year.
Adding up the
rooms
Bob Shoemaker, president of the Lancaster City Alliance,
applauded the new hotel project that will add convention quality hotel rooms
downtown.
Shoemaker referenced studies that found Lancaster needs
800 hotel rooms withing walking distance of the Lancaster County Convention
Center to attract more big-scale conventions.
Adding in the 96 rooms in the proposed annex to the
299-room Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square as well as the complete build-out of
the Hotel Lancaster that would give it 221 rooms, would still leave the city
about 180 rooms short of 800, Shoemaker said.
"So anything in the category and size that Crystal
and Kyle are looking at will be an asset," he said.
Shoemaker, who has been encouraging the project for
several months, added that he feels the Surveyor Hotel will be a success.
"Between these proprietors and the general business
strategy, it's clearly going to be an asset to the city," Shoemaker said.
A plan with some
history
The Surveyor Hotel’s name is an homage to Andrew
Ellicott, a Lancaster resident whose historic home is directly across the
street. It is now the headquarters of the Historic Preservation Trust of
Lancaster County.
Ellicott was a prominent surveyor in the early 19th
century who worked directly with Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark
expedition.
Sollenberger, who is originally from the Lancaster area,
worked at a variety of technology companies in San Francisco, where he helped
create several mobile apps. He moved back to Lancaster in 2012 and now works
with technology start-ups.
Weaver was one of the original owners of Prince Street
Cafe and is now sole owner of the cafe, at 15 N. Prince St.
Weaver and
Sollenberger have teamed up before.
Last summer, Sollenberger completed the renovation of a
former city warehouse into a commercial space that now houses Passenger Coffee
Roasters, which is owned by Weaver.
The Surveyor Hotel would be right next to Pour
restaurant, whose owner Bryan Kepner raved about his possible new neighbor.
“What they’re doing next door just exemplifies the fact
that Lancaster is on a roll right now,” Kepner said.
Source: Lancaster
Online
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