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The Brodart neighborhood, the Pajama Factory, Wegman's and Kohl's department store all have something in common besides being located in Williamsport.
At one time, all of them were underutilized or abandoned properties and buildings.
The Lycoming County commissioners have gotten an $800,000 federal grant that is meant to engineer a repeat of those success stories.
The grant, from the Environmental Protection Agency, will be used as a revolving loan. Qualified applicants will be awarded a dollar amount that will be paid back to the county at a low interest rate.
Applicants are supposed to use the money to clean up and make usable buildings and properties, which are known as brownfields.
A committee that will include real estate and financial aid-savvy community members will help select qualified property owners to receive the funds.
Of course, there's no guarantee that this plan will work.
But the cleanup and site preparation are often among the larger financial stumbling blocks to reusing an abandoned property and/or building.
The bottom-line numbers often don't add up when those costs and repayment fees are factored in.
Perhaps the more forgiving financial terms - and some of the funds will be used as grants - will be a difference maker.
There are plenty of parcels in Lycoming County that may qualify for this program.
And, as we have seen with Brodart, the Pajama Factory, Wegman's and Kohl's, it can work.