Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

Washington Washington County | Third Class City | County Seat | Mayor: Part Time up of city leaders to recommend actions to bring more people into downtown. The group proposed two projects - a streetscape improvement effort and a façade improvement program. After weeks of discussion, the group agreed to pursue the streetscape initiative ﬁrst because streetscape improvements would provide the infrastructure needed to support new development and large-scale renovations. Once city leaders decided to beautify and modernize its streetscape, the town needed to identify the funding to make it happen. Washington put together a complex ﬁnancial package from multiple sources including: $600,000 from the State Department of Community and Economic Development ; $7.1 million from PennDOT out of its Twelve Year Plan Fund; $4.5 million from a city bond to be repaid from CDBG allocation over twenty years; $1 million from a county bond pool; and $1.2 million from a Capital Improvement Assessment District they established, which charged Central Business District owners based on business square footage. The assessment was put to a vote of the city’s 130 downtown business merchants and passed when 40% or more of businesses failed to object. In 2002, The City of Washington completed its ﬁrst phase of the fourteen-block Downtown District Revitalization Project, including new historic-style street lights, mast-arm trafﬁc signals, removal of overhead wires, sidewalks and crosswalks with decorative paving, curbs and ramps, utility modiﬁcations, landscape treatments and furnishings. While there was support for the improvements, there was also tremendous skepticism as to whether the town was prettying itself up for a date with investment that would never happen. Developer approaches the city with a proposal for a $100 million project. Enter Jack Piatt Sr., of Millcraft Industries, in 2004. Piatt grew up in Washington and was a successful developer. He wanted his hometown to prosper again and he believed it had tremendous locational assets that made developing in Washington good business. Piatt called a meeting with city and county ofﬁcials at City Hall. He praised them for taking the initiative to clean up and improve the downtown, and proposed to build a $100 million project encompassing 14 blocks in Washington’s downtown. “The Crossroads” would be the ﬁrst major commercial development in that city’s central business district since the mid-1970s. Washington is a crossroads,” Piatt said of the city’s strategic location near interstate highways 70 and 79 and Route 19. 70 Crossroads, as proposed by Piatt, would be a signiﬁcant mixed-use development that would include townhouses and loft apartments, an 84-room “boutique” hotel, an ofﬁce building, two parking garages, an outdoor park with amphitheater, and 120,000 square feet of retail. Community support was immediate. The scale of the investment and the location promised a signiﬁcant impact on the revitalization of downtown. The plan was to obtain tenants and buyers for each phase of the product before building. “ We are home grown to Washington. I grew up there and have a strong emotional tie to the city. The primary goal of Crossroads was to help Washington redevelop and to take advantage of the migration of people back to urban centers that we are seeing across the country. I believe Crossroads is a model for the revitalization of third class cities – because of what we achieved and how the city, county and state all worked together with us to achieve a high impact project. Washington By the Numbers Population (2000): 15,268 Population change in the 1990s: - 4% Racial Composition: 82% White Non-Hispanic; 15% Black; 1% Hispanic Median household income: $25,764 Housing 66% Owner Occupied; 34% Rental Median house value: $64,500 Industries: Educational, health and social services (24.2%), retail trade (14.7%), manufacturing (13.4%), arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services (10.8%) Commuters: Daytime population change due to commuting: +7,251 (+47.5%) Workers who live and work in this city: 2,663 (42.3%) Revitalizing Downtown Geographic Focus of Projects for Impact: Downtown Strategic Plan: $17 million Streetscape Improvement Plan to Attract Private Investment High Impact Project: $100 Million Downtown Mixed-Use Crossroads Development Project Funders: Millcraft Development Company, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Timeline: Phase One Complete, Land Acquisition for Phase 2 in Progress Other Projects Proposed or Completed in Close Proximity to Leverage High Impact Project: Amphitheatre, New housing over retail Assets Leveraged: Location at crossroads of state highways, vacant land In the past forty years, Washington lost ten thousand residents along with steel mills, factories and large downtown department stores. As a result of its shrinking tax base, this third class city has met its budget with difﬁculty. City Proactively Implements $17 Million Streetscaping Effort In 1999, the City formed an economic development group made GOAL FOUR: APPLY STRATEGIES THAT WORK Washington 62

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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