City works for name recognition

The 300-year-old city has retained its historic houses and keystone buildings.
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) -- The images of Lancaster County are pretty familiar: Amish farmers working in the fields, buggies with horses clip-clopping down the road, and quaint shops stocked with homemade crafts, quilts, jams and jellies.
But when it comes to the city of Lancaster, the picture is a little fuzzier. Though rich in history and architecture, and with a handful of museums, the nearly 300-year-old municipality doesn't have the strong identity or tourism cachet of the rural attractions.
Yet.
An ambitious college and local hospital, along with a growing arts community and new baseball team, are putting Lancaster back on the map.
"The city is kind of on the verge of a renaissance," said Janet Wall, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau, which represents the county. "What we're trying to do now is increase the visibility of it and grow it even further."
Like many urban centers, Lancaster has struggled in recent years. The diverse city of 55,000 has found it difficult to replace thousands of factory jobs lost to globalization and hard to compete with greener, more peaceful suburbs some consider more attractive to families. Its main department store, Watt & amp; Shand, has been empty since 1995.
But Lancaster has retained its historic houses and keystone buildings -- the landmark Fulton Opera House and renowned Central Market -- while adding modern amenities and supporting an influx of art galleries and boutiques downtown.
What's new
Last month, the Pennsylvania Academy of Music broke ground on a $21 million facility designed by the late architect Philip Johnson. The Pennsylvania College of Art & amp; Design also recently announced an expansion.
"We've got probably the broadest range of arts organizations for a city our size anywhere," said Mary Colleen Heil, president of the art school.
Clipper Magazine Stadium, which hosts concerts and the minor league Lancaster Barnstormers baseball team, has been a huge success since it opened last year.
"We had a lot of people that were dead-set against the ballfield. They said it would never work," said state Sen. Gibson Armstrong, R-Lancaster. "The ballfield just turned out to be an instant success. All of a sudden, people started getting optimistic about the properties around there."
That includes the mostly vacant, massive Armstrong World Industries plant, where workers have created residential and commercial flooring products for the past 100 years. (Gibson Armstrong is not affiliated with the company.)
The 55-acre plant, which dominates the city skyline, employed 7,000 at its peak in 1943. Now, only about 250 jobs remain as the company -- with $4 billion in net sales and about 14,600 employees worldwide -- has focused its business elsewhere.
Demolition work could start by the end of the year on about 45 acres of the plant site through a $33 million public-private partnership, making way for athletic fields and office space.
The office space will belong to Lancaster General Hospital, whose plans include doubling the size and enrollment of its affiliated Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
The fields, meanwhile, will belong to Franklin & amp; Marshall College. They are part of an ambitious construction agenda for the small liberal arts school that includes a new $50 million science building and $30 million residence hall.
The college also teamed with the hospital to help create the James Street Improvement District, a nonprofit community organization serving the city's northwest quadrant.
Population influx
Its neighborhood improvement efforts appear to be attracting more young professionals to the area, and contributing to a strong housing market and increased private investment in the city, said Lisa Riggs, the group's executive director.
"We're having more and more people take a look here," Riggs said.
James Cox, 39, and his family moved to Lancaster from New York City two years ago because of its amenities, lower cost of living and proximity to the Northeast corridor.
Cox said the "beautiful little rowhome" they bought for $122,000 near Franklin & amp; Marshall College easily would have cost 10 times that in New York. And yet he said they still enjoy the benefits of city living, such as walkable communities, close-knit neighborhoods with a mixture of ethnic groups, mom-and-pop businesses and cultural activities.
"I think the quality of life for us is better here," Cox said.
Still, Lancaster has its share of obstacles.
Officials say the mistaken perception of high crime has unfairly damaged the city's reputation. The reality is that Lancaster's crime rate -- while more than twice that of the county's -- is similar to other urban areas in the state.
But Lancaster's southeast quadrant in particular is affected by relatively high levels of poverty, crime and unemployment, and the public schools have not met state or federal academic goals in recent years.
Then there's the years-long controversy raging over a proposed $140 million hotel/convention center.
"Like any other city, you will find areas in which we need tremendous improvements in infrastructure and quality of service," said city Councilman Jose Urdaneta.
But Urdaneta said it means a lot that local institutions like the hospital and Franklin & amp; Marshall have enough faith to invest in the city -- and not just their own properties.
College president John Fry said the school is dedicated to improving the city as a whole because Lancaster has been its home for 220 years.
"We'll be here for another 220 years, at least," Fry said. "It isn't a project. It's a long-term commitment."
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