EPF is a not-for-profit organization Kheel founded in 1991 to promote sustainable development, a concept the heads of more than 150 nations endorsed at the Earth Summit Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 as the best way of simultaneously encouraging development and protecting the environment. 

The Hotel, a 200,000-square-foot, nine-story building with 175 rooms, dining facilities, and elaborate banquet halls, was constructed during the roaring twenties and adorned with the fashionable furnishings and fixtures of the period.  It was closed nine years ago as Easton, and the towns of the Lehigh Valley found themselves suffering from the demise of the area's steel industry. 

But that has dramatically changed, as The New York Times reported last October under the headline, �Lehigh Phoenix Rises From Big Steel�s Ashes; Eastern Pennsylvania Region Recovers By Turning to Technology Companies.� 

��slowly but steadily,� The Times reported, �a high-technology phoenix is rising on the steel shards of Easton, Bethlehem, and Allentown, the towns that make up the Lehigh Valley.  The region's unemployment rate, which was 7.7 percent four years ago is now only 3.7 percent, according to the August data.  Some 65 high-technology companies have moved into the valley or have been founded there in the last five years, representing 38,500 jobs -- or about 12 percent of the area's total employment. It is a striking example of the extent to which high technology is transforming some of the most damaged areas of the Rust Belt's industrial economy.� 

As the Times also reported, �Easton is metamorphosing into an art and tourist center, home to several galleries and two interactive children's museums.�

�We see the hotel as an essential part of Easton�s revitalization under the leadership of Mayor Tom Goldsmith,� Kheel explained. �Equipped with the latest communication and environmental technologies, the hotel will provide indispensable support for the City as it takes the lead in Lehigh Valley�s revival.��

To advance the project, the Restoration, LLC has retained HVS International, the leading global hotel and hospitality consulting firm, to conduct a market study and develop a business plan.

�We are proud to be a part of this particular project,� Stephen Rushmore, president and founder of HVS International, said. �The Mayor and the Earth Pledge Foundation are visionaries, and developments like these, when they are successful, can produce tremendous economic benefits for cities and communities.�  HVS International was created in 1980 to satisfy the growing demand for reliable and well-documented hotel market studies and feasibility reports.  With eleven offices around the world, HVS offers a vast range of services, including valuations, strategic analyses, development support, executive search, gaming and restaurant consulting, asset management, operational and management strategy development as well as eco and waste management services.