Hershey Entertainment & Resorts
Finally Gets “Sweet City Island”

by Jo Sheppard

Motivated by the once in a lifetime opportunity to button up his dream of a National Civil War Museum, on March 15th, 1999, Mayor Stephen R. Reed sat down and consummated the sale of Harrisburg’s City Island to Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company, better known as HERCO.

I learned of the sale in an internal staff meeting on March 16th in which Mayor Reed shared his fait accompli with City managers and commissioners. Excited by the possibilities and concerned that area residents be presented with a clear and accurate picture of the negotiations and ensuing development, I sought approval from the Mayor to provide copies of the plans to MODE in advance of the scheduled media conference. I felt that only MODE offered the necessary non-partisan insight into local issues to fairly cover this history-making event. I did not want to see this event turned into another political feeding frenzy. As of April 1st, you are reading details not even released to the local media.

The sale of City Island was no surprise
“It was a long time coming”, commented Randy King, the Mayor’s Press Secretary, “and everyone knew it was only a matter of time, and the right offer.” Mr. King noted that HERCO had been courting the Mayor and City Council for several years for the purchase of City Island. Their position had always been that they were running out of space in Hersheypark. But most people involved in the “offers/rejections” process knew that HERCO simply wanted to capture all the accidental tourist traffic that whizzes by City Island every day on Interstate 83.

This past January, though, was the first time Hershey Entertainment & Resorts even made a dent in the Mayor’s long standing refusal. “Everyone has a sweet spot, and for Mayor Reed, it was his National Civil War Museum project, stated Kathy Burrows, Public Relations Coordinator at HERCO. She added, “We knew we had to make the Mayor, City Council, and the residents of Harrisburg happy, so we would really have to make a sensational offer that had something for everyone. It needed to be the biggest win-win situation ever.”

Big may be a very inadequate representation of the offer HERCO made to Mayor Reed. When asked about the sheer size and breadth of the City Island purchase project, CEO of Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, J. Bruce McKinney responded, “HERCO does nothing in a small way. We wanted to forever establish a presence for our organization in the growing tourist market of Harrisburg, while immediately satisfying the wants and needs of the City and its people. A quarter of a billion dollars is nothing if it garners the long-term satisfaction we’re projecting.”

The size of the project is staggering. Vern McKissick III, partner in Hayes Large Architects, (also designers of the Mayor’s National Civil War Museum), commented that they have been working on rough sketches and crunching numbers for months now, in anticipation of a possible “maybe” from the Mayor. “No one ever expected a flat-out “yes”, says McKissick. Now the real work begins. It will take at least three years to complete with a year-round construction effort rivaling those in Las Vegas Nevada, and Orlando, Florida. Although not confirmed, the City has contact several local developers on a joint effort to keep the construction contracts local while still being able to complete the work in a timely fashion.

It wasn’t easy for Hershey Entertainment to get this deal. The list of requirements and guidelines laid out by the Mayor were extensive. In any other similar circumstance, the buyer would have up and walked out after seeing the list, but HERCO agreed to almost every demand. “Stipulations flew like cheap magician’s knives”, commented Randy King. Initially, the Mayor said he wouldn’t even look at HERCO’s proposal unless it included a World Cup soccer stadium for relocation of the Harrisburg HEAT. Then came the requirement of extensive new parking, not to be erected on City Island. The Mayor also indicated that a “fast” transit system, either bus or rail, would have to be included to accommodate the City employees existing parking arrangement. (City employees currently park free on City Island during regular work hours.) Finally, the Mayor required HERCO to honor his selection of the Architect and Developer for the project. Again, in any other arena, that’s a totally out of the question demand. But he got his wish.

City Island’s New Name
The name “Sweet City Island” was mutually agreed to after much discussion with both the Mayor and various marketing consultants employed by HERCO. “Obviously, we wanted to create a name that would conjure up images of Hershey products and appeal to both children and adults,” according to Kathy Burrows. “We also wanted to be sensitive to the residents of Harrisburg, who have come to know this property as City Island. The conclusion was inescapable — we needed to keep the name City Island yet link it to the Hershey brand. Since Hershey IS the sweetest place on earth, we concluded that our new entertainment complex would also be a sweet place. Thus, Sweet City Island was born.”

The new 10,000 seat soccer arena will be modeled after the First Union Arena in Philadelphia, the development of which will be executed in two phases. Phase one will include the development of an open air venue which should be ready for the 2000-2001 season. Phase two construction will enclose the arena allowing for year-round, indoor soccer. Greg Cook, HEAT manager, was excited about the plans for the new World Cup level facility. “We are thrilled. We have been waiting years for a new arena in Harrisburg. This will take Harrisburg soccer to the next level with greater degrees of sponsorship and increased ticket sales. Harrisburg and the HEAT will come to be synonymous with professional soccer.” The cost of the new arena is estimated at $23 million. HERCO officials project that arena revenues (ticket sales, advertising, and sales of HEAT logo products) will easily cover construction costs within eight years. In regards to the demand for a new Harrisburg HEAT stadium, Mayor Reed said, “I want to get the HEAT out of the Farm Show Complex and into the City where they belong.”

Sweet City Pavilion
The new, 8,000 seat concert pavilion constructed at the Southern end of the island will be one of the largest outdoor venues in Central Pennsylvania. Hershey has already found great success in attracting regional and national acts to its’ Star Pavilion in Hershey. The new venue, tentatively named Sweet City Pavilion, will expand on the success of the Hershey Star and incorporate several new features. “Look for the new Sweet City Pavilion to feature incredible, state-of-the-art technology, like oversized video screens on each side of the stage, a hydraulic system that allows pieces of the stage to be raised and lowered during a performance, and the latest in BOSE directional harmonics sound, that uses the structure to channel the performance audio. The pavilion-style theater will amplify sound within the amphitheater and the island while limiting the amount of sound radiated laterally to Wormleysburg and Harrisburg. This design will allow even the loudest of rock concerts to occur with minimal irritation to the island’s neighbors,” stated Kathy Burrows, in outlining the details. “These new features are going to allow us to attract some larger acts to Harrisburg. We are going to put on shows that prior to this could only be seen in major cities. Sweet City Pavilion is going to bring back major entertainment to Central Pennsylvania.” Entertainers performing at the pavilion will be impressed with the fact that they will be shuttled to and from the complex via a private boat that will land at a small dock behind the pavilion. HERCO wants to make sure that entertainers have easy access to the complex and, following their performance, can quickly return to their riverboat hotel suite. HERCO has already begun negotiating with artists for the opening entertainment season in the summer of 2001. The headliner scheduled for the Grand Opening is Shania Twain followed monthly by SmashMouth and (tentatively) Billy Joel.

Cool Tropics Shopping Village
A full outlet shopping village will make the island a shopper’s paradise. Merchants invited to locate in the “Sweetest Shoppes on Earth” include: Soccer Select, Dansk, Dooney & Bourke, Zamora Cigar Shop, World of Golf, Book Warehouse, Capacity, Evan & Picone, Levi Strauss, Jones New York, and, of course, Hershey Gifts and Chocolates. A ticket sales office will offer tickets to all events on the island as well as Hersheypark, the Arena, and Chocolate World. The tropical theme will be evident in the brightly colored buildings which will feature island-style facades and multi-colored neon lighting. Huge palm trees will tower over the many flower gardens and small lagoons where canopied tables and chairs will await weary shoppers. Children will be delighted by the characters posing as tropical animals and birds who will greet and entertain them throughout the shopping village. Several cafes will provide brunch and dinner fare for the hungry shoppers. The “tropical” shopping paradise will be a year-round, full-service venue.

“Jack’s Favorite” Golf Retreat
The inclusion of a nine-hole golf course will round out the sports offered on the island. Although a major undertaking, requiring extensive infilling of the riverbed on the North side of the island. The professional 9-hole course will be of the highest quality. Tina Manoogian-King, Director of Harrisburg’s Parks and Recreation Department told MODE, “HERCO has retained golf pro Jack Nickolaus’ engineering firm for the creative development, and together we plan to showcase the island’s natural terrain as part of the layout.” The highlight of the par 3 course will be an “off the Senator’s Scoreboard shot, added specifically for the more adventurous golfers that will miss the miniature golf “off the windmill shot”. Also, a golf pro will be available for lessons by appointment.

Other island amenities include a children’s tropical village with miniature boat rides, fountains, and sculptured shrubbery. Huts located throughout the island will sell refreshments and Hershey candy products. The City Island Train will receive a much-needed facelift and will continue to operate on an expanded route during the summer months, carrying visitors from one end of the island to the other.

The Other Side of the Coin
The “less-than-enthusiastically” accepted features of the new “Sweet City Island” (which of course are the true revenue generators), include the mega-billboard, the not-so-favored parking solution, and of course the highly-controversial Belle of the Susquehanna, gambling riverboat.

Sweet City Island Advertising
First comes the 200 foot wide by 150 foot high active matrix mega-billboard which will be erected on the Southern-most part of the Island, facing I-83. This will be done immediately, scheduled to start in June of this year. “We need to be able to communicate and entice with the travelers on I-83,” HERCO’s Kathy Burrows said. “From their car, it will be like seeing a full-color 27" TV just outside their window, with some pretty slick commercials running on it.” The billboard will be used to promote both Hersheypark in Hershey, and the new “Sweet City Island” here in Harrisburg.

Expanded Parking Solution
In its efforts to adequately meet the Mayor’s demands for a parking solution, HERCO immediately offered to purchase property on the West Shore currently owned by the Catalano family. Recognized for his long standing reputation of fairness, Harrisburg Parking Authority, Vice President of Operations, Fred Clark was hand picked to negotiate the new parking facilities for HERCO. “In order to make the entire island concept work, we needed to find a significant parcel of land within close proximity to all of the new attractions. Clearly the land that Catalano’s and Angelina’s resides on was large enough to easily accommodate all three parking structures, and is perfectly positioned so that we can connect everything to the island via our new monorail,” commented Clark. Joseph Catalano, owner of Catalano’s and Angelina’s restaurants in Wormleysburg, said that although he was not happy with the idea of moving his restaurants, the obscene amount of money HERCO offered him was just too much to ignore.

The new parking garages will sit right on the West Shore of the Susquehanna, just north of the Market Street Bridge. Three separate eight-floor, 2,500 car garages will be built on the location. Understanding Wormleysburg’s opposition to typical gray-concrete structures, HERCO has enlisted the assistance of the Greater Harrisburg Arts Council in commissioning at least six local artists to illustrate and paint extensive tropical murals on all the garages. “The Greater Harrisburg Arts Council is pleased to assist HERCO by holding an open competition to select the artists for this project. This is a wonderful opportunity to involve local talent on such a high profile project,” stated Robert Stadnycki, Executive Director of the Greater Harrisburg Arts Council.

HERCO also agreed to Wormleysburg’s demand for a boardwalk along the river. The newly constructed Cocoa Boardwalk will capitalize on the riverfront views of the island, golf course, riverboat and city, providing tourists and local residents with a scenic area to go for a quiet stroll, fish, or just relax. The Cocoa Boardwalk will eventually add booths featuring authentic boardwalk games, such as ring toss and skeeball. “I am pleased that these new garages will not be an eyesore to the residents of both Harrisburg and the West Shore. HERCO has really spent a significant amount of time and money to make these garages blend in with the overall theme of the new complex,” commented Mayor Reed.

Clearly, Hershey is venturing into the highly-successful arena of Disney-esque branding of everything. Accordingly, the new garages will be named after Hershey products. Tentatively, the three structures will be named Twizzler I, Krackle II and Jolly Rancher III. Other “Hershey” themes have been worked into the preliminary scheme, such as the Cocoa Boardwalk, and the Hugs & Kisses Promenade on the deck of the Belle of the Susquehanna riverboat.

Harrisburg Finally Gets Its Light Rail
One signature feature of the new “Sweet City Island” and Cocoa Boardwalk will be the state of the art Monorail, servicing all three parking garages, stopping at the shopping village on the Island, and continuing on to Strawberry Square in the heart of the City. Amongst all the conversations flying around the private Council meeting, one story remarkably detailed the construction of the monorail service in tunnels under the city, instead of above. This will afford the city and HERCO the opportunity to run the service from the massive parking facilities in Wormleysburg all the way out to the Civil War Museum. It will also immediately quell the concerns of City Council members who opposed yet another aerial obstruction above the city streets. But seriously, who would believe anyone would put extensive tunnels under Harrisburg, especially for a train.

A Floating Money-maker
HERCO chose to hedge a bet that the pending PA State Legislature’s consideration of a riverboat gambling statute would prevail in their favor. Even though they are aggressively-lobbying lawmakers to immediately pass the controversial legislation, HERCO decided to proceed with gambling riverboat plans regardless of the legislation. Legalization of riverboat gambling would allow HERCO to implement its’ grandest plans of a 4-story, 600 foot long riverboat connected to both Sweet City Island and the new Wormleysburg garages via a permanent replica of the Walnut Street Bridge. The new “Belle of the Susquehanna” riverboat (as it will be called), will be fashioned in a 19th Century, straight off the Mississippi, design. Touted as the largest riverboat in existence, fully 150 feet longer than any other, It will be a state-of-the-art gambling, restaurant and hospitality complex. “HERCO recognized early on in the negotiations that for this new venture to truly work, we would need to provide some top-notch accommodations right at the island,” stated Kathy Burrows.

The “Belle” riverboat venue will feature an expansive first-floor open casino complete with a small stage featuring local and regional performers. The second and third floors will feature elegantly appointed hotel rooms and multi-room hotel suites respectively. HERCO hopes that offering these 4-star accommodations will help lure more conference and convention business to the Harrisburg area. The top floor of the “Belle” will be a glass-enclosed atrium complete with a wrap-around promenade deck, affectionately referred to as the Hugs & Kisses Promenade. This entire topside deck will be dedicated to housing dining establishments. The premier restaurants will, of course, be the recently relocated Catalano’s & Angelina’s. “While it will certainly be difficult to leave our current facilities, I think this new location will be ideal,” commented Joseph Catalano. “Our restaurants will have even more spectacular views of the city, plenty of parking, and will be the focal point of fine dining in this new entertainment complex.” It is also rumored that an as-yet-undisclosed coffee bar, possibly a Starbucks, is being solicited for the new riverboat.

Hesitant about discussing the gambling issue with us, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts CEO J. Bruce McKinney did comment that, “Our new gaming facility will be one of the most visible parts of Sweet City Island. We are very dedicated to making sure it’s the best complex of its kind, envied by its peers. A “push” task-force is already in place to oversee and streamline development.” The Belle will also feature a small dock on either side of the boat that will accommodate the Pride of the Susquehanna and other small watercraft moorings. It will be necessary to dredge the Susquehanna River from Harvey Taylor bridge to I-83, to accommodate the sheer size of the new riverboat. This will also make boating and other water-sport activities more enjoyable. An added benefit results from the dredging where the earth will be used as infill to build up the golf course grounds on the North-Western side of the island.

Ground Breaking Ceremony
Although construction will begin almost immediately, the official ground breaking ceremony for the new Sweet City Island will be delayed until April 1st of next year. When asked, at the river-side photo shoot, both Mayor Reed and Mr. McKinney agreed that it would be premature to have a ceremony before the dawn of the new millennium. By then we hope everyone will have forgotten about this practical joke, and if they haven’t, at least all the computer records will be lost and all proof of this spoof will be no more.

It’s been two long years sinceMODE has embarked on an April Fool’s Joke, (Secret Tunnels anyone?) and we’re hoping you enjoyed reading this one as much as we enjoyed fabricating it.

Special thanks go out to everyone mentioned in the article. We’re sure they’re taking a lot of unnecessary heat from a lot of not-so-amused folk. We must also tell of our debt of gratitude to Lenny Douk and Kevin Malpass, the extremely hard-working architects at Hayes Large that created the Sweet City Island drawings for this article. We could not have pulled it off without them. We would also like to thank our Photography Editor, Charles Turner, who risked his entire breakfast to fly over Harrisburg for the aerial shots from which the drawings were created.

Our deepest gratitude goes out to Mayor Steven Reed, and HERCO’s CEO J. Bruce McKinney. It’s refreshing to see anyone, especially such high-profile individuals, willing to partake in a little Tom-Foolery. Both could have just as easily said no, and been done with it, and this month’s MODE would be about bird watching. But they elected to stand in the line of fire for our practical joke.

Thank you both.

Finally, if you didn’t find this story very funny or entertaining, please read this month’s Publisher’s Note. If after that, you continue to harbor negative feelings, you have my permission to burn the very copy of MODE you are reading and mail the ashes to me. I will draw little hangman figures of myself on the walls of my office in your behalf.

If, after that, you still don’t feel any better, please write a letter. I’ll use all my leverage to print it in the paper, if anybody will believe us after this. :-)

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