Reconstruction of the Lancaster Visitor Center is planned Local business

The city of Lancaster is planning a $ 2 million renovation project Lancaster Visitor Center, Penn Square, 38. The project involves upgrading the Center and Museum on the ground floor to improve working conditions, create more accessible entrances for people with disabilities and create new public toilets.

The city received a $ 970.00 grant from the state through the Pennsylvania Restructuring Capital Assistance Program, or RACP.

The grant will also help modernize digital mapping technology and system to improve local and international tourism services, the city said in a state funding application.

In its grant application, the city said the U.S. Rescue Plan and Capital Companies Financing Act would be used as a coincidence.

Four employees will be added to the eight already working within the framework of the project.

This is one of four grants announced last week for projects in Lancaster County. Other grants go to Rock Lititz, Lancaster Life Science Incubator and Lancaster YWCA. Applications were submitted in October.

In December, the center was temporarily closed it was damaged by fire deliberately took to the streets, police said.

The visitor center was renovated in 2013, but still suffers from high utility costs due to historic windows that have not been properly restored and the original stone walls have not been properly sealed, the city said in a statement from RCAP. .

“There is a continuous repair of the interior plastered walls due to damage to water seeping through the outer wall on the ground floor, significant damage to the ceiling by water from a faulty and leaky ventilation unit, air conditioning located on the third floor,” – said in a statement. “The center does not have public toilets for more than 17,000 visitors to our city each year. We currently have one pot accessible to people with disabilities, outside the Visitor Center. ”

The visitor center is located in the old town hall, also known as the district court building and the state building. Built between 1795 and 1797, the three-and-a-half-story brick building was restored in 1924. It was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

The design is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022, and bidding should take place in August. Construction could begin in the fourth quarter of 2022 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, the city said in a statement.

The State RACP is a general funding program aimed at regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical projects that are not eligible for primary funding under other government programs. Applications are made and commented on by the public. Awards are announced twice a year.

To qualify for funding, a project must increase or maintain current levels of employment, tax revenue, or other economic performance, and the developer must contribute to the project at least as much money as the grant amount.