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Forgive us, but we find it difficult to be in a forgiving mood when an organization such as the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business & Industry asks to be left off the hook for $1.7 million it owes the public.
Chamber officials this spring are urging Luzerne County’s government to simply erase the debt – poof! Doing so will allow the chamber to clear liens on its downtown Innovation Center building and unload the property to a privately owned group that vows to do great things with it.
Proceeds of the sale, if it goes through, would help the Wilkes-Barre business organization to repay some, but not all, of the reported $7.2 million it has borrowed through the years from a Luzerne County revolving fund intended to spur community development projects. Ideally, borrowers such as the chamber will responsibly repay money to this interest-earning fund, which in turn allows new loans to be granted to other area businesses.
Not so in the case of the Innovation Center.
The over-extended chamber long ago sheared employees from its roster and divested itself of most property, declaring it was no longer in the real estate business.
Now, Luzerne County Council’s members are being asked to give the chamber a break, eliminating some of its remaining red ink. To make this stinky option smell better, it’s been wrapped into a bigger downtown revitalization effort that includes the possible sale and reuse of three buildings, including the Innovation Center, and the prospect of many new tech jobs.
Council could vote on the loan forgiveness request as soon as its meeting Tuesday night.
In too many respects, this situation resembles those high-stakes tiffs when an NFL team holds a city hostage to get local officials to capitulate to its demands before building a new football stadium. That’s not to say we oppose the Wilkes-Barre project known as “Innovation Squared.”
The project involves Pittston developer George Albert and investors collectively known as the Red Talon Group. They aim to acquire the Innovation Center and former First National Bank Building, both on Public Square, as well as the vacant railroad station on Market Street. The master plan, apparently in the works for years, involves significant private investment, of $10 million or more, plus possible long-term tax breaks.
Advocates of the project say it hinges on the chamber’s loan forgiveness. Council is under the gun to make a decision.
For a plan of this scope, it seems much of it came together in private sessions, out of the public’s view. Who belongs to Red Talon? What is their track record regarding redevelopment? Why can’t this project be accomplished gradually, in pieces? What other entities are involved in pulling off “Innovation Squared” and bringing new jobs downtown?
“It’s a complicated matrix,” Albert has said.
Try us.
We’re guessing it’s not so hard to understand.