Plans move head for new hotel, restaurant in downtown Lancaster

Lancaster's city planning commission approved plans earlier this month to construct a 37,000-square-foot urban boutique hotel in downtown Lancaster.

Construction and development of the Surveyor Hotel is expected to begin after Labor Day and wrap up by fall 2016.

The hotel will be four stories high, with 60 rooms, a bar and restaurant, retail space and a courtyard and occupy space at 116-122 N. Prince St., just a few blocks from the Prince Street Cafe, whose owners are opening the hotel. They are Kyle Sollenberger and Crystal Weaver.

In the meantime, a parking lot that is part of the hotel parcel is serving the community as a pop-up park, complete with tables, chairs, a coffee bar and an ice cream truck.

On a recent morning, Sollenberger and Weaver sat in the park sipping coffee from the coffee bar, known as Passenger Coffee Roaster’s Airstream Coffee Bar, another business venture the two share.

“We like to create social spaces,” said Weaver, who has owned the Prince Street Cafe since it opened nine years ago. She officially partnered in January with Sollenberger, who approached her to see if she wanted to use the commercial kitchen in a warehouse he restored on Marion Street. She had been cooking in the basement of the café, and didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Their partnership affords them both access to the warehouse, which they refer to as their “hub of operations.” It consists of the kitchen, offices and Passenger Coffee, a roasting brand they are developing that has already reached shelves in San Francisco.

Sharing the same vision to grow the Lancaster community, they want to benefit not just current residents but to bring in visitors from around the world to “rub shoulders with people here downtown,” Sollenberger said.

They’ve been intentional in talking with the city and have received overwhelming support, helping them avoid hurdles. For instance, the mayor lives two doors down from the empty lot, and they said he is supportive of the pop-up park and the upcoming hotel.

“This parking lot is sort of a missing tooth in the block,” Sollenberger said.

Local companies are helping them fill the gap, with Cox Evans doing the architecture, RGS Associates focusing on land development and Benchmark Construction building the hotel. Another company, Infrantree, is helping with the interior and branding. The developers plan to preserve the front of an existing building on the hotel site and incorporate it into the building. The total cost of the project is not yet known.

The hotel's restaurant, Atlas Kitchen and Cocktails, will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner with capacity for 60 to 70 people inside and 25 in the courtyard, which will have an entrance from Water Street and be open to the public.

“Our hope is that this helps to spur the development of Water Street,” Weaver said. She is curious to see what it will look like 10 years from now, reflecting on how much the block has developed since she opened Prince Street Cafe.

“We will be creating 45 to 50 jobs in the city,” Weaver said. “What keeps me going is being able to create jobs, and not just jobs, but meaningful jobs.”

Hiring mostly teenagers and adults in their mid-20s at the cafe, part of her role as a business owner is being able to inspire them to do cool things.

“I like the people side of things,” said Weaver.

Sollenberger and Weaver both live in the city, and they plan to continue looking for ways to create more businesses.

“We want to create the space we’d like to hang out in,” Weaver said.

Source: Central Penn Business Journal