P.M. BRIEFING : Radisson May Run Heritage USA

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  Canadian businessman Stephen Mernick plans to turn the Heritage USA property over to Radisson Hotels International to operate as a family-oriented religious resort, a spokesman said today.

Negotiations now going on with the hotel chain in Minneapolis are expected to be completed in time to close the deal and have the theme park, the former home of Jim Bakker’s now bankrupted PTL, near Ft. Mill, S.C., operating this summer, spokesman Alex Coffin said.

Mernick, who is a rabbi and “very sensitive to other peoples’ religious beliefs,” decided that the property should continue to be used as a religious retreat, as it was when founder Bakker and successors operated it, Coffin said.