Tax intake for downtown destination lower than hoped
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KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
The building owned by Herman Logue, at the corner of West Third and Hepburn Streets, and the Liberty Arena, the Green and the old YMCA can be seen from the roof of the Sun-Gazette building.
Mayor Gabriel J. Campana's Destination 2014 site is producing less than $34,000 in annual real estate taxes and isn't resulting in the job production envisioned five years ago, but it remains a work in progress with large developing plans for Liberty Arena.
Once touted as the city's signature development west of Market Street, Campana said the destination site, bound by West Fourth, Hepburn, Elmira and West Third streets, remains a work in progress. The developer of Liberty Arena plans to add a restaurant, bowling alley and gaming area to the indoor sports facility, he said. The new additions are set to open in October.
"The taxes will come," according to the mayor, who previously envisioned $30 million of investment to include an office, building, parking deck, conference center and an incubator for jobs that all would help the economy.
A check Tuesday with the city treasurer's office indicates the return from property taxes is under $34,000.
"It looks like what was a previously tax-exempt property, on its first year eligible, received $33,945," said Nicholas Grimes, treasurer and tax collector.
The amount does not include earned income or local services tax, he said Monday, but includes the real estate tax on the vacant YMCA, 343 W. Fourth St.
The developer, Daniel A. Klingerman, has taken a chance and is adding a restaurant, bowling alley, gaming arcade area and upgrades to the arena.
The work should be completed by the fall with a grand opening celebration by October, he said.
Klingerman said he didn't like last week's allegation by Councilwoman Liz Miele that the standing building, now vacant, was never intended to be a high-end apartment complex or office building.
"She's wrong," Klingerman said in an exclusive interview with the Sun-Gazette.
His business colleague, Herman Logue, took ownership of the building after it was put out for bid to other contractors and nobody bit. But after a contractor's heavy equipment hit the building, an insurance limbo began, Klingerman said.
It was a process that set in motion a legal battle and insurance issues that took more than two years to resolve, he said. "I couldn't do anything after the building was hit," he said.
But Miele said Klingerman went after a $3 million state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant for failing to produce the office building or high-end apartments.
In response to Miele, Klingerman said former state Rep. Steven W. Cappelli informed the developer about the money languishing in the state capital budget in 2004 -- money that wasset aside for construction of a downtown arena.
The city provided Klingerman with $2 million it had obtained in bank financing, according to Campana. The grant money was split, with half going toward the creation of Trade and Transit Centre II and the rest for utilities to power the Liberty Arena, he said.
The mayor is fearful that the council is not pro-business.
"He's added qualit-of-life activities for families that nobody else is willing to take," Campana said of Klingerman.
The family entertainment center will help to produce jobs and bring people downtown, Campana said. But another disappointment to Miele and several others on council is the "The Green," on W. Fourth St., which was supposed to be a much larger space similar to one they visited in downtown Morristown, New Jersey.
City officials took a trip to southern New Jersey to visit the site, which had a statue of George Washington.
The Green ended up much smaller, although it remains nicely kept by Williamsport Parking Authority. It includes a tower clock with a plaque dedicated to the mayor's relatives, Miele said.
The site, bound by West Third, Hepburn, West Fourth and Elmira streets, was supposed to contain a parking deck or parking arrangements for city visitors and workers, according to the draft plans.
Finding ample parking remains a problem, according to Logue, who told city officials he put a stop on the renovations of the lower floor of a building near the destination site he owns at West Third and Hepburn streets.
"He needs more parking spaces," Campana said.