Builder wants theater tract

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A York County builder intends to spend tens of millions of dollars to develop a roughly 200,000-square-foot business park on a blighted property in Springettsbury Township, York County.
Timothy F. Pasch Inc. has an option to buy the 26-acre former AMC Theatres site from AMC Budco Theatres, said Tim Pasch, owner of the company that bears his name. AMC Budco is affiliated with AMC Entertainment Inc., a Kansas City, Mo.-based movie-theater giant.
Pasch’s company plans to transform the long-vacant tract into a mixed-use development that would include a five-story assisted-living facility, a nursing home, a large office building and warehouse complex. It would also include several smaller office buildings, a strip shopping mall, two restaurants, two banks, a fitness center and a service station, he said.
Pasch declined to disclose the identity of any prospective tenants because no leases have been signed yet.
The estimated construction costs for the project are between $60 million and $70 million, Pasch said.
His Springettsbury Township real estate development and general contracting firm would pay “millions” to buy the land, he said. He would not elaborate.
The company has already made a down payment, he said, again declining to say how much.
If all goes as planned, the company would complete the deal in the spring of 2003, he said.
It would take three to four years to complete the project, Pasch said.
In April 1997, AMC Entertainment closed its four-screen movie house on East Market Street, years after shutting down its adjacent drive-in. Later, both theaters were demolished. Today, the vacant lots and an AMC sign are all that remain of the property across from the York Mall.
Representatives of AMC Entertainment could not be reached for comment.
Pasch’s company is determining how it would subdivide that tract, Pasch said. After that issue is resolved, the builder plans to submit preliminary land development plans to the township in early September, he added.
Andrew Stern, director of economic development for Springettsbury Township, said he hopes Pasch is able to create his planned development.
“I think it will be great,” Stern said. “Tim has a lot of ideas. The more things you have, though, the longer it takes to bring the project to fruition.”
Pasch’s company specializes in building residential communities, primarily in York County.
The developer made headlines late last year when it announced plans to build houses on part of Camp Security, a Revolutionary War prison camp in Springettsbury Township. Historic preservationists opposed the idea. The township’s supervisors’ split vote on the company’s request led it to sue the board. The issue remains in court.