"We are in the middle of delicate negotiations with a lot of different parties," he said Wednesday. "We think the proximity to Temple with very few hotel rooms available to visiting professors, families, and Temple students, and the overflow of conventioneers, makes it an attractive location.
"Anyone who wants to stay now at Temple has to stay in Center City somewhere," he said.
Orens said he did not know how many rooms and how much table setting the development would have. But construction could begin in six months, he said.
"This is something we've been working on for about three or four years," said Vernoca Michael, Blue Horizon president and CEO. "One of the things we wanted to do for 17 years was to preserve the facility, and not tear it down. These people [Mosaic and Orens] have put in place something that was very acceptable and workable."
The Blue Horizon occupies what had been three mansions built in 1865. The mansions were combined by the Loyal Order of the Moose into one large lodge in 1912.
In 1961, it was converted into the Blue Horizon boxing arena.
The multipurpose venue has a ballroom and auditorium. The property's three floors have hosted everything from weddings and concerts to comedy shows and trade shows, but boxing paid the bills. It hosted championship bouts for the USBA/IBF super-middleweight and IBC and NABC state titles and the Hispanic championships. Bernard Hopkins and Arturo Gatti were among the 50 fighters who fought there and went on to win world titles.
