Sheraton will temporarily house students

During dorm renvations, displaced students to live at Sheraton; U. plans to build new hotel University officials plan to transform the University City Sheraton Hotel at 36th and Chestnut streets into a temporary dormitory within the next few years as current residences undergo renovation, according to Provost Stanley Chodorow. Eventually, he said, the Sheraton could become a permanent residence for students. And since the future of the Penn Tower Hotel is also uncertain, the University may build a new hotel for campus visitors, Chodorow said. Officials are now in the final stages of negotiations surrounding the purchase of the Sheraton, according to Executive Vice President John Fry. The University will borrow more than $12.9 million from a commercial bank for the purchase of the property and some additional renovations –– primarily to the hotel's parking garage, Fry said. Fry added that the purchase will be "self-financing." "We're not using any University dollars for [purchasing the Sheraton]," he said. "The amount of activity that will be generated will allow the property to pay for itself." The Sheraton is currently a popular location for parents to stay during move-in, Parents' Weekend and graduation. It is also used for University-sponsored events, luncheons and awards ceremonies. According to Chodorow, although the building will continue to operate as a hotel for the time being, it will go through many changes in the next 10 years. When the current evaluation of the residential housing systems is complete, the building will be used as "swing space" while campus residences undergo renovation, Chodorow said. "Once we have a plan for what we're going to do, it will probably require us to shut down sections of our housing for renovations," he said. "When we're finished [with the renovations], what we do with that building and space is essentially up for grabs." Converting the space into permanent housing for undergraduates or graduates is one possibility, Chodorow said. But the Sheraton building will not revert back into a hotel. The Penn Tower –– the only other hotel on campus –– was transferred to the University Medical Center over the summer and its future use will be at the center's discretion. "A campus like this must have a hotel -- where else are parents going to stay?" Chodorow said. "Also, we have conferences, we have visiting faculty, we have people coming all the time. "But when we've built a new hotel –– furnished ourselves with the kind of facilities we really want –– then we won't need [the Sheraton building as a hotel] anymore," Chodorow added. As for a new hotel's location, Chodorow said the University is considering a variety of options. Among these are the 50,000 square feet of space that will adjoin the new Barnes and Nobles bookstore at 36th and Walnut streets. "We want that area where the bookstore is and the whole area of Sansom to be really lively," he said. "What we put there will depend on our judgement of what will make it really lively and be a real service to the University." Chodorow said the main issues involved with the Sheraton negotiations were settled at the end of the summer. According to Fry, University officials are now working to finalize a closing date for the purchase. Employees in the executive manager's office at the University City Sheraton refused to comment on the purchase.

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