Lycoming Mall in Muncy Township. SUN-GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

The Lycoming County Commissioners urge input from the community as they consider a loan of $5 million in Act 13 monies to a developer seeking to purchase the Lycoming Mall property. The county would be joined by a local bank and the developer each contributing $5 million to make up the $15 million asking price for the property.

“We have witnessed a once vibrant and robust mall that was heavily utilized go into decline over the past decade,” said Commissioner Scott Metzger in his comments about the commercial site which has been located in the county for 40 years.

“Over the years we have witnessed the economic decline that added to unemployment and taxes being reduced due to appeals,” Metzger said.

He noted that in the past year taxes for the property, which has seen a steady loss of store occupancy, were reduced by $79,000 on appeal.

Famvest LLC, the developers for the Chipotle and Texas Roadhouse commercial sites locally, as well as properties in Centre County, is seeking to purchase the mall building, which is about 800,000 square feet and the land — roughly 135 acres — that is included in the sale.

SUN-GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

“The Board of Commissioners believe the acquisition of the mall by these developers will bring new life with employment opportunities, possible housing and increased tax revenue for the county,” Metzger said.

Although there is no document at this point and the commissioners’ comments were informational, the proposed plan would entail the county offering a five-year loan at three percent interest for the project. The funds would come from Act 13 monies which are derived from impact fees from natural gas drilling in the county, and can be used for economic development.

“As the commissioners weigh this decision we want to emphasize this is a loan not a grant,” Metzger said.

‘This is an investment in the growth corridor of the county that has the potential to pay dividends and rewards for a generation or more,” he said.

The logistics of the financing proposal would place the county and the bank as co-equal first liens holders.

“We proposed and said very strongly that we wanted to be in the first lien position with the bank and that’s part of the deal,” said Commissioner Rick Mirabito.

This is an added protection to ensure the return of the county’s investment in case of default.

There is also a $5 million personal guarantee which means the bank and the county could recover that amount in personal assets from the developer.

“Sometimes things don’t work out. The important thing is to always have an exit plant at the end. That’s where the first line and the personal guarantee are the exit plan to protect the public because our primary responsibility in addition to economic development is to make sure that we protect the public money,” Mirabito said.

“I want the taxpayers to know that we’ve worked very hard to protect their money,” Mirabito stressed.

The reason that the commissioners were approached with the proposal, according to Jason Fink, president/CEO of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Congress, is that the contract that the buyers have with the current mall owner requires that the deal be closed by mid-December. Because of that deadline, the developers would not have been able to tap into other funding options, such as through the Department of Community & Economic Development.

The developers are also exploring other funding sources, such as the state’s Redevelopment Assistant Capital Program (RACP) and PennDot Multimodal transportation grants. Fink stated that the developers anticipate hearing about those grants in the coming months.

“The developers are already moving forward in other aspects of being able to tap into existing programs that they could access to be able to work towards their vision of redeveloping the mall property,” Fink said.

What the developers have planned for the mall is still not clearly defined.

“”It may or may not end up being commercial in the way that we see the mall sitting there right now because it’s going to be a different ownership and it’s a different time,” Fink said.

“They’re looking at a couple of different options…scenarios that involve housing, scenarios that involve commercial ventures,” he said.

Because of the work that they’ve done throughout the state, Fink added, “they’ve got connections to be able to bring in a number of different ventures.”

Commissioner Tony Mussare expressed a hope that the developers would consider local businesses and the local work force when formulating their plans.

With the rerouting of Route 15 and increased traffic on Route 180, the mall was even more visible to people driving by.

“One of the concerns I had is the fact that nobody was going to take this project on, it was going to sit there under the current ownership and we were going to continue to see that decline that was taking place,” Fink said.

“I think anyone who drives by that mall currently gets a sick feeling in their stomach. What could be possibly done there could be huge and bring population into this county and visitors, like it once was,” Metzger said.

“These developers have that track record in this state. They have done that in other communities,” he added.

The bank is in the process of reviewing all the things they need to be able to present the proposal to their loan committee, Fink said. Once the bank’s approval is given, then the commissioners would vote on the documents.

“Tell us what you think, public,” Mirabito said at the end of the presentation.