Business

September 29, 2007

Chamber finds land buyer in Mericle

Area business organization’s debt falls by selling 134 acres for about $5.3 million to private developer.

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – The Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry found a buyer for more than 134 acres of land this past week in Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services.

The chamber’s real estate arm, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Development Corp. sold six parcels in Hanover Crossings and East Mountain Business Park to the private developer for nearly $5.3 million.

“It’s normal business for us. It just happens to be a larger bulk sale,” chamber president and chief executive officer Todd Vonderheid said Friday afternoon. The properties were sold at their appraised values, he said.

“It clearly wasn’t a fire sale,” Vonderheid said, while acknowledging the money will help pay down the chamber’s debt largely incurred by the construction of the $31 million Northampton and Main theater/retail/residential complex in the downtown. “It doesn’t solve all of our cash flow issues.”

Quantifying the debt is difficult, he added, explaining that some of it is in the form of public grants that will carry no obligation after a certain period of time.

A call to Mericle was not returned.

Vonderheid said the developer will build industrial and flex buildings on the two Hanover Crossings parcels totaling more than 66 acres. The land was sold for $2.64 million to two companies, Mericle 2 Great Valley LLC and Mericle 3 Great Valley LLC.

Office buildings will be built on the other parcels in the East Mountain park. Nearly 68 acres were sold for $2.64 million to four companies, Mericle 2 East Mountain LLC, Mericle 660 Baltimore LLC, Mericle 675 Baltimore LLC and Mericle 800 Baltimore LLC.

The buildings to be constructed will be speculative and then marketed to prospective tenants, Vonderheid said. “It is a continuation of us getting out of the industrial park business and the private sector taking it over,” Vonderheid said.

The sale reduces the chamber’s real estate holdings. Vonderheid estimated the chamber still has approximately 40 acres in the Hanover Crossings, 60 acres in the Crestwood Industrial Park, 20 in the East Mountain park and four lots along Highland Park Boulevard.

Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader business writer, can be contacted at 829-7237.

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