Jan. 14, 2004 - All 42 employees at the Crown American Hotels headquarters in downtown Johnstown will lose their jobs by late March, the company told the state this week.

Word of those layoffs comes days after the state was notified that Crown is in the process of selling 10 of its 26 hotels and terminating 809 employees.

Crown officials have been mum about the situation. The job losses became public because of a federal law that requires the state to be notified before large layoffs. That allows time to assist affected workers.

Crown officers at the Pasquerilla Plaza headquarters include city Mayor Don Zucco, who is executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

It was unclear Thursday if Zucco will lose his job. Crown does have other divisions, including a holding company.

Chairman Mark E. Pasquerilla moved Zucco to the hotel division from Crown American Realty Trust after that operation was sold in 2003 to Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust of Philadelphia.

The layoff of "the entire workforce of 42 employees" could indicate that Crown is planning to sell the remainder of its hotel properties.

All 10 of the hotels in the sale announced earlier this week are in Pennsylvania, but they do not include Crown's Holiday Inn located in downtown Johnstown or Holiday Inn Express in Richland Township.

"Right now we're under a confidentiality agreement," Crown spokeswoman Allison Troy Finui said Thursday. "I have no information to share at this time."

Crown's notification under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act states that reductions at the corporate headquarters will begin "on or about Jan. 31." All of the layoffs will be completed by March 27, Crown told the state.

Crown again Thursday declined to say who is buying the 10 hotels, one of which is the Holiday Inn located in Indiana.

The earlier WARN notification pointed out that the 809 employees at those hotels could be offered employment by the buyer. That probably will not be the case for those working in Johnstown at the headquarters.

At one time the Crown building, construction of which helped revitalize the downtown area, housed only Crown operations.

The building, which was not part of the sale to Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, now houses a mix of tenants, including Wachovia Securities, MountainTop Technologies, MTS Technologies Inc. and CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services.

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