Progress

August 20, 2008

Board OKs tax plan to assist expanding mall

Developer plans $68 million rehab of Valmont Plaza in West Hazleton, which includes expansion and new name.

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WEST PITTSTON – The Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday assisted a planned $68 million mall rehabilitation project in West Hazleton by approving a $4.7 million Tax Incremental Financing Plan.

WP Realty – the Bryn Mawr company that redeveloped the West Side Mall in Edwardsville and attracted a new Lowe’s Home Improvement Center that opened there last year – plans to demolish part of Valmont Plaza on state Route 93 in West Hazleton and more than double its size with new construction.

The plaza would be renamed West Hazleton Commons.

Allen Bellas, executive director of the redevelopment authority, said the financing plan – commonly called a TIF – would direct 80 percent of new property taxes generated by the project over the next 17 years to pay off a $4.7 million loan for infrastructure improvements at the site.

Luzerne County, the Hazleton Area School District and West Hazleton would receive the remainder of newly generated property taxes.

The three taxing bodies would still receive 100 percent of taxes based on the property’s current assessment, and would receive 100 percent of property taxes after the 17-year TIF expires.

Representatives of the three bodies and the redevelopment authority met with the developer on July 16 to hammer out details.

Bellas expects the school board to vote on TIF approval at the board’s Aug. 28 meeting. TIF approval would then be needed from county commissioners and, lastly, borough council.

Plans include demolishing the long-vacant building that last housed an Ames department store, as well as an adjacent smaller vacant store. Doing so would allow for construction on 36 acres behind the Ames building.

Plans also include constructing another row of stores on the south side of the property.

Existing stores on the north side of the property including Big Lots, Rent-A-Center, Mattress Man and Yong Hao Chinese Buffet, which cover about 80,000 square feet, would remain intact.

Tim Herb of WP Realty has said he envisions attracting two anchor stores and several junior anchor stores to the plaza, comparing it to a smaller version of the Arena Hub Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township.

The authority board also agreed to apply to the state Department of Economic and Community Development to have the site participate in the Infrastructure and Facilities Improvement Program, which would allow a percentage of sales tax generated at the new development and earned income tax of employees who work there to pay off a $4 million infrastructure loan.

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