Community Revitalization Desktop Guide

The ﬁrst phase of Crossroads increased employment in the city by 20% and we still have two phases to go.” – Lucas Piatt, Vice President Millcraft Industries, Inc. Two major sticking points to the project existed. The ﬁrst was overcome by the Governor’s Community Action Team. The second continues to pose an obstacle to development. The ﬁrst difﬁculty Piatt faced was his need for public funding to ﬁnance about 25% of the project to make it work. Unlike during the streetscaping project, when it was up to city leaders to put a complex package of ﬁnancing together on their own while “guessing what to apply for,” says Rich Cleveland, former Director of the Washington County Redevelopment Authority, “the state Community Action team came in, discussed the goals, reﬁned the plan and created a package of $9 million in state funding to meet the city’s needs.” The second obstacle involved the need to acquire parcels of land. While Millcraft Industries owned the properties that Phase One, an ofﬁce building, would be constructed on, adjacent occupied properties would have to be obtained through negotiation or eminent domain in order to complete the project. Mayor Westcott began to negotiate with owners to buy their properties, telling them that eminent domain would only be used as a last resort. Unfortunately, he has been unable to acquire them in spite of ongoing efforts because the owners refuse to accept current value and want thousands more based on their personal estimation of future value. Crossroads ﬁrst phase – ofﬁce building completed. The ﬁrst phase of development was the construction of a seven-story, 140,000-square-foot ofﬁce building. Nationwide Appraisal Services had agreed to lease 100,000 square feet of the ofﬁce space and employ up to 1,000 people in the building. Nationwide Appraisal, formerly based at Southpointe in Cecil, Pennsylvania, had been bought the year before by a national ﬁrm that planned to take Nationwide and its jobs out of state. Piatt informed the Governor and local Washington ofﬁcials about the opportunity to retain these jobs and ﬁnd Nationwide a new headquarters in Washington. Governor Rendell called Nationwide and offered $1.9 million in relocation money. Nationwide accepted and the Nationwide Centre ofﬁce building at the corner of Beau and Franklin streets opened February 15, 2007. The rest of the building was fully leased out prior to opening. As partners in the development, the city and redevelopment authority began the process of declaring some of the area blighted. In the meantime, the city worked with the CAT team to ﬁnd a site and resources to build a $15 million, 850-space parking garage between Chestnut and Beau streets to accommodate the ofﬁce building. The $9 million dollar RCAP grant, a parking authority bond providing $2.5 million, and $3.9 million borrowed from a TIF the city established in the block area for $3.9 million, provided the funding needed. Piatt donated the land. The Redevelopment Authority is building the parking garage and the city will own the garage. Construction began in May 2006 and the lot opened in March 2007. Crossroads Phase Two – Housing and Entertainment Phase Two for Crossroads will tap into demand for downtown loft apartments and townhomes. These two housing choices were new to Washington but Piatt predicted high demand based on a survey of new employees they had brought to town in Phase One. A large number of Nationwide employees said that they would be interested in buying new housing downtown. Given that the average Nationwide employees earn $10 per hour, Piatt has attracted a homebuilder who will build homes in the $100-120,000 range to meet this new demand. With several hundred more people working downtown everyday, the amphitheatre that Piatt had originally proposed as a new open-air venue for concerts and entertainment had a potential core audience. Understanding that new entertainment destinations were key to Washington’s renewal, the Governor’s CAT Team called Mayor Westcott and suggested that he apply for a $500,000 matching grant with Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to build the amphitheatre. The amphitheater is in its ﬁnal design phase. The city will match the grant through its tax increment ﬁnancing. Finally, Washington and Jefferson College, a successful liberal arts college located in Washington, changed its longstanding rule prohibiting students from living off campus because the College was running out of dormitory space. The College has said that Juniors and Seniors meeting certain criteria could move downtown in existing or new housing. As a result, not only is there another potential market for Crossroads housing units, but merchants are making plans to renovate their upper ﬂoors as student apartments. The college estimates that students will lease around one hundred units per year. To help owners remodel, the city created a low interest loan program with state help. The city obtained permission from DCED to use 2% of loan payments on a major state loan to an anchor building to set up a revolving loan fund. In addition, regional banks each agreed to provide a half million-dollar revolving loan fund at 4% interest. Crossroads has been a catalyst for new development in Washington. According to Mayor Westcott, other developers have expressed interested in Washington and local building industry ﬁrms are looking to develop parcels themselves. Key Lessons Learned • PROACTIVELY IMPROVE YOUR ASSETS: While the streetscaping project was not the sole reason Millcraft brought a proposal for development to Washington, it showed a commitment to improving downtown. • LEVERAGE FORMER RESIDENTS’ STRONG TIES TO COMMUNITY: Jack Piatt came back to Washington because he wanted it to succeed as a community and he thought he could make a proﬁt. Do not underestimate the strength of past ties to your community. • BUILD IN PHASES AND LET EACH PHASE’S SUCCESS HELP DRIVE THE NEXT PHASE: The Nationwide Centre brought in 1000 new workers. These workers provide a customer base for downtown retail and potential new homeowners and renters for new housing products. footnotes: washington Notes: 70 Janice Crompton, Sweeping development plan would remake downtown Washington, Post-Gazette (September 21, 2003). http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_washington/ 20030921wacity3.asp 71 Interview with Lucas Piatt December 22, 2006. 63 GOAL FOUR: APPLY STRATEGIES THAT WORK Washington http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_washington/20030921wacity3.asp http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_washington/20030921wacity3.asp

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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