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Eastern Pennsylvania
  • Pennsylvania Convention Center (215.418.4700; www.paconvention.com) will begin work this summer on an expansion that will give it 1 million square feet of function space, including 541,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, a new 60,000-square-foot ballroom and 87 meeting rooms. Completion is set for late 2009, with the first event already booked for March 2010.

  • Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide (888.625.5144; www.starwood.com) is building a 90-room Four Points by Sheraton, expected to debut late this year in Philadelphia, and is planning a 250-room W hotel with 11,000 square feet of meeting space, slated for a 2009 opening. It also has plans to open a 135-room aloft hotel near Philadelphia International Airport in mid-2008.

  • Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington (215.646.4637; www.philadelphiafortwashington.stayhgi.com) opened in March. The hotel, with 146 rooms, 3,000 square feet of meeting space and a boardroom, is off the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Fort Washington, 13 miles from downtown Philadelphia and nine miles from Valley Forge.

  • Last fall, Radisson Hotel Valley Forge (610.337.2000; www.radisson.com/kingofprussiapa) unveiled The Waterford, a multilevel, 8,500-square-foot ballroom and entertainment center that can seat 420 for banquets.

  • The $412 million first phase of Mount Airy Resort and Casino (www.mountairyresortandcasino.com) is scheduled to debut at Paradise Township in the Pocono Mountains this fall. The first phase consists of a 200-room hotel, restaurants, entertainment venues, meeting space, and a 2,500-slot casino. When the first phase opens, work will begin on a second phase that will include 200 more guest rooms. The resort is being built on the site of the former Mount Airy Lodge.

  • Bear Creek Mountain Resort (610.682.7100; www.skibearcreek.com), located 12 miles from Allentown, is building an 80,000-square-foot addition that is scheduled to open this fall. It will include 65 new rooms for the 53-room Inn at Bear Creek; additional meeting facilities, including a 4,500-square-foot ballroom; and a 6,000-square-foot spa. The four-season resort’s current meeting space includes a 6,640-square-foot ballroom.

  • Closed for 30 years, the Hotel Fauchere (570.409.1212; www.hotelfauchere.com) in Milford in the Delaware River Highlands held its grand reopening last August after a five-year, multimillion-dollar restoration. The 16-room property has a small meeting room for eight people, an adjacent conference room for 30 people and breakout space. It was opened in 1852 by Louis Fauchere, master chef at New York’s Delmonico’s, and was run by the Fauchere family for 125 years. Three presidents have been among the guests of the property over the years: Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.

Central Pennsylvania
  • The Lancaster Arts Hotel (717.299.3000; www.lancasterartshotel.com) debuted in October in downtown Lancaster. A restored and converted tobacco warehouse built in the 1880s, the boutique hotel features 63 rooms and suites and a restaurant. Meeting space includes a room seating 80 for banquets and an art gallery with monthly rotating exhibits that can seat 30.

  • The new 248-room Wyndham Gettysburg Hotel (717.339.0020; www.wyndham.com) opened last September near Gettysburg National Military Park. Part of Gateway Gettysburg, a $275 million shopping, dining and entertainment complex, it features two restaurants, a health club, an indoor pool, and 16,000 square feet of meeting space that can accommodate groups of up to 1,200.

  • Gettysburg National Military Park (717.334.1124; www.nps.gov/gett) will unveil a new $98 million museum and visitor center in spring 2008. A joint project of the National Park Service and the Gettysburg Foundation, the 139,000-square-foot building will include theaters and 11 exhibit galleries.

  • Following a $120 million restoration and expansion, the historic Bedford Springs Hotel will reopen this summer in Bedford as the Bedford Springs Resort and Spa (814.623.8100; www.bedfordspringsresort.com). Managed by Benchmark Hospitality, it will feature 218 rooms; a 30,000-square-foot spa; 20,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 5,550-square-foot ballroom; and a renovated Donald Ross-designed golf course.

Western Pennsylvania
  • Fairmont Hotels and Resorts (800.257.7544; www.fairmont.com) announced it will manage a hotel planned as part of an office building under construction in downtown Pittsburgh. Expected to open in summer 2009, the 185-room Fairmont Pittsburgh will include 185 guest rooms on the top 10 floors and 12,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 6,000-square-foot ballroom.

  • Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers (412.391.4600; www.hilton.com), with 40,000 square feet of meeting space, is in the midst of a $25 million renovation and expansion. Work on the renovation of its 713 guest rooms has begun. A second phase will include a 17,000-square-foot addition featuring a glass-enclosed swimming pool and additional meeting and banquet space.

  • The 120,000-square-foot Bayfront Convention Center (814.453.7117; www.bayfrontconventioncenter.com) will open this summer at Erie’s downtown waterfront. Overlooking Presque Isle Bay, it will feature a 28,000-square-foot great hall, a 13,500-square-foot ballroom and breakout rooms. A 220-room Sheraton is expected to open adjacent to the center in March 2008.