Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

step two: obtain site control or owner commitment to transfer property “ Make no mistake: Our failure to clean up brownﬁeld sites represents a huge cost to business and job growth in the Commonwealth. To cite just one example, recent studies document how the lack of “shovel-ready” sites has resulted in lost opportunities. In southwestern Pennsylvania alone over an 18-month period, the state lost business from companies that had planned to employ 4,200 people and invest $419 million because they could not ﬁnd suitable real estate or building space to expand or move into the region.” – Governor Ed Rendell “ Developable land is the most important requirement for investment in Pennsylvania’s older communities. Without developable land, a municipality’s efforts to attract private market developers will fail.” – Pennsylvania Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Yablonsky Developers start their analysis of any redevelopment site’s potential by checking to make sure they can obtain site control.51 There is no development project without a property to build on. Developers interviewed for this handbook cited as one of their worst experiences, coming into a town and spending time rethinking a site, signing a contract and then discovering that the town didn’t have control of the site and the owner wasn’t interested in selling. Since available land is a prerequisite to development dollars ﬂowing into the community, it is incumbent upon local government to acquire these properties or cajole private owners to put them on the market. More than 120 cities across the country have identiﬁed “mothballed brownﬁeld sites”, sites that the current owner has no intention of redeveloping or selling due to environmental concerns or the desire to wait until property values rise substantially. 52 The advantages of having site control of the land are great and the risks from liability are minimal. 53 A local government can obtain a developable site that is critical to the municipality’s revitalization through ﬁve primary methods – negotiated purchase, donation, foreclosure, eminent domain or spot condemnation. 54 1. Negotiated purchase is one of the fastest methods to obtain the title to a site. The municipality can buy the property from the owner when the owner is willing to sell and the property’s value is higher than the amount of debt attached to it. 2. Donation of properties is a way for a city to proactively acquire large tracts of land in the redevelopment area with clean and clear title. Owners who have no use for their property or seek to have liens removed from their property donate the property to a municipality. Local government can encourage donation by enforcing non-payment of taxes, publicizing the town’s willingness to excuse tax debt in exchange for property donation and simplifying the settlement process. 3. Tax Foreclosure is a common method to obtain properties that are tax delinquent. Foreclosing on a property for nonpayment of taxes, however, only means that the property is taken from the existing owner and put up for auction. There is no guarantee that the city will be the high bidder. 4. Eminent domain is the authority provided to local governments by the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution to seize private property for public use in return for “just compensation.” The use of this power is controversial but several Pennsylvania cities have used it effectively to buy abandoned properties that were essential to a catalytic development project. 5. Act 94 Spot Condemnation allows a municipality to condemn a single vacant, blighted property in return for fair market value. SEE CASE STUDY TEN Find Creative New Uses for Vacant Properties: The Washington Post highlighted some creative uses for older buildings in Pittsburgh’s South Side riverfront neighborhood: “Nineteenthcentury churches have turned condo, factories house gritty lofts, ethnic clubhouses blare Northern Soul instead of Slovenian folk, and steel-mill sites sprout sleek shops.” 55 Case Study 10 10. Going Out In Search Of Private Investment: Easton Silk Mill Burdened by an abandoned industrial site, the city of Easton chose to purchase the site and seek appropriate developers. In November 2006, as part of its Bushkill Creek Corridor Project, Easton purchased the 10-acre Simon Silk Mill for $2.5 million. Funding for the acquisition is part of a $9 million grant offered to Easton and Lafayette College by the State through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. Easton already owned a warehouse adjacent to the Silk Mill that they purchased in 2004 for $950,000. Easton will permanently reserve part of the industrial area as a public recreational trail, which will be connected to Lafayette College’s properties and create an openspace corridor along Bushkill Creek. The city will sell the majority of the industrial area to a developer. Easton envisions attracting more than $50 million in private and public investment to transform a corridor of the city along Bushkill Creek into a revitalized retail, ofﬁce, residential, and recreational zone. The city is likely to purchase additional lands along the Creek in order to realize this vision, and is working on the Corridor project in cooperation with Lafayette College and the Delaware and Lehigh Canal National Heritage Corridor. The three groups hired Taggart Associates of Bethlehem to coordinate their joint redevelopment efforts. o GOAL TWO: PREPARE REDEVELOPMENT AREA FOR MARKET step two: obtain site control or owner commitment to transfer property 30

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

PA Community Revitalization Desktop Guide Table of Contents How To Attract High Impact Investment to Core Communities Goal One: Choose One Asset-Rich Redevelopment Area Interviews with Pennsylvania Mayors Goal Two: Prepare Redevelopment Area for Market Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Three: Welcome Investment Interviews with Developers who Have Invested in Pennsylvania Cities and Towns Goal Four: Apply Strategies That Work Conclusion

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