Lancaster, Pennsylvania

[BostontoLancaster]

So I've been a long time lurker on this forum, a displaced Bostonian living in Lancaster, PA, for the past five years (the first four attending college and this most recent one working and interning in the area). However, on Sunday I will be moving back to the Boston area to start a new job and will once again be plugged into the Boston development scene. As such, I hope to begin contributing more to the conversation.

Although I will never mistake Lancaster for Boston, Lancaster is a vibrant, energetic city that really has carved out a place in my heart. As I am not working this week, I have decided to really go on a detailed walking tour of this small, but ultra-livable city and snap a bunch of photos. Given this forum's enthusiasm for architecture and urban planning in general, I thought it might make for an interesting photo essay. I have split my walking tour into three parts: yesterday I walked around Franklin & Marshall College (my alma mater), the north side, and the East End; today I will spend my time snapping photos downtown; and tomorrow I plan to walk around the West Side. Given the size and number of photos, I will split the tour into three posts, starting with this one (the introduction, F&M, north side, and East End). I hope you enjoy and I look forward to contributing more to this forum! Also, I apologize for the not-so-terrific quality of my photos; all I have is my smartphone at my disposal.

NOTE: I figured it might be useful to include a map of Lancaster City: https://maps.google.com/maps?client...gl=us&ei=XtvvUYGiEo6w8QS314GYDw&ved=0CJoBELYD. For those who have never been there, this might serve as a way to generally orient yourself with the city should you choose to do so.

Before I begin, just a bit of background: Lancaster is about an hour and a half west of Philadelphia, 45 minutes southeast of Harrisburg, and four and a half hours east of Pittsburgh. It has approximately 60,000 residents living in an area of about 7.2 square miles, giving it a population density of ~8,000 people per square mile. It is the 8th largest city in the state. It is historically and culturally relevant: it is the home of late president James Buchanan, was the nation's capital for one day, has a bustling arts community, and is the historical and present heart of Amish country. Although Lancaster has not been immune to urban renewal over the course of time, its fabric is comprised primarily of stone and brick buildings between three and seven stories tall. There are some blights (as you will see), but much of this fabric remains intact. Over the past five to ten years, Lancaster has experienced something of a rejuvenation, which many other small to midsize cities (at least in PA) have failed to experience. It thrives on the money and tourism that pours in from Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and, to a lesser extent, New York City and New England. It has leveraged its arts community and the Amish to its advantage. The primary economic engines in the city are the following: Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster Regional Hospital, Lancaster General Health/Hospital, and tourism. I'll provide more details within the photo essay, but enough blabbing for now...on to the pictures!

Part 1: F&M, north side, East Side

1. Franklin & Marshall College

Below are photos of F&M's main campus. It's not a "city college" in the way BU is; as you'll notice, F&M has a defined campus that looks suburban. It sits on the very edge of the city (its campus practically is the city line). That being said, the College has been very active in rejuvenating the area surrounding it, which I will discuss in further detail throughout this series.

The College, which was born when Benjamin Franklin's Franklin College and Chief Justice John Marshall's Marshall College combined (Franklin had lots of money, but no students and Marshall had lots of students, but no money), used to be housed completely in Old Main:



Directly to Old Main's left is the Shadek-Fackenthal Library:



And just two more shots of F&M for the flavor. I have many more, but F&M's campus isn't really the point of this little photo essay:





2. Harrisburg Ave.

This area used to be a total blight, and although there is still much room for improvement, a slew of developments have begun to boost this area's image. Much of it used to be abandoned warehouses and mills, a train yard, and scrap heaps. Today, many of the abandoned buildings have been repurposed, the scrap heaps are gone, and the rail yard will soon be moved, freeing up acres of developable land for F&M, the hospitals, and the city. This is an ongoing process that will likely take another decade or so to complete. It's not perfect, but there is promise.

The biggest project on Harrisburg Ave. is College Row, which is widely regarded as part of the F&M campus, but is in fact owned by a third party. (F&M ordered and paid for its construction, but it didn't want to operate the facility.) The top five floors are student housing and the ground floor is all retail, which is almost completely occupied. These two buildings have eleven retail spaces, meaning there really aren't any large superblock retail spots, which is a huge plus. Immediately to the left are several more retail buildings, the College's gym, and a multipurpose athletic field. All these developments sit on former scrap heaps. I didn't snap a photo of the other buildings because, well, they kinda look like what you see here.



Immediately behind College Row sits the rail yard and a bunch of unused land. As of right now, a new rail yard is be constructed about a half-mile away. Once completed, these rails will be torn up and the city will reconnect the street grid. Once done, much of the lawn you see will become F&M's athletic fields and nursing facilities for city's hospitals. Another segment of the newly available land (not visible here) will be divvied up into 12 parcels for the city to sell off to private developers, hopefully reintegrating the part of the city that has been cut off thanks to the rail yard by creating a new, mixed-use area. Although a huge benefit to F&M and the city, it will be a shame to lose the old bridge (first picture).







Continuing down Harrisburg Ave., you start to see some developments that have been finished. One such example is Fenz, a trendy restaurant and bar that took over an old warehouse and salvaged what it could, in the process creating a really cool space. There is a series of stores in a more boring, modern, one-story extension coming out of its rear that isn't visible in this shot. To the right you can see old warehouses; those have been repurposed into student housing and office space (these are technically part of the West End, which I will address in the third part). Their preservation has created a far more interesting neighborhood than had F&M elected to bulldoze it all and start over.



Across the street from Fenz is the end of the railyard. This area is what will be chopped up into the 12 parcels for the city to sell off to private developers. This is also where much of the reknitting of the city's street grid will take place.



Even further up Harrisburg Ave. and closer to the city's downtown, more completed, successful development can be seen. Two prominent examples of projects that replaced derelict buildings or scrap yards are the YMCA (brand new construction, first picture) and the Lancaster ARTS Hotel (rehabbed mill building, second picture). The Lancaster ARTS is a terrific boutique hotel that also house John J. Jeffries, a phenomenal restaurant serving food that can only be obtained from the area farmers. This is a theme: restaurants in Lancaster tend to use local food whenever possible, which is smart, as it leverages the region's Amish heritage while also providing the freshest food you can find. More on the city's terrific collection of restaurants later on.





3. Lancaster's north side

For those of you looking at the map, I took a left on Prince Street, which is the western border of the city's downtown district.

Admittedly, Lancaster probably doesn't look like much of a city thus far. However, that will change, I promise. The north side of the city technically isn't a neighborhood name, but I am calling it that for the sake of organization. This area has seen some investment, but not as much as the downtown area and the western part of the city surrounding F&M. Even the East Side has received more attention than the northern part of the city. That is changing, however, with upgrades to the train station and some infrastructure improvements providing a long-term boost to the region in exchange for some short-term headaches.

The north part of the city is populated by a lot of abandoned lots and warehouses. It won't stay that way for long, however. Here is an example of a warehouse that will be turned into lofts by 2015. There are at least three such projects going on in the immediate vicinity. Additional residents will undoubtedly provide a much needed jolt to this area. Unfortunately, I don't think any of the projects (done by RGS Associates) include much ground-floor retail. That being said, beggars can't be choosers, and the influx of residents will be a boon for the area.



A member of the semi-pro Independent baseball league, the Lancaster Barnstormers are a relatively new anchor for the city's northernmost section. They completed their new stadium only several years ago. As an urban design enthusiast, I feel the new stadium is a mixed bag. Yes, it replaced a scrap yard, so it is an improvement. However, thanks to its single-use as a baseball stadium, it livens the area only on game days. This area could have served as a gateway to a reinvigorated north end of the city. Instead, it only intermittently boosts the area's profile. When the Barnstormers aren't in town, the stadium deadens the immediate area, primarily thanks to blank walls along the street (second photo). The first picture is of the stadium's main entrance.





In my mind, this next photo showcases one of Lancaster's top five development opportunities. An old factory that currently has no use, the building could act as the cornerstone of an impressive development the could anchor the north side. The property it sits on occupies an entire city block, which obviously raises the worry of a superblock development. However, if done right, this could act as the anchor for the city's north side that the land currently occupied by the baseball stadium could have been. Nothing is currently eminent, but once the aforementioned loft projects are completed, there will be many more people living in the area, which will hopefully encourage someone to take a risk on this parcel.



The train station basically serves as the northernmost boundary of the city. Over the train tracks lies the suburbs. The exterior is nice for a small city; Amtrak and the city recently completed a refurbishment of its exterior (they are currently working on its interior). I wish it wasn't so set back from the curb, but all in all it will be a very handsome station once the interior is completed and it brings life to the north side of the city.



Just outside the station, the city and the state are working on the major infrastructure project I mentioned earlier. It's difficult to appreciate the significance of what's happening unless you live in Lancaster, but essentially the project will replace a crumbling bridge just east of the train station and it will improve the traffic patterns throughout much of the northern part of the city. For residents and business owners, it is a tremendous short term headache. However, once completed, it should benefit this part of the city immensely. There is a lot of underutilized land in the area where this work is going on (think used car sales lots, repair shops, etc.). I think the redevelopment of the area around the train station will take awhile; there are plenty of redevelopment opportunities in the city's northern section closer to the vibrant downtown and West End neighborhoods. That being said, if Lancaster can continue to build on its momentum, those opportunities will eventually be used up. Once that happens, these lots (a couple of which you can see in the construction pictures) could provide an interesting opportunity to reconnect a neighborhood.







For those following the map, I walked down McGovern Avenue (train station) and then took a right on Lime Street.

Lime Street is the easternmost border of the downtown district and marks the beginning of the East End, an actual neighborhood. The homes aren't the prettiest (the city's best residential districts are located in the West End area), but they are nothing to scoff at. Below are two photos of typical row homes (at least for the East End). Much of Lime Street is residential or office space; on the ground floors of some of these row houses, you can find law firms and architects galore.





The major tenant of Lancaster's north part of the city is Lancaster General Hospital, which is part of the Lancaster General Health network. This is the hospital that will be working with F&M on the redevelopment of the land freed up by the removal of the rail yard. (It makes sense: three F&M trustees are on LGH's Board of Directors.) Lancaster General occupies several city blocks (below is a picture of the main entrance). Although its downtown campus is by no means an architectural or urban planning masterpiece, Lancaster General has spent A LOT of money on Lancaster and brought several thousand jobs to the city, both of which would be irreplaceable should the city get picky and scare it off. Of course, what's there already would be nearly impossible to move, but the city wants LGH to focus on its downtown location (it has several campuses elsewhere that could certainly benefit from increased investment) and to bring additional functions to Lancaster instead of the suburbs.



4. East End

The East End has received more investment than the city's northernmost portion, although with the new lofts and infrastructure investments pouring into the north side, the East End is quickly losing ground. The issue with the East End has a couple issues holding it back from reaching the heights that the downtown district and the West End have achieved. One is that it lacks a dedicated tenant to anchor the neighborhood and draw money to it. The West End has F&M, the north side has the train station and LGH, and downtown has a bustling arts community and several tourist hot spots. The city has tried to create something like that here, but thus far it has failed to have the same impact. As a result, the East End is a gritty urban neighborhood (not necessarily a bad thing, as I am sure many members of this forum can appreciate) that is punctuated by several highlights. A total revitalization of the area is a long way off, and I am not sure where it would come from, as it doesn't have the vacant land or the easily renovated abandoned warehouses that the rest of the city had. It's mostly old row houses.

When you come across the Lancaster Cemetery, you know you've entered the East End. It's large and would offer the East End a lot of developable land were it available to be repurposed. Of course, that will never happen (nor should it). Many important people (to Lancaster, at least) are buried here and it is pretty, but I can't help but wonder what could be built using this land, which sits in the middle of an urban area.



Lancaster General Hospital's College of Nursing sits on the edge of the East End as well. I believe this is one of several functions the Hospital would like to move over to Harrisburg Avenue once the rail yard has been removed. What would take its place, I have no idea, but it is a nice building. (I apologize for the intense glare here.)



Getting off the East End's edge a bit, Urban Place is located on New Holland Pike and is the site of the greatest effort to reinvigorate the neighborhood. Old, abandoned warehouses were refurbished and turned into a mixed-use are with offices, civic space (the civic space is largely taken up by the city's science museum, the Science Factory), a hotel, and a restaurant. Overall, it's an interesting mixed-use development that looks good for what it is. Unfortunately, it could have been so much more had the original planners thought to include residences and more ground floor retail. Right now, it brings little life to the area outside of office hours and even then it can be sterile. It is certainly better than what was there, but it's an example of developers getting it about 60% right; had the buildings next to the street included ground-floor retail and even just one building been condos or apartments instead of more office space, I think this would have been than much more successful. The hotel is nearly always full, but since there is little to do in the immediate vicinity, its occupants head downtown or to the West End, so the East End sees relatively little benefit. The following the three pictures are all of Urban Place.







Across the street from Urban Place is this nondescript wooden building that looks much older than it is. Inside is my favorite East End bar. I don't make it over here all that much, but when I do, I tend to frequent this spot.



One thing Lancaster (and, in particular, the East End) has a lot of that I wish Boston would embrace more is colorful murals. They dot the landscape throughout the East End, the northern part of the city, and parts of the West End. I think murals add color and vibrancy to otherwise downtrodden areas, so I always stop to admire good murals that are tastefully done. This particular one is relatively new, covering the blank side wall of what is the headquarters of an Iraqi catering place. The food is excellent. For whatever reason, Lancaster has attracted a very diverse array of nationalities, which is reflected in its food. Without leaving the city, I can get really good Iraqi, Nepalese, Tibetan, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Ethiopian, authentic Mexican, Colombian, Italian (the real kind), Haitian, Jamaican, and French cuisine. I know I'm forgetting several as well. Anyway, here's a photo of the mural I mentioned:



NOTE: I recognize I have been calling the neighborhood the East End and the mural says the East Side. It gets called both names in Lancaster. I have heard both names from locals. I just happened to learn that it is called the East End.

One really successful East End refurbishment is the Lancaster Brewing Company, one of two breweries the city has within its limits (the other is Iron Hill, which is a chain and is located in the College Row complex). It's a very cool place inside, with the tables located amidst all the tanks and equipment the brewery uses to make its beer. Iron Hill in College Row is generally considered to be the better of the two breweries (although they are predictably similar), but there's no question this has proven to be an excellent usage of a vacant factory that would have otherwise remained empty and rotting for years and the Lancaster Brewing Co. not decided it would be a cool place for a brewery/restaurant. The first picture is of the main entrance and the second picture is of its newly renovated outdoor patio on the opposite side. The outdoor section is surprisingly successful given its exposure to a busy intersection and it will improve even more once the brewery installs the public art display it had commissioned for the patio.





This next picture is of a small street closer to downtown from where I have been. For those looking at the map, I believe I was on East Walnut Street when I snapped this photo.



The last stop on my tour of the East End was Musser Park, which is the centerpiece of what is probably the prettiest and best put together part of Lancaster's East End. It occupies about two city blocks and is surrounded by three and four story brick and stone homes that are nearly as old as the city itself. The western half of the park is largely an open lawn (second photo) and is used to host festivals, markets, and other community events. I didn't get a chance to snap any photos of the really nice homes surrounding Musser Park because a flash storm popped up just as I was going through the area. It's not a tragedy, however, as it looks like much of the West End, which I have yet to post. For now, a couple photos of Musser Park will have to suffice:





On the easternmost edge of Musser Park is the Lancaster Art Museum. Not being a huge fan of art, I have never gone there, preferring to frequent the city's restaurants, bars, and other attractions. However, it is in a handsome building (the photo doesn't do it justice) and the people I know who have attended it have told me it's well worth a visit if you're interested in art. As long as you don't go in expecting it to be the MFA, it is a good way to spend a couple hours.



And that concludes Part 1 of 3. Today I will be walking around the downtown core of the city (easily its most vibrant, exciting part) and tomorrow I will be walking around the West End (a very pretty, but largely residential area). I will post my downtown photos and thoughts to this thread either tonight or tomorrow morning. What you saw today were easily the least impressive segments of Lancaster. If you can stand my mediocre photography and my long post, you'll certainly enjoy seeing the other two parts of this little series. I hope you enjoyed it!

 

[davem]

I was in Lancaster about three years ago and loved it. Even with the economy still in the pits you could feel that the city was poised for a renaissance, and the downtown (which I'm looking forward to seeing more of) was surprisingly vibrant. GREAT restaurants too, I don't think I had a bad meal the entire time. It's good to see that the city is working on getting some momentum going on the north side. I came in from the train station and it was bleak to say the least. It didn't help that the station itself was a dump at the time.

Looking forward to more pics!

 

[BostontoLancaster]

Much of the city's resurgence began to take hold about three years ago, so the city has changed a lot since then. The restaurants are more plentiful, there is more retail, and the number of dead spots in the city is declining. The north side of the city would still generally be considered bleak when compared to other sections.

And I'd be shocked if you DID have a bad meal...you get NYC/Boston/DC quality restaurants (some are better) for half the price. Can't beat it!

 

[BostontoLancaster]

Part 2: Downtown

Downtown Lancaster is generally defined as the area within the following streets: James to the north, Lime to the east, King to the south, and Prince to the west. I already covered Lime Street in the previous section, so Part 2 will focus on a slightly smaller area of downtown. For those who want a visual reminder of Lancaster's street grid, here's the map once again: https://maps.google.com/maps?client...A&gl=us&ei=EZHwUfioGtWt4APTvYEo&ved=0CIwBELYD

Now on to the pictures! (Again, I was only equipped with my phone, so I apologize for the quality.)

1. Duke Street

Duke Street is a largely residential/office street. However, it is also populated by a number of impressive churches, as well as Lancaster's impressive court house and Municipal Building. To start, here are several shots of Duke's more interesting/impressive homes. This should give you a general flavor of Duke's streetscape, which isn't quite as bustling as the scene on Queen or Prince streets.



















Duke Street also sports several impressive churches. Here are two shots of such churches:





Although not of an entire church, I snapped this picture of this little blue street sign adorning the side of one church on Duke (I neglected to remember which one). While Lancaster does have modern street signs on its stop lights and at all intersections, it is cool to see the old blue ones still tacked on to buildings around the city. It's a cool little detail that I hope sticks around for a while yet.



The Red Rose, while not Lancaster's finest dining establishment, is a Lancaster staple and has been in town for a long time.



Lancaster is the county seat for Lancaster County (makes sense) and, as such, is home to the County's courthouse. It's an impressive building and although its impressive main staircase is located on King Street (which is visible in the last photo), it is most visible from Duke. In the first picture, you can just see what looks like a long, boring brick building jutting out behind the impressive courthouse. That rather drab superblock building is the courthouse's contemporary expansion, which fails to live up to the original structure's high standards.









Not too far from the courthouse sits Lancaster's Municipal Building, or City Hall. While smaller, it still is a handsome structure that has a level of detail many of today's buildings cannot match. It is currently being rehabilitated and modestly expanded, which you can see in the second photo.





For all of Duke Street's positive, it does have one issue that I don't see being resolved anytime soon: deadening parking garages. This is an issue throughout Lancaster to some extent; I am convinced there are more parking garages per capita in Lancaster than in any other city in the state. Admittedly, it's a product of a bygone era. For all of the city's positives and its momentum going forward, it does have an unfortunate number of inactive street walls that just flat out kill certain sections of streets. I'll highlight one or two other notable examples later on, but these two parking garages really kill two distinct portions of Duke Street. Personally, I feel like the large, blank wall in the second shot would be a great place for a professional mural. It still wouldn't be great, but it would look better than the sea of brick there now.





Perhaps the best part of Duke Street is its southernmost part. It's a beautiful couple blocks of brick sidewalks, well-maintained homes, tight streets, and mature greenery. It's all residential, which isn't a problem (the buildings are old and aren't large enough to accommodate more than one purpose). I would much rather keep these couple blocks as is than mess with its beauty just to add a couple shops.









These next two photos aren't on Duke Street, but are still part of the neighborhood pictured in the last four shots.





2. King Street

King Street is the major east-west street in Lancaster. The intersection of King and Queen Streets creates Penn Square, which is considered to be the heart of the city (although I would consider Prince and parts of Queen to be more the source of downtown Lancaster's life). This first photo is actually from Lime Street looking down East King Street towards Penn Square. The large building in the background is the Penn Square Marriott, which sits atop the Lancaster County Convention Center in Penn Square (more on that later).



Further down East King Street you'll come across Annie Bailey's, a really fun Irish Bar/Restaurant that has been a Lancaster staple for quite some time. It's great if you're looking for a burger or sandwich.



East King Street also has a decent amount of development going on. In this picture you can see an ongoing project. They are currently dismantling a building that was previously there and it will be replaced with a mixed-use building...I believe first floor retail and three or four floors of office space on top.



Literally right across the street from this project sits a vacant building. Although it's depressing right now, the city has approved a mixed use project to replace it. The developer is currently waiting to sign on a major tenant before starting construction. The first photo shows what is there now and the second shows a rendering posted in the window. It's nothing earth shattering, but if it interacts well with the street and is mostly occupied, it will be a welcome addition to the block. Note: the nice stone building on the far left will remain (it's reflected in the rendering). The middle and right buildings will be replaced.





On the other side of Penn Square, West King Street is a big draw for its retail and restaurants. It currently has The Pressroom (a great restaurant and a Lancaster establishment), The Taproom (a great microbrewery), and will soon be welcoming Aussie & The Fox, which promises to be a great addition to Lancaster's already busy restaurant scene. This is in addition to a few delis and other less formal dining establishments. West King also has some impressive architecture, which you'll see in the photos below.

The first photo is of the Taproom, which is just one of several restaurants in Lancaster the exclusively serves locally brewed beer. It's actually just as easy to find craft beer in Lancaster as it is to find a Miller Lite (which I love). This is thanks to the area's burgeoning number of micro breweries. The Taproom is actually connected to a brewery about 20 minutes from the city, I believe in Conestoga. It only sells this one brewery's beer and is always packed. To the right you can see Lancaster's Visitor Center, which is currently being renovated and cannot really be seen from West King because of the scaffolding and tarps.



Next up is The Pressroom. The first photo is its front (the old Steinman Hardware Co. building) and the last two are its outdoor seating area behind the building. It's a beautiful little patio area shaded by trees and anchored by a water feature at the back. It can be accessed either through the restaurant or by a small alleyway off the street.







I'll conclude my King Street section with three general shots of West King. Some of the detailing on these buildings is fantastic. I apologize for the nasty glare in the first shot. I can't wait to get an actual camera!







3. Penn Square

Backing up a bit, let's take a look at Penn Square. Here is an overall shot of the area. To the left is East King Street.



As I mentioned before, Penn Square is the geographical heart of the city. It's two tallest buildings stand on opposite corners, the Convention Center is there, several prominent offices overlook it, and the city's two busiest streets (King and Queen) converge there. Central Market is also just around the corner. Although it's a nice public space, it could use an infusion of ground floor retail. Three of its four corners are lobbies for office buildings and/or bank lobbies. While people bustle in and out from 8-5, outside of those hours they're relatively inactive. The Rendezvous Lounge and Penn Square Grille are on the ground floor of the Marriott/Convention Center, but they both have a distinctly hotel feel and cater primarily to those staying in the Marriott. The first floor of the Greist Building is open and the landlord is trying to find a tenant (you'll see the Greist Building in a bit). For Penn Square's sake, I really hope they find a restaurant that wants to include some outdoor seating for the spot. It would inject a little extra life into the square on the weekends and at night.

This next picture is a close up of the monument in the center of the square. It's certainly elegant, but I love it primarily because it slows down traffic. It juts out into the middle of the intersection and both King and Queen streets have to curve around it, forcing cars to slow down. Directly behind the monument is the Citizens Bank building.



The Marriott and the Convention Center have been a hot topic in the city since it opened. It's a large convention center that was built largely on the backs of the public. Its benefits are obvious: Prior to its construction the old Watt & Schand department store sat empty and was simply decaying, a rotting reminder of once was. Now, a nice hotel, convention space, a bar, and a decent restaurant occupy it and they all inject life into Penn Square. When conventions are in town, the hotel is completely full and the area definitely sees a modest uptick. The construction also preserved the wonderful street-level facade. All that being said, there are definitely downsides: The convention center almost never operates at capacity. It is simply too large for a city of 60,000. The hotel above it is large, meaning it is almost never full unless there's a large convention. This has created something of a money pit, with the hotel operator constantly asking for more public money to operate the facility and the city, county, and developer having to consistently refinance the debt attached to the entire project. Thus far, Wells Fargo (the main creditor) and the city/county have avoided a major standoff, but there have been a few close calls. Taking everything into consideration, I think it's a net benefit for Penn Square and the city. However, I would have liked to see it done on a more modest scale. Lancaster has a lot going for it and its downtown is growing and evolving. But the city isn't that far from Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington, D.C. It's hard to convince major conventions to look at Lancaster as a viable option when it's much smaller than other nearby cities, doesn't have a major airport closer than Baltimore or Philly, and doesn't have enough hotel rooms within the city limits to accommodate a major convention that fills the center. The hotel also opened in 2009 in the thick of the depression, which certainly didn't help. I've noticed a modest increase in activity in the Convention Center recently. Hopefully that trend continues.

Here are a couple more photos, the first being of the Marriott hotel on top and the second being a close up of the original Watt & Schand department store facade.





Directly across the street from the Convention Center is a small patio area with a gazebo. This is generally a gathering place for people making their way around the city at night on the weekends. The gazebo has a piano in it for anyone to play. Lancaster has placed a dozen or so pianos around the city for anyone to play, which really brings some liveliness to the city. It's cool walking around and hearing music coming from different corners. It's also not uncommon to see an Amish or Mennonite choir come into the city, gather around a piano, and perform for passersby.





As I mentioned earlier, the Greist Building is Lancaster's other tall building and is really the closest thing the city has to a skyscraper. It's 12 stories and is relatively narrow (unlike the Marriott, which is a bit too wide for my taste). It was built I believe in the early 1900s. Until recently, the Greist Building's 125-foot height represented the height cap in Lancaster. I believe there is a motion in the City Council to raise the height limit to 175 feet, although I don't believe there is any project in the works that would challenge the original 125-foot cap. However, as fewer and fewer vacant lots and abandoned warehouses remain on the market, development opportunities will become scarcer, forcing developers up.





4. Central Market

I suppose Central Market could be considered part of Penn Square, but it's important enough to Lancaster to get its own section. It's the oldest, continually operated indoor farmer's market in the world. It's the finest I have ever seen; Amish and Mennonite farmers from across PA come every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday to sell their produce, meats, cheeses, and homemade foods. I can't think of a time I have ever been able to buy so much food straight from the farm. The food is always top notch, the freshness and quality are the best anywhere, and I have never gone to a grocery store to buy fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, sweets, spices, bread, or fish. It you ever visit Lancaster, you MUST put this on your list. Unfortunately, it isn't open on Wednesdays, so I was unable to snap any photos of its bustling interior.

The first photo shows its prominent corner, which can be seen from Penn Square, and the second shows its original main entrance with the Greist Building in the background.





Central Market is tightly packed in among several other buildings, which creates a neat series of alleyways surrounding it. A couple of the alleys actually have their own retail spots, which is nice. When I walked through, it was relatively quiet, but that was because the Market was closed. On days the Market is open, all these alleyways are packed. In the four photos below, Central Market is on the right-hand side in each. In the last one, the Greist Building is on the left.









Although not technically in Central Market, I consider the Lancaster Dispensing Company and Carr's Restaurant to be part of the Central Market area. They occupy two corner spots outside the Central Market main entrance. Lancaster Dispensing (first photo) is a cool little restaurant where people go for a cheap beer and meal. It is always packed from wall to wall. Carr's (second photo) is a more upscale restaurant, serving excellent food. The restaurant itself is actually downstairs in a fun little basement space. Upstairs is Crush, which is the restaurant's wine bar. Both do solid business, despite their lack of a premier street-front location.





5. Queen Street

Queen Street is the main north-south street in Lancaster. While there is some residential space, much of Queen street is retail and commercial space. Here are a couple general shots of Queen:





Although there is a lot of interesting retail on Queen Street, it is here that Lancaster experienced its most notable urban renewal projects, which have plagued the city ever since. While Lancaster's urban renewal was relatively isolated and fortunately didn't spread much beyond this immediate area of Queen Street, three projects stick out like a sore thumb:

1. Lancaster County leveled a section of Queen Street to build the facility that now houses the County's offices. This is by far the most successful of the three projects I will show you. This isn't because the building is particularly good; it's a sterile government building with no street level engagement and a noticeable setback. But at least people work in the building. That's more than the other two examples can say. A picture:



2. Directly across the street sits Lancaster's version of Government Center. It's a windswept, 100% brick courtyard with no retail or offices at all surrounding it. It is bordered on one side by the Brunswick Hotel, which is Lancaster's dumpiest and least desirable place to stay. It's also a blight. Located directly across the street from the County Government building, the two combine to create a fabulously dead stretch of what should be the city's most vibrant and busy street. Fortunately, Prince, King, Duke, and many other streets were untouched by those who thought of these projects. In the photo below, the Brunswick Hotel is in the back.



3. Finally, two city blocks are taken up by a monstrosity that sits vacant. In the 1980s a developer thought he could bring back the downtown department store. Despite the fact that a mega shopping mall was opening on the city's outskirts (Lancaster did annex the land the shopping mall now sits on in a brilliant move that nets the city a huge chunk of extra tax revenue every year), the developer leveled two entire city blocks and put it in the uninspired behemoth pictured below. Predictably, it failed miserably and the building was shuttered within a decade. It has sat vacant ever since, occupying premier downtown property. Eventually, this will be redeveloped. However, it may take awhile. It would be an expensive teardown for one, and there are still far too many easily developed empty plots and vacant warehouses throughout the city to justify that cost. Perhaps in 5-10 years a developer with deep enough pockets will see this as a business opportunity, but until then Lancaster is stuck with a monstrosity.



As I mentioned before, Lancaster's urban renewal projects were relatively contained to this area of Queen Street. The rest of Queen is actually quite nice, with tons of shops and a bustling crowd keeping it lively night and day. One project that could have wiped out another area, but instead has turned out OK, is the Queen Street parking garage. It's the hub for Red Rose Transit, the city's bus system (Lancaster is the Red Rose City). Admittedly, it's tough to find silver linings when it comes to parking garages. However, this one has ground floor retail, which primarily taken up by a two-floor restaurant called the Federal Taphouse. It serves wood-fired pizza, but no one goes there for that. The real reason people visit and it's always hopping is the 100 craft beers it has on tap every single day. I have had local beers, beers from every corner of the country, and foreign beers from as far away as Uzbekistan there. It's awesome for beer lovers like myself. In the picture below, it occupies the area covered in glass (the garage is on top).



Queen Street's best attraction is The Belvedere. It's an older restaurant, known for its delicious food (in particular, its grilled caesar salad is excellent), $4 Guinness drafts, and the fact that it used to be Lancaster's best-known and most frequented brothel. The leopard-print rug on the stairs gives it away for those paying close enough attention. It occupies a very nice old building that was recently restored nicely. The last photo is of The Belvedere's back, which is actually on Lemon Street.







6. Prince Street

Prince Street is, in my opinion, Lancaster's busiest and liveliest street. It has an interesting mix of retail, residential, and office spaces. In addition, Lancaster's bustling arts community is located primarily on Prince. Perhaps its most notable tenant is the Fulton Theater, a very old theater that puts on some excellent off Broadway productions. (I may be incorrect here, but I believe it is one of the oldest continuously operated theaters in America.) I have been there a couple times and enjoyed both productions immensely.



Across the street from the theater is Carmen & David's Ice Cream, a wonderful Lancaster staple that makes all its ice cream in house. It also occupies this colorful little building:



A little further up sits the Ware Center, which is Millersville University's contribution to Lancaster's downtown. While not located in Lancaster, Millersville is a nearby state university that wanted a downtown presence. The Ware Center is used for classroom space by the University, but much of its first floor is used for civic programming open to the public. A number of presentations, concerts, and parties have been hosted in its halls.



Although there is little on Prince Street to gripe about, there are a couple sore spots. One in particular really grinds my gears: the Rouff Towers. They're essentially suburban apartment towers plopped down carelessly in a sea of parking lots in the middle of the city. The only thing good about them is the people who live there, who inject a lot of life into the city. Gaze upon the horror:



The Rouff Towers are particularly bad because they won't be redeveloped. They're nearly completely occupied and they're still serviceable. It'll be decades before these towers meet their demise.

Fortunately, things stand to improve in the area immediately surrounding the Rouff Towers. Directly across the street, one of the Towers' parking lots is slated to get redeveloped into apartments, which will bring more life to the area. A picture of the lot:



A little further up the street, what was once a parking lot has now become Lancaster's newest mixed-use building. It is primarily office space for a psychology/counseling services company. That being said, it is bringing restaurant space to the area in the form of a three-story cafe and lounge at the corner of Prince and Lemon streets. The architecture of the building isn't great, but it replaced a parking lot and brought approximately 100 new jobs and a restaurant to the city. Overall, I can't complain. In the photos below, the cafe/lounge will occupy the little three-story segment with balconies (featured most prominently in the second photo).





Across the street from this new development, the Press Building, which has long stood vacant, is about to be redeveloped into a mixed-use building with apartments, condos, and commercial space. The first photo below shows the plan, while the second one shows the building as it currently stands. This project will bring some much needed residents to this part of Prince Street and I am very pleased to hear it will have commercial/retail space at the ground level to boot.





In my mind, there are three excellent development opportunities remaining on Prince Street. One is at the corner of Prince and King, where a one-story 99 cent store hogs one of the city's premier street corners. I predict this one-story building doesn't have much longer to live—it's always empty and the city is quickly running out of empty buildings and vacant lots. Once those are gone, the one-story buildings will be the next to be targeted. A quick pic:



Only a block or two up from this atrocity is the Central Market parking lot. This will be a lot tougher to replace, both because it's a large, strangely oriented lot and because it is always packed on Market days. The owners make a TON of money off this lot and will be hard-pressed to sell. Any development that happens here will have to include a significant parking component to get approval from the city as well. This is all too bad, because it tears out a chunk of Prince Street's mostly excellent fabric. See below:



Another couple blocks up sits The Den, Lancaster's local porno shop. Despite the general rejuvenation of the city's downtown district, The Den has somehow held on and is going strong. It occupies a run down two-story building that would be an easy tear down. It also occupies a preeminent corner on Prince and Orange, so the developer would have a good location to work with.



And last but not least is the Sunoco station across from The Den. Throughout the downtown core there are three or four gas station plots that are either still operating or recently abandoned. All of them will be gone relatively soon; one is slated to become apartments with construction starting next year. This Sunoco station will last the longest (it's by far the newest and most used), but the location is so important and so underutilized that, once other easier development targets are swallowed up, some developer will be willing to pay for this one. A picture:



To close this section on Prince Street, here are a handful of general shots of the streetscape:















7. Random Photos

Finally, just some other random pictures from around the city with just a sentence or two for context.

From Orange Street, two restaurants. On Orange (cream-colored building) is a delicious breakfast place that has been around forever and Citronnelle, a French cuisine place that is brand new:



From Orange Street, looking towards Central Market:



On Orange Street, a great Tibetan restaurant (makes for a great cheap date place as well):



From Orange Street looking down Christian Street, which is more of an alleyway than an actual street:



Walnut Street, just across from the Federal Taphouse/garage, which you can make out amidst the glare in the back:



The next four shots are from Water Street. It's a funky little street that runs parallel next to Prince. It has one notable project, which has been to turn an abandoned warehouse into upscale condos for 55+ year olds. The ground floor will actually be a fudge/candy factory that will have a retail component. See the second photo.









On Lemon Street, the construction of a sigh parking garage. However, there are two facts that make this garage more palatable: First, it will largely be tucked away behind existing buildings. Secondly, this will allow many of the loft/apartment projects I have mentioned throughout these first two parts to move forward. If the price of infusing the area with hundreds of new condos and apartments and rejuvenation of unused warehouses is one parking garage, I'll take it.



Whew! If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. Tomorrow I will walk through Lancaster's West End neighborhood, which is a wonderful residential area. Hopefully it won't be as long as this part! Until tomorrow...

 

[choo]

^This is really interesting and very well done. I knew nothing about the city am intrigued. It seems like a great model for the Lowells, Lawrence, New Bedford, Fall River and Brocktons to strive for. I think major cities will certainly be the face of an urban revival and mixed use living in the US, but collectively, these secondary cities are where the really story will be told. I hope many more become like Lancaster from your pictures.

 

[BostontoLancaster]

^This is really interesting and very well done. I knew nothing about the city am intrigued. It seems like a great model for the Lowells, Lawrence, New Bedford, Fall River and Brocktons to strive for. I think major cities will certainly be the face of an urban revival and mixed use living in the US, but collectively, these secondary cities are where the really story will be told. I hope many more become like Lancaster from your pictures.

Thank you, Choo. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in the first post, I will be leaving this wonderful little city on Sunday (although I am moving up to Boston, so I can't really complain). I will do my best to snap photos of the city's West End before I leave, although I was hoping to accomplish that today and a bunch of moving related tasks got in the way.

As far as your comments about the city, I tend to agree. I think the big story for me is the not the rejuvenation of America's major cities, but the country's reversal from suburban sprawl to more walkable communities in towns and small- to mid-size cities across the U.S. My photos from Lancaster's West End will hopefully emphasize the true mixed-use nature of the neighborhood. I live in the West End and am within a ten minute walk of a grocery store, farmers market, salon, two restaurants/bars, a pizzeria, a pharmacy, and one or two general retail locations. It's terrific. Lancaster has a lot going for it, and I am stoked to watch its development from afar (although I will visit often, mostly because my girlfriend will be remaining in the area).

Lancaster actually just announced a couple VERY exciting developments, one being a comprehensive redo of its zoning code and the other being a potential $100 million investment from the state. The latter development will actually be used to help spur development at some of the underdeveloped blights I highlighted in the downtown core (the old, massive former department store received a lot of attention in the press conference) and the railyard highlighted in Part 1. If PA's legislature doesn't screw this up, the bill would be a huge boon for Lancaster and other small/mid-sized cities in Central PA.

The revising of the zoning code is another big win. Although I don't love the idea of detailed zoning codes in general (I feel the restrict development) Lancaster's City Council actually did a lot of things I like. Six things in particular:

1. The upped the height limit to 150 feet.
2. There is now a height minimum in the downtown area; all developers must adhere to a two-story minimum, which in a small city like Lancaster is a good starting point (I personally would have like to see a three-story minimum).
3. They explicitly forbade setbacks; all new development must come up to the existing street wall.
4. City Council placed a limit on the amount of surface lots that can be constructed within Lancaster's limits. This mainly targets the construction of single-family homes with driveways; they're encouraging denser development.
5. The City Council required developers who do want to include any kind of surface lot parking in the city to offset that by planting a certain amount of trees in the city's parks and along its streets. Along with a couple other provisions, the City Council basically said that, while it won't ban personal driveways and surface lots outright, it's sure as hell going to do everything in its power to discourage their development.
6. Last but not least, the city is moving away from strict, single-purpose zones. In the latest rewrite, they zoned a bunch of areas simply as "mixed-use," with no restrictions on their eventual usage other than you can't plop a huge factory there. Residential, office, retail, restaurant...it's all fair game.

Anyway, what I am basically saying is that I am optimistic about Lancaster maintaining its forward momentum for the next decade plus. Its finances are in solid shape (compared to other cities), people want to be here, it has access to capital, and the City Council and the Mayor seem to have a good, comprehensive vision for Lancaster's downtown area. I think it will be very exciting to watch Lancaster continue to develop and to see if other similar cities can follow suit.

 

[BostontoLancaster]

So I walked around Lancaster's West End today and snapped well over 150 photos of the neighborhood's streets and architecture. Unfortunately, I have yet to finish editing all of them and selecting which ones I want to display here. Tomorrow and Sunday are moving days, so it's unlikely I will have a chance to post them here before Monday. That being said, I did snap a handful of photos when I was downtown for dinner early this evening, and they came out pretty well and required only minimal editing. I figured I'd share them here. I've added some minimal comments for context.

First, three quick views of West King Street:







I cannot wait for this restaurant to open; Aussie & The Fox looks very funky and their concept menus look fantastic.



Two shots of North Queen Street:





A couple shots of Penn Square. There was a Mennonite church choir singing in the square this evening. They weren't too bad.





A shot of a modest three-story building on West Orange Street.



And last, but certainly not least, three shots of the Griest Building basking in the fading sunlight. In the forefront of the third shot is the brick building that houses several shops and the Lancaster Visitor Center. It's currently being touched up inside and out.







I'll have the photos of the West End posted by Monday. Until then, thanks for taking a look!

 

[itchy]

BEAUTIFUL city.

I passed through Lancaster in Summer 2011. I was very surprised by its size and high number of gorgeous historic structures.

Overall, I couldn't shake the impression that the city felt a bit down on its luck. A large number of people who didn't look like the vanguard of the 21st century information economy walking about (granted, this was mid-day on a weekday). However, the city is fantastic-looking and the sort of place you want to see do well - so hopefully you guys are all down there working hard and picking the local economy up.

By the way, Franklin & Marshall-branded clothing is HUGE in Western Europe. I have absolutely no idea why/how the college's name came to be marketed so heavily on clothes, but they sell F&M shirts, hats, shorts in department stores all over Europe. Teenagers wear it as if it were Abercrombie (which they of course also wear with gusto). Truly bizarre.

 

[BostontoLancaster]

Well...it's not Monday, but I have finally carved out a bit of time to get my photos from Lancaster's West End put together. Most of the streets in the West End are similar: they're nice residential areas populated by 2-4 story brick and stone row homes and just about every street has a smattering of retail mixed in. I won't offer as much commentary as I have in my other posts, unless it is warranted.

Before I begin, here's the map of Lancaster once again for those who have found it useful: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Lanc...gl=us&ei=WQr4UZTZGZOy4AOVu4CIAw&ved=0CJsBELYD. I generally define the West End as the area between Harrisburg Ave. to the north, Prince Street to the east, Orange Street to the south, and College Avenue to the west. In reality, it's a bit bigger than that, but these four streets surround the heart of the West End. As always, I'll label the streets I am on. Enjoy!

1. Chestnut Street

This is probably the prettiest street in the city. The homes are generally in pristine condition and have been around for 50+ years. Many are prewar structures. Although almost completely residential, there are some offices mixed in and the Chestnut Street Cafe is my favorite place in the city to grab some coffee (on the rare occasion I need a little caffeine).

A view down Chestnut:



General shots of some of the homes, businesses, and churches that line both sides of the street:

































Chestnut Street has a couple retail locations. The aforementioned Chestnut Hill Cafe can be seen in the first two photos and the Modern Art Gallery, which is right across the street, is in the third shot:







Towards the eastern end of Chestnut is the Wolf Museum of Art. As I am not a big fan of art, I haven't been inside. The museum's exterior, however, is quite nice:



2. Concord Street

This is a small north-south street with a couple particularly nice and quiet residential sections off of Chestnut. Although it's a long street, the area around Chestnut Street is by far the prettiest. There is no retail along this street, which isn't surprising, as it is more of an alleyway than an actual street. Here are just a handful of pictures from the block or so off of Chestnut Street to the north:











3. Walnut Street

Walnut is one block up from Chestnut and runs parallel to it. This is another very pretty street, although some of the homes aren't as architecturally interesting or as well maintained as the ones on Chestnut. There really isn't any commercial or retail presence on Walnut until you get closer to the city. A picture looking down Walnut to start:



At the east end of Walnut, this mural welcomes drivers and pedestrians to the West End:



Just across the street from the above mural sits the Shamrock Cafe. Consider it the immediate area's dive bar. I have never been inside...there's a perfectly suitable dive bar much closer to my apartment.



Now for some general shots of the streetscape:

























At Walnut Street's western edge sits a local middle school:



4. Lemon Street

I spent a lot of time on Lemon Street during my time in Lancaster. Although not as refined a street as either Chestnut or Walnut, it is easily the most mixed-use street in the West End. In addition to a large number of residents, a grocery store, farmers market, specialty food shop, hair salon, bookstore, bar, ice cream parlor, and pharmacy all call Lemon Street home. I frequented many of these businesses and will point out the ones I took photos of. To start, here are a few shots of the streetscape (a couple of these photos are actually from side streets running off Lemon, but I included them here because they are effectively part of the Lemon Street neighborhood):

























On the right side of this photo is Smithgall's Pharmacy owned by the former mayor and current Republican mayoral candidate Charlie Smithgall. He has a snowball's chance in hell of winning; Lancaster has made tremendous strides under current Democratic mayor Rick Gray. Gray has easily won two consecutive terms as mayor and I imagine he's as close to a shoo-in as can be for a third. Only time will tell, however.



Just down the street from Smithgall's Pharmacy is the West End Market, a family-owned supermarket that has been in the neighborhood for a couple generations at least:







Next door to the West End Market is Brendee's Irish Pub, which is Irish only in the sense you go there to get wrecked on $2 Yuengling's and $4 Miller Lite pitchers. It's not the fanciest bar in the world, but it's a good place to go as a college student without a whole lot of money. It's not nearly as rowdy as you'd think, however, which was a big plus in my book. The second picture is of the bar's backside, which is painted like the Irish flag.





Across the street from both the West End Market and Brendee's is Splits & Giggles, which is a very cool ice cream parlor. The decor inside is awesome (think 50s corner ice cream shop) and the owners are so sweet. It's the only place I have found where I can get a fresh chocolate dipped waffle cone with two scoops of ice cream and a topping for $2.50. I took my girlfriend and three friends there once and we all got ice cream for under $10 total.





This is a great used bookstore called Dogstar Books. As an avid reader, I really enjoyed walking its aisles and picking out hard to find and out of print titles. They also host several readings throughout the year as a way to help promote local authors.



The Lemon Street Market is a small farmers market on the east end of Lemon Street. I rarely visited here because I spent so much time at Central Market downtown, but it has a decent selection for such a small space and the quality is top notch, just like Central Market downtown. It's a tad bit pricey, however.



5. James Street

Another nice street that is largely residential. Franklin & Marshall College has purchased a large chunk of the homes on the western end of James Street for student housing. This street used to be a problem area for the College and the city, as students were oftentimes cited for noise violations. The College and the city have worked to make James (along with College Avenue) into student zones. It benefits the College by providing it with more housing stock for students and it benefits residents by keeping the college students more or less confined to a couple streets. It's not a perfect solution, but relations between Lancaster and F&M have begun improving in recent years.







Located on the corner of James Street and College Avenue is the Lancaster Theological Seminary, which is a small but pretty campus that takes up about two or three city blocks. It's strange...it is definitely an active institution, but I almost never see anyone walking around its campus. Still, it has a couple beautiful brick structures.











6. Frederick Street

This is probably the least desirable street in the west end. The homes aren't nearly as well kept, the streetscape is a bit harsh, and there isn't enough active retail to make up for either of those two facts. I snapped a few pictures anyway. The first is of the street in general, the second (bright blue building) is of Hildy's Bar, which isn't all that dissimilar from Brendee's (cheap, plentiful beer), and the last is of a hair salon across the street from Hildy's. When I lived off campus on Charlotte Street (coming up in a bit), I would walk down this street to get to campus.







7. Mulberry Street

Mulberry Street is a cute little north-south street closer to downtown. For what is essentially a glorified side street, it has some interesting homes, a few decent retail locations, and a fair amount of activity. To start, here are a few photos of the general streetscape:













Mulberry Street also had a couple condo projects going on. Like many other projects in the city, Mulberry had a couple empty former warehouses and developers bought them, gut the interiors, and turned them into apartments/condos. The first photo is of a project that is not yet complete (despite what the banner says) and the second is of a project that is completed and is close to being 100% full. No retail in either, but that's not surprising given their respective locations.





El Maizal is a great Colombian restaurant:



The Pemberley Tea Shop is supposedly a great place to spend a couple hours reading or working with some tea and a snack. I don't drink tea, so I have never been there, but the people I know who have seem to enjoy it.



Checkers Bistro is a great restaurant/bar at the corner of Mulberry and James streets. It has a quiet atmosphere and it closes earlier than the downtown bars (10 pm vs. 2 am), but it was a great place to go to dinner if I didn't feel like making the trek downtown.



This is the linear park, which used to be a railway through the city. A small section of the railway was paved over and the sliver of land that snakes its way from Harrisburg Avenue to Lemon Street was turned into a park with basketball courts, a playground, and a couple small gardens. It's not solely on Mulberry Street, but I was on the corner of James and Mulberry (across from Checkers) when I took this picture:



8. Charlotte Street

Charlotte Street was my home for my final two years of college, when I lived in one of the old warehouses F&M renovated into student apartments. It's primarily residential with almost no commercial or retail. It has some very pretty sections, however, and isn't far from bars, restaurants, and downtown.









This handsome building sits on the corner of Charlotte and Chestnut streets. It used to be Lancaster's elementary school, but it was purchased by a developer when the city opened its new one and converted into very nice apartments.





These next four photos are at the other end of Charlotte Street near Harrisburg Avenue. These warehouses are the ones that were converted into student housing I mentioned earlier. I lived in the building in the second picture for my junior and senior years.









I'm not sure when, but awhile ago the warehouses that used to be across the street from the ones pictured above were razed and replaced by a lumber yard. It would have been awesome if the city could have preserved those as well and created a dense little neighborhood around this end of Charlotte Street made up of warehouses, regardless of whether or not they were all students. Unfortunately, I don't see the yard being replaced anytime soon, as it is always busy and I am pretty sure they do a very good business. It's only empty right now because I took the following photo late in the day on a Friday.



This next picture is technically on Frederick Street, but it's part of the group of warehouses on Charlotte, so it felt more natural to include in this section. F&M turned this one into a Children's Center for professors and staff with little kids.



9. College Avenue

College Avenue is pretty much the very edge of the city at its western end. Predictably, it is also dominated by Franklin & Marshall College. The campus runs down one side and the College owns most of the buildings on the other side of the street as well. There are a couple blocks at College's southern end that aren't within F&M's reach, but that's a small portion of it. Looking down College Ave. (F&M is on the left):



At its southern end sits Lancaster Regional Medical Center, the other big hospital in Lancaster.



This photo is important because it is the house where my apartment was. I lived here my year after graduation, when I worked as a fellow at the College.



Some of the row homes F&M has turned into offices for certain departments across the street from the main campus.



The rest of the pictures in this section are of the parts of F&M's campus that on College Avenue.













10. Dog Park

This last section I would not normally include in a forum about cities, but it's so impressive that I had to. Lancaster recently one the "Dream Dog Park" competition that Beneful put on. Basically, Beneful granted the city $500,000 to design and build its dream dog park. It's being installed right behind F&M on a big plot of land called Buchanan Park (it's public space). Lets just say that, if I were a dog, I think I would want to be in Lancaster. This thing is going to be amazing by dog park standards.

This will be the main entrance:



Not sure what this will end up being...



Supplies waiting to be used:



A dog run/part of the obstacle course:



These last two photos are of what will eventually be the water area. Those are plants on the side and up top will be some water feature. There will also be other water play areas in other corners of the park.





Well, that's it for now. I will return to this city frequently, as my girlfriend is still there and I still know several people well at F&M. I am certainly not upset that I am now living in the Boston area, but I will certainly miss Lancaster. I spent the better part of five years there, and it is here that I really matured and gained an appreciation for what makes a city successful. It's not the height of its buildings (although that can be important), but rather the character of a city's people that count. It was here that I began to appreciate what a truly mixed use community looks like and how that translates into a livable and enjoyable place to live. Boston will forever be my favorite city, but Lancaster will always hold a special place in my heart.

As I continue to visit, I will likely build on the photos here now. I hope you enjoyed this and, if so, keep an eye out for photos of my future visits. Thanks!

 

[BostontoLancaster]

BEAUTIFUL city.

I passed through Lancaster in Summer 2011. I was very surprised by its size and high number of gorgeous historic structures.

Overall, I couldn't shake the impression that the city felt a bit down on its luck. A large number of people who didn't look like the vanguard of the 21st century information economy walking about (granted, this was mid-day on a weekday). However, the city is fantastic-looking and the sort of place you want to see do well - so hopefully you guys are all down there working hard and picking the local economy up.

By the way, Franklin & Marshall-branded clothing is HUGE in Western Europe. I have absolutely no idea why/how the college's name came to be marketed so heavily on clothes, but they sell F&M shirts, hats, shorts in department stores all over Europe. Teenagers wear it as if it were Abercrombie (which they of course also wear with gusto). Truly bizarre.

Itchy, your observations in the second paragraph do hold water. The biggest employers in Lancaster are the two hospitals and the college. It's a beautiful little city, but I knew from the get go that my days there were numbered even though I loved it. There simply aren't any jobs that would appeal to me there, unless F&M were to come up with a couple positions. It's starting to change, but Lancaster has a long way to go. When you visited, Lancaster's fortunes were just starting to turn around and head up. The city's growing much faster now and more jobs are coming to the area...just a few months ago a big consulting firm moved some of its operations from NYC to Lancaster. I'll have to dig up the name, but I'll post it here if I can find it again.

As for the clothing observation, there's a story behind that:

Franklin & Marshall clothing is unrelated to the College. Two Italian brothers (I think they are Italian...) saw F&M's logo and liked it so much that they started a European clothing brand based on the College's logo and name. F&M had nothing to do with it. The clothing brand started small but ended up exploding in Europe and the Middle East, making the brothers very wealthy. Naturally, when F&M caught wind of the brothers making millions off the College's name without getting F&M's permission first, the College was admittedly a bit irked. However, the two groups came to an agreement: F&M the clothing company could keep using the College's name if the company funded a scholarship for students. I think the clothing company maintains a $200,000 scholarship that is handed out every year to a student (that covers all four years). I don't know everything about the details of the scholarship, but it sounds like the clothing company and the College have been on good terms ever since. I'm just glad it didn't turn into a large lawsuit.

 

[itchy]

Thanks, BostontoLancaster. Your latest set of pictures is beautiful - I didn't see all of the city, and I'm glad to see just how rich its architecture is. Again, I hope it does prosper (as it obviously did in the 19th century) and simultaneously preserve its deep architectural heritage.

I'd say that it's too bad nobody in PA (or MA, or anywhere else in the US) realized the huge global market for US collegiate/preppy shirts and clothing with college names emblazoned on them. Would have been a nice little market niche for Lancaster (or Haverford; or Easton; or Brunswick, Maine; or Lewiston, Maine, etc.) to capture.

But then again, hey: (1) Italy is also architecturally astounding (much more so than the US) and economically stagnant, so I won't begrudge the Italian F&M guys the earnings from their savvy business idea; (2) Nobody says there's no room for someone in PA to do the same with Lafayette or Gettysburg College ... which gives me an idea...

Finally, it would have been pretty cool if the F&M clothiers gave their scholarship to a European student as a bit of cultural exchange between the people wearing the F&M clothes and the college that gave birth to the clothes company. Oh well, I suppose they can always add that as a second scholarship program...

 

[BostontoLancaster]

Thanks, itchy, for the kind words regarding the pictures. I took them all with a phone camera, so I'd love to see what they'd look like with an actual camera that can better handle sunlight. My phone tends to pick up a lot of glare if it's pointed in even the general vicinity of the sun.

And, unfortunately, it appears I was mistaken about the consulting firm. Parsons Brinkerhoff did consider moving some of its operations to Lancaster, but it chose Ephrata instead. Choosing Ephrata over Lancaster would be similar to choosing Burlington or Waltham over downtown Boston. It's a net loss for the city; it sounds like Parsons shifted 160 support jobs to the Ephrata location and Lancaster certainly would have benefited from those jobs and from a name like Parsons Brinckerhoff coming to the city. My hunch is Ephrata is just cheaper, that's all. Lancaster's still growing, but it would have been nice to have secured that fish.

 

[Randomgear]

BostontoLancaster,
Great job with this photodocumentary, it really shows just how much Lancaster means to you.
My parents moved to Lititz in 1990 so I'm able to make it to the county once or twice a year, though I only seem to get to Lancaster maybe once every couple of years. The City seems to have really struggled since at least 1990 to try to bring itself back seeming to be undermined by the surrounding townships, especially Manheim at every turn. The city seems to be getting a lot better at what they do - in the mid-90's they would allow one or two old tobacco warehouses to be torn down to allow a parking lot to be built in order to redevelop one warehouse.

The building across the street from pressroom/old hardware store with the little indoor mall has certainly seen it's ups and downs in the past 23 years. I am surprised that you didn't mention the ton of vintage shops that are all over the downtown area, they seem so numerous that it would be hard to miss them in your photos.

I remember when Watt and Shand closed their building and put a clause in their selling agreement that no retail use could ever be put in their former building, absolutely disastrous for Lancaster and several other cities that they had buildings in. I was very happy to see it get redeveloped, even if it was perhaps a little over ambitious.

I'm glad to see that my favorite used bookstore, DogStar, is still in business and the cafe across the street still there.

Welcome back to beantown.

 

[Randomgear]

Geez, I hadn't realized that Dogstar Books had moved from West Chestnut. I just assumed that one shot was from the side. Thanks for including it.

 

[wicked]

Just stumbled onto this thread ... lived in York, worked in downtown Lancaster and went to school for a year or two at the Lancaster HACC campus. Like you, that region was a place where I grew and matured. Miss the area a ton.

One of my favorite drives is taking 896 from Ronks or so, by the outlets, down to Newark, although 41 from Gap to Wilmington isn't shabby either.

 

[bigeman312]

I spent a summer living in Lancaster. Loved the city. I spent 5 years in South Central Pennsylvania, and I have to say that Lancaster is the best of the area.

 

[BostontoLancaster]

So it has been a little over a year since I launched this thread, the goal being to create a thread showcasing Lancaster as a small, thriving city and for me to chronicle some of my experiences and memories. I was back in town for four days this past weekend (I got back last night) and I snapped a handful of photos, detailing some of the things that have changed about the city. On the whole, Lancaster is even better now than when I left it. I am excited to see how it continues to grow and develop. As exciting a time as it is to be in Boston, I get as much satisfaction and pleasure watching Lancaster transform itself. I hope some of you enjoy this one year "check in" of sorts on the city.

Before I throw up the pics I took, a lot has happened in the city from a policy standpoint, much of it good:

1. The city redid its zoning code. It raised the maximum height to ~175 ft. There are still too many vacant and underutilized parcels in the city to justify building up at this point, but as the number of easy parcels available for conversion or redevelopment dry up, density will increase. Other positives include: all buildings must be at least three stories in the downtown core and the city has prohibited setbacks in the downtown district, the goal being to create a solid streetwall.

2. The convention center refinanced its debt, allowing it to remain in operation. There's no question the Marriott/convention center redevelopment was too much for the area and it's doubtful this will ever be profitable. But now that it's here and located in the city's most prominent square, letting it die would be a negative. It does attract a lot of people and conventions, just not enough to get out of the red. This will be subsidized for a long time.

3. The city will benefit from the state of PA's CRIZ funds (City Revitalization & Improvement Zone funds), a revenue-neutral state policy that will send millions of dollars to the city. Old, blighted properties that to date have been off limits to developers because of the cost they would incur to rehabilitate these properties are suddenly in play. The city is completing a lot of the initial paperwork this year and funds will hopefully begin to come on line early next year. These funds will go towards high-profile projects (redeveloping an abandoned department store in the city's core into a mixed-use entertainment location) and less sexy, but arguably more important projects (such as building a grocery store and recreation center in the city's poor southeastern quadrant) alike.

4. The city recently wrapped up its 15-year master plan and is now launching the planning process for its next one. The first meeting highlighted things like improved public transit (including trolleys and light rail), bringing more entertainment options downtown (Lancaster has many high-quality restaurants and bars, but too few options for before or after dinner entertainment), launching a municipal broadband wi-fi network, and creating a technology incubator in collaboration with local colleges to help bring more of the modern, high-tech economy to the city. The final report on this planning process is due early next year. I'll be interested to see what the conclusions are. The city accomplished every goal established in the prior master plan, so it has a history of taking these goals seriously.

The city still has issues it must address. There are still far too many underutilized parcels and abandoned warehouses in the middle of the city. As the city's profile improves and people with money begin to move in and come to shop and dine there, aggressive panhandlers have also begun to show up. (I don't have a problem with panhandlers generally, just the ones that scream at you if you don't give them money or spit at your feet if you say you have no cash. There was an uptick in those types last year, but I didn't experience any when I was there this time.) The city has a huge number of poor residents (~80% of children in the school district are on free/reduced price lunch programs). That said, the city is aware of these issues and has publicly acknowledged all of them. This gives me hope that the current efforts that are ongoing to combat these weaknesses will continue. The early returns on panhandler issue have been encouraging. Hopefully it continues.

Now, some photos, with captions of what you're looking at:

I started my tour at the city's Central Market, which is definitely the best example of an indoor farmers' market that I have encountered. I never went to a grocery store when I lived in Lancaster. Central Market has meats, produce, dairy, the best selection of seasonings I have encountered, crafts, home-made breads, desserts...just about everything. And the quality blows anything you could get at a traditional store out of the water.











Just outside Central Market is Penn Square, the city's main center. Last year, the historical Visitors' Center was being rehabilitated:



Now, one year later:







Around the corner, Fulton Bank, which is headquartered in Lancaster, tore down a dilapidated building to expand. Unfortunately, those plans are on hold. The company still plans to build, but it is reevaluating its the amount of additional space it needs. In the meantime, it has replaced the pit with a lawn. As long as it's temporary, it's a marginally better alternative than Boston's pit that sat empty while the process with the Millenium Tower sorted itself out:





Right across the street from the new lawn, a developer took down an underutilized brownstone and is building a mixed-use building with ground-floor retail (I believe it will be a restaurant):



There are a couple major projects (for Lancaster, anyway) that are currently well underway. The first is the construction of new luxury condos on the site of an abandoned gas station. High-end condos in Lancaster go for $180K-$200K...the locals aren't happy about that. That price point looks pretty good from here in Boston, however.





The other big project is the Press Building. A developer is converting an abandoned warehouse that sits on a very prominent street corner into apartments, condos, and retail. It will inject a TON of life into the area once it's completed late next year. They just began construction, so the building is still looking rather sorry:



For a look at how the Press Building may turn out, the Steeple View Lofts, which also houses a candy/chocolate store and factory at its base, opened shortly after I moved last year. It caters to people in the 55 and over crowd, but I thought the conversion from abandoned warehouse to condos was well done (sorry for the electrical wires...I wish Lancaster would invest some $$$ in burying more of its utilities):





One project that is currently being opened in phases is the rehabbing of an abandoned paint store. It dominated a block of Walnut St just off of the city's core. It how houses a used furniture store, a yoga studio, and the last part is being redeveloped and will supposedly hold a brewery once completed, although a tenant hasn't been found yet. I have heard it has drawn interest from several parties. My one gripe with this is that the grey part on the end used to have a very nice mural that has been painted over. My hope is that the owner will invest a little money in making that blank wall over the furniture store a little less blah.





Next door, a creperie (delicious!) moved in and spruced up a dumpy building:





Another major project that was just completed was the expansion of City Hall. The city just moved in and it can now sell the Southern Market Center, which holds some city offices and is used for events and community meetings. The Southern Market Center is in a prime location and is very underutilized. I believe the city is all moved out now and is seeking a buyer. The addition to city hall is nothing to look at, but it is tucked away behind the main building on an alleyway, so no loss there. They preserved and rehabbed the original structure as well, which I think is terrific. The second picture is from last year during construction, showing the main building from the main street.





There are several other major projects ongoing/recently completed that I didn't have a chance to photograph. The city and Amtrak completed the renovation of the train station's interior (desperately needed), the city and state are wrapping up work on re-orienting the northern part of the city's street grid and rebuilding the decaying Route 222 bridge (I envision far better traffic flow as a result), and a set of abandoned warehouses in the city's northern section are being re-purposed for residential and office use, similar to the Press Building pictured earlier.

Perhaps more exciting than the major projects are the number of small ones popping up around the city. Dumpy buildings are being rehabbed. Interiors renovated. New paint. These small projects do little individually, but together create a far more vibrant and energetic community (as you're all aware). This will hopefully boost property values over time, which will encourage people to keep up their properties and generate more revenue for the city. I can't tell you how many "Newly Renovated..." signs I saw on old hotels, apartments, condos, and retail fronts. All good signs. A couple examples below.

A condemned building receiving a facelift:



A formerly craptastic apartment building getting some paint and much-needed TLC:





New storefronts are moving into previously tired or abandoned ones:







And then there are even smaller positives, including the return of the public pianos to the city's streets. Anyone can walk up and start playing them. Usually, those who do so are quite good, and it adds a lot to the streetscape. Many have new, more permanent-looking shelters, which suggests the city is trying to make these a permanent, long-term fixture for the city during the spring, summer, and early fall:



And to close, some general shots of the city:













So there you have it. A one-year check in on Lancaster. I love living in Boston, but I must say I do miss Lancaster. There's something really cool about living in and being a part of a small city that is coming into its own and rebuilding itself from the ground up. I will eagerly watch Lancaster's development from afar (I have returned several time in the past year because my girlfriend still attends grad school there, but she will be moving to Boston in the near future) and hope to return in the future. The city still has a long way to go and certainly still has problems that need addressing, but there is a lot of promise here and a growing appeal. I remember several people on this board commented that they had spent time in Lancaster and enjoyed it after I posted my photo tour last August/September, which gives me hope that it's not just my nostalgia that keeps me enamored with this little city. I'll probably post photos every now and then when I return to Lancaster in the future, both to chronicle it's changes for myself and to create a thread showcasing urban development in a city in a different part of the country. Lancaster is also very different culturally from Boston and its surrounding cities, so I enjoy comparing and contrasting the development there with what I see here in New England. I hope you enjoy reading through this!

 

[Arlington]

Looks great! Walkable, historic College Town & "market town" like West Chester, but with the huge advantage of being along the Amtrak/SEPTA electric main line HAR-PHL.