Feb. 04–ALLENTOWN — The Americus Center hotel cannot be brought back to its luxurious heyday for $15.7 million, but it can be turned into a viable hotel that can compete in the city's growing hotel market, according to contractors who appeared before the city's arena authority Wednesday.

It wasn't exactly what members of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority wanted to hear, but it was enough for them to give building owner Albert Abdouche the OK to forge ahead with his plan to reopen the vacant landmark with 85 hotel rooms, 48 apartments and several shops.

The action wasn't so much an ANIZDA green light as it was a proceed-with-caution signal because Abdouche still has some sizable hurdles to clear. He'll need to persuade a bank to buy in and the project will have to get final approvals from ANIZDA and the city Planning Commission before he can begin building in earnest. But after two years of delays in which ANIZDA members questioned whether he could pull it off, it was a major victory for the Whitehall Township developer.

"It's a very good day," Abdouche said after the meeting. "Now, it's up to me."

It is very much up to Abdouche now because while ANIZDA allowed his project to move ahead, its deal with him means it won't release any of the NIZ's generous tax revenues until Abdouche's hotel acquires a three-diamond hotel rating by AAA Travel. That can't happen until the hotel is built and open for a much as a year. By then, Abdouche will have already spent his money before knowing whether he'll be able to tap the tax revenues it creates, as is allowed in the NIZ.

That said, ANIZDA Chairman Sy Traub should provide incentive enough for Abdouche to build a quality hotel.

"We're not going to have an Americus from its finest days, but if he gets his financing I'm confident we're going to have a hotel that we need downtown," Traub said.

It's unlikely that Abdouche could do anything to bring the 1927 hotel back to the time when it was visited by U.S. presidents, said Ralph Eberhardt, manager with Michael Baker International, a firm brought in to estimate how much it would take to renovate the building.

"Renovations that have been done in the last 30 years or so would have to be undone, and that's just not realistic," Eberhardt said. "This can be a very nice hotel, but you can't go back to what it was."

Remnants of the luxurious Spanish Moor style are still there, but the building fell into such disrepair that its hotel rooms were closed in August 2002.

Abdouche bought the landmark for $676,000 in 2009 and has spent more than $2 million to stabilize the outside, replace the wiring and install a sprinkler system.

When the NIZ was formed in 2011, its powerful tax incentives seemed to provide an answer to the Americus' funding problems. But some ANIZDA members worry that Abdouche's plan doesn't spend enough to take full advantage of the building's historic bones.

After months of sparring with Abdouche, ANIZDA last fall struck a compromise with him. They'd pay half the $10,000 cost of having independent consultant Michael Baker International assess how much it would take to reopen with a three-diamond rating.

Some members remain concerned.

"What happens if your number is off by 25 percent?" ANIZDA board member Robert Lovett said. "We won't get to three diamonds."

"Well," Traub interjected, "then we won't be obligated to provide our tax pledges until he does."

In his report to ANIZDA, Eberhardt explained a 118-page report with a lot of holes. Because there aren't yet full architectural and engineering plans, estimators had to make a lot of assumptions that could change the price later if they don't hold true. But in general, the building does not need the $25 million to $30 million several board members assumed would be necessary.

The estimate includes renovations on every floor, with more than $1.7 million going for items such as bathroom fixtures and counters, and another $1.6 million for furniture.

The biggest line item, at $2.4 million, is for a contingency fund to handle cost overruns. The estimate's total, minus that contingency, virtually matches the $13.2 million Abdouche had estimated in the plan he first delivered to ANIZDA in 2013.

Abdouche already has hired Gulph Creek Hotels to manage the facility once it opens. Gulph Creek co-owner Derek Sylvester told the board the hotel may be able to attract a national flag, but may remain an independent hotel.

"Do you feel comfortable that this can be at least a three-diamond hotel?" Traub asked Sylvester.

"I do feel comfortable," Sylvester said. "I think we can be proud of what Al is doing with the Americus. It has good bones."

Abdouche said he hopes to get full city approval in the next three months and have the building open in 2017.

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