Separately, the plan recommended adaptive reuse of the Watt & Shand Building to include a mix of retail stores and offices, with one or more venues designed to attract tourists.

Task force members approached Penn Square Partners (PSP), who purchased the dormant Watt & Shand Building in February 1998, about the potential of developing the property into a privately owned hotel.

On 15 September 1999, the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority (LCCCA) was established, and local officials appointed a seven-member volunteer board of directors.

In January 2000, Lancaster County Commissioners imposed a 3.9% tax on hotel room rentals to generate the funding necessary to construct and market the convention center.

[7] The Lancaster County Convention Center development includes the exterior preserved residence and law office of Thaddeus Stevens and his confidant Lydia Hamilton Smith's boarding houses.