If attorneys Jerome Finefrock and Jim Nettleton Jr. acquire the other property, they propose to operate the slots parlor at the downtown Bulova Technologies building for two years before permanently moving the business to the other location.

After moving the slots parlor to the alternate location, Finefrock said a conference center with meeting rooms could replace the slots at the Bulova building, North Queen and East Orange streets.

All of this is contingent on two things: whether the pair obtains one of 14 gaming licenses from the state in 2006 and whether a proposed $137.8 million hotel/convention center at nearby Penn Square is built.

"(Bulova) probably wouldn't work as a conference center if the convention center goes through," Finefrock said Thursday. "But we have to cover all of our bases. We have to look at all the possibilities."

Finefrock and Nettleton declined to name the possible new location for a slots parlor, except to say it's within city limits, because of ongoing negotiations.

Their application for a gaming license is due Dec. 28, and part of the process mandates an impact study of any proposed gambling center be given to the hosting municipality.

The details of Finefrock and Nettleton's study include:

·A call for the Stoner Carousel to be given a home in Lancaster Square and the establishment of a family-friendly "Urban Entertainment Center" on the first floor of the Bulova building. The slot machines would operate on the upper floors of the building.

·Requesting the city add five police officers at a salary of $75,000 for each officer.

Finefrock said the officers could be paid from the $10 million in slots revenue the state would give the city for hosting the parlor.

·The slots parlor would attract as many as 5.6 million visitors yearly once it is fully operational with at least 3,000 slot machines. At least half of those visitors, developers said, would be people who have never before stopped in Lancaster city.

The study says the visitors would spend up to $300 million annually downtown.

The study calls for 1,000 to 1,500 slot machines in the first year of operation and 2,000 to 3,000 in the second year. A decision on possibly installing 5,000 machines would be made after the first year.

·The proposed slot parlor would boost downtown traffic by 14.8 percent. The attorneys suggest several traffic changes to improve flow, such as building left-turn-only lanes at the intersections of Franklin and Orange streets and Duke and Walnut streets.

·If developers fail to obtain the alternative site, they will stay at Bulova and help the Lancaster Parking Authority finance a new 2,000-space parking garage downtown.

Finefrock said the developers would finance a tax-exempt bond for a potential garage.

The study makes clear, however, that the Bulova building is no longer Finefrock and Nettleton's first choice for a slots parlor.

They said last week they had looked at Lancaster Stockyards, Penn Dairies and Burle Technologies as potential parlor sites before choosing Bulova.

"Now we have the problem that the incoming mayor (Rick Gray) doesn't really want this downtown," Finefrock said. "You like to stay on the right side of the mayor."

Gray on Thursday said Bulova was not the best site for the slots parlor. He expressed reservations, however, about opening a slots parlor at one site only to move the machines to another in two years.

"If they want to locate it at another site, they should start at the other site so we know what we're getting from the beginning and decide whether to know it's acceptable," Gray said.

Finefrock said the alternative site is more accessible to tourists and has the potential for further development like hotels. Before that happens, City Council would have to rezone the property from industrial to commercial, he said.

Finefrock said that placing a slots parlor at a site outside the downtown business district would miss out on the "synergy" of the proposed hotel/convention center if it gets built.

If developers are unable to obtain the property or rezone it, the slots parlor would permanently stay at Bulova. Should that happen, no major changes to the Bulova facade would be done.

"We're not going to put neon sculptures of Las Vegas showgirls on or something," he said. "We want to keep it conservative."

Dave Pidgeon's e-mail address is dpidgeon@lnpnews.com.

The developers are looking to purchase another property in the city -- outside the downtown -- that is presently zoned industrial. If the appropriate approvals are received, they plan to move the slots business there. Otherwise, the Buolova building will be the permanent site.

Developers propose incorporating the Stoner Carousel and a family-oriented entertainment center into the first floor of the Bulova building, with adults-only slots on the upper floors.

Developers project up to 5.6 million tourists every year will visit the parlor once it is operating.