David LeVan is pledging to give Adams County businesses first dibs when it comes to providing the goods and services he will need to build and operate a resort casino south of Gettysburg.
Those goods and services include everything from the facility’s plumbing to employee uniforms to the shampoo and soap that would furnish the bathrooms of 300 hotel suites.
LeVan and business partner Joseph Lashinger want to convert a Cumberland Township hotel into a resort casino featuring 600 slots machines and 50 table games. Since announcing their intention to compete for a Category 3 gaming license late last year, the business partners have gradually released more information about their plans for what is currently the Eisenhower Hotel and Conference Center on Emmitsburg Road.
The latest announcement came Monday about the business program, which they have dubbed “Buy Adams!”
The goal of the program is to buy as many products and utilize as many services as possible from businesses and vendors that reside in Adams County, said LeVan spokesman David La Torre.
“We believe that the vast majority of the businesses we need to contract with are located in Adams County. We want to make it clear that they are our priority,” La Torre said. “If you’ve got a business in Adams County, we are interested in working with you.”
Monday’s announcement, which came in the form of a news release, is meant to reinforce LeVan’s commitment to boosting the Adams County economy through the casino project, La Torre said. He said the investors want the community to know that local businesses will be given priority over others.
“We are putting it down in writing,” La Torre said.
La Torre said LeVan intends to take a “realistic approach” to hiring businesses. In some cases, a good or service may not be available in Adams County and would need to be sought elsewhere.
“If a service can be filled by an Adams County business, we want to hire that business,” La Torre said.
As for the hundreds of jobs LeVan has also pledged will be created by the casino project, La Torre said this: “Stay tuned.”
“We are going to go into greater detail about our philosophy on hiring, and we’re going to do that at a later date,” he said.
LeVan has vowed to create the “largest economic-development project in the history of Adams County.”
He and Lashinger have dubbed their project the Mason-Dixon Resort & Casino. They say it will create hundreds of needed jobs for local residents and support the Adams County tax base with millions of dollars.
The future of the project depends, however, on a decision of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. At least three other projects are competing for the last remaining resort casino license.
LeVan, who owns Battlefield Harley-Davidson on Route 30, had been a lead investor in another group that had tried in 2005-06 to bring gaming to Adams County. That attempt failed, however, largely due to the efforts of a grassroots citizens’ group that opposed the casino plan because of the site’s proximity to the Gettysburg battlefield.
That group, No Casino Gettysburg, was resurrected last year after LeVan announced his new project.
The head of the group, Susan Star Paddock, said Monday that she is both encouraged and discouraged by LeVan’s commitment to hiring local businesses.
While the Buy Adams! program is sure to help some local businesses, others will suffer if and when the casino begins operating, Paddock said. Paddock said she believes gamblers who might otherwise patronize Adams County restaurants and stores will instead spend their money at the resort casino.
Paddock also said she expects the casino to discourage some heritage tourists from visiting Gettysburg in the first place.
“It’s great that (LeVan) wants to use local people. That’s wonderful,” she said. “That in itself is not going to make up for the loss to Adams County.”
IF YOU GO
What: Public meeting hosted by No Casino Gettysburg to discuss a local businessman’s proposal to locate a resort casino in Cumberland Township south of Gettysburg. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.
When: 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18
Where: Gettysburg Fire Department, 35 N. Stratton St.
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