Conference Center

The Brandywine Hotel & Resort for years has had a hammerlock on big conventions, but it now plans to court business customers with a conference center. And in building such a center, which includes smaller meeting rooms tailored to business training programs, the hotel will face unaccustomed competition - at least four other local companies have similar plans. For all its convention business, the Brandywine was initially conceived as a resort hotel. It was built in 1963 by Daniel Tabas, who amply suppied it with amusements, such as tennis courts, a driving range, a softball field, horseback riding and a roller rink.

The June 18 column by W. Russell G. Byers, "Who Gets Action in Urban Grants?" is replete with factual inaccuracies and even when he occasionally gets a fact right, he mixes totally unrelated subjects to form erroneous conclusions. Byers begins by denominating the developers "poverticians," which it appears connotes a developer who specializes in making money or a profit by utilizing public monies as his means of financing. I have owned my own real estate company for 25 years, and 90 percent of all of my projects have been solely and exclusively with private partnerships, I have never charged a developer's fee nor to this day taken one dime of profit.

Burlington County College anticipates a January opening of its Enterprise Center, a nonresidential conference center offering meeting space and high technology for area businesses and organizations. The building, located on the college's Mount Laurel campus, will offer 44,000 square feet of meeting space, including 12 conference rooms, computer laboratories, and a focus group suite. The 575-seat auditorium includes power and data ports at every seat. In addition, on-site meetings can be broadcast anywhere in the world.

The Buck Hotel Banquet and Conference Center in Feasterville opened this month after construction was completed. The center, at Bustleton and Bridgetown Pikes, offers meeting rooms for groups ranging from 15 to 450 people. "We can take care of all business needs fully," general manager Adam Garbinski said. He said videocassette recorders and overhead projectors were available for presentations. The center also includes the new Carriage Restaurant and Bar. Barry Sexton, formerly a chef at Jean Pierre's Restaurant in Newtown Borough, heads the culinary staff.

A New York developer with Philadelphia roots will announce today that his firm will build a resort community along the Delaware River in New Jersey with an executive conference center, restaurants and residences. The Riverwinds complex, scheduled to open in late 2007, will be next to the RiverWinds Community Center and the 7,100-yard public golf course that opened in 2002 in West Deptford Township, Gloucester County, directly across the river from Philadelphia International Airport.

Depending on your point of view, the structure was going to be a scholar's dormitory that would enhance historical understanding of Valley Forge - or a hotel that would speed the commercialization of a treasured national park. Either way, its construction is now in serious doubt. The head of the American Revolution Center, a controversial museum complex planned for 78 acres of private land inside the park, yesterday announced a voluntary 15-year moratorium on building a particularly contentious piece of the project, the conference center.

More than a million visitors come each year to explore its rich Revolutionary War history, but the fact is that there's never been a battle fought at Valley Forge. Until now. Tonight, a conservation group and several local property owners plunge into what could be a long and contentious attempt to stop a nonprofit organization from building a museum and conference center on private land inside the national park. "Our ultimate goal is to protect Valley Forge," said Cinda Waldbuesser, state program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)

Tentative plans to build a convocation/conference center with room for a new basketball arena at West Chester University have come under fire from one organization whose funds may be targeted to finance it. Details about the facility are scant, but yesterday the Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau said it would oppose any attempts to increase the hotel tax to help pay for it. "Every hotel we have talked to is against this," said...

A project to transform 10 acres of the Normandy Farms property from a vacant historical hub along Morris Road and DeKalb Pike into a functional, architecturally preserved landmark has gained approval from the Board of Supervisors after a conditional-use hearing. After a two-year hiatus and a recent change in ownership, new developers presented plans to build a 120-room hotel and vowed to maintain the property's mid-1800s heritage by restoring and converting the farm's 200-foot-long barn - said by area residents to be the oldest on the East Coast - into a restaurant, banquet hall and conference center.

This did not begin as an act of faith. The 4,000-strong Living Faith Christian Center - where members cram into four weekend services and staffers toil in closets - just needed more space. Three years ago, leaders of the Cherry Hill church began eyeing the South Jersey Expo Center, which, at the intersection of Routes 130, 73 and 90, was convenient to their sprawling membership. Then, in November, plans for the $65 million South Jersey Civic and Conference Center emerged from years of political maneuvering with key funding needed to become reality - in Pennsauken.

WASHINGTON - In 2010, the government threw Bradley Birkenfeld in prison for helping a former client at UBS AG hide his wealth from the Internal Revenue Service. Now, as part of the same case, the IRS has awarded the former banker $104 million for helping expose the widespread tax-evasion scheme by the Swiss banking behemoth. The dizzyingly abrupt turnabout in Birkenfeld's life leaves him with the largest government whistle-blower award ever to an individual, said Stephen M. Kohn, one of Birkenfeld's attorneys and executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center.

It's been a nasty, hateful and, at times, personal fight, one that seemed destined to go on forever. But last week, momentum swung sharply toward those striving to build a controversial museum on private land inside Valley Forge National Historical Park. Key tactical concessions and legal victories, building upon favorable government votes, have moved the American Revolution Center closer to being constructed at the Lower Providence site where its supporters want it to go. "When you get a court order in your favor, the momentum shifts," said Paul Decker, head of the Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau and a studied observer of the drama.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit aimed at stopping construction of a controversial museum on private land inside Valley Forge Park - a big blow to the project's opponents. The existence of a federal suit held out the prospect of a years-long delay in building the proposed American Revolution Center, which would make it hard for the organizers to raise money and sustain interest. But in a decision released yesterday, U.S. District Judge Anita Brody dismissed the lawsuit brought by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)

Depending on your point of view, the structure was going to be a scholar's dormitory that would enhance historical understanding of Valley Forge - or a hotel that would speed the commercialization of a treasured national park. Either way, its construction is now in serious doubt. The head of the American Revolution Center, a controversial museum complex planned for 78 acres of private land inside the park, yesterday announced a voluntary 15-year moratorium on building a particularly contentious piece of the project, the conference center.

A zoning hearing that will help determine the future of Valley Forge National Historical Park stretched into the night yesterday, the arguments of attorneys delaying testimony and comments from people who wished to speak. More than 75 people attended the hearing in Eagleville, Montgomery County, concerning a plan by a nonprofit group to build a museum and conference center on private land located inside the park. More than two hours after the meeting started at 7 p.m., the first witness finally spoke, questioned by attorneys for the National Parks Conservation Association and five local property owners who oppose the development.

More than a million visitors come each year to explore its rich Revolutionary War history, but the fact is that there's never been a battle fought at Valley Forge. Until now. Tonight, a conservation group and several local property owners plunge into what could be a long and contentious attempt to stop a nonprofit organization from building a museum and conference center on private land inside the national park. "Our ultimate goal is to protect Valley Forge," said Cinda Waldbuesser, state program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)

Plans for an American Revolution Center would lead to a divided Valley Forge Park, an opponent warned yesterday. "If the current course continues, we will end up with two parks," Don Naimoli, president of the Friends of Valley Forge Park, told a noontime rally on the steps of the Montgomery County Courthouse. "A divided Valley Forge experience is not in the best interests of the public," he said. "Building the museum as originally planned makes good, sound, common sense. " The rally, attended by about 70 people, was held to protest the proposed ARC complex in Lower Providence Township.

Soaring 51 stories above the Philadelphia streets, and made of glass, it's not the stairway to heaven. It's the stairway to Brian Roberts' office. This see-through staircase climbs several top floors of the new Comcast Center. Sunlight shines through the windows and the steps that hang in the air. Says one of the designers: "It makes you feel as if you're walking on clouds. " Which at this elevation, you are. Ten floors down is the city's highest company cafeteria.

The American Revolution Center will show off its plans for a new museum and conference center with lodging in Valley Forge National Historical Park during an open house tonight. But with controversy continuing to swirl around the plan, even this seemingly benign event in Lower Providence Township has stirred the pot a bit. The invitation to attend the open house at Chadwick's Restaurant & Bar was sent to all township residents, including the municipality's supervisors. But five township residents have asked their supervisors to stay away.

Defending Jealous I strongly disagree with George Curry's assessment of the qualifications of Benjamin Jealous for executive director of the NAACP ("Looking for the NAACP's next leader," March 6). In addition to being a Rhodes scholar, Jealous is an extraordinary visionary. His energy and unceasing drive resulted in the implementation of many badly needed programs for the National Newspaper Publishers Association that helped our members catch up to the technology era. Given the current environment where "change" is an element people appear to be racing toward, Jealous would indeed be a lightning rod for the implementation of such a concept by the NAACP.