Venango County Economic Development Authority members discussed the proposed development by the Verland company to house former Polk Center residents, the continuing progress at 100 Seneca in Oil City and the Cranberry Mall at their monthly meeting Tuesday.
Verland, a Pittsburgh-based corporation that is taking care of former Polk Center residents and employing a number of former Polk staff members, is moving ahead with its plans to build housing in the county for those Verland is caring for.
The economic authority is administering a $2 million grant Verland received at a rate of $100 an hour, authority executive director Emily Lewis said Tuesday.
Lewis said she is looking over Verland’s business plan and narrative to make sure it is in line with the grant funding.
“We are here to provide as much or little technical assistance as is needed,” Lewis said.
Verland’s deadline for moving the remaining residents they are caring for out of Polk Center is in the spring of 2025, Lewis said, so construction on the home Verland is building will be commencing sooner rather than later.
“They are still planning to do a mix of new construction and retro-fitting current homes,” Lewis said.
County Commissioner Albert Abramovic said Verland is planning to build a house for eight residents in Cranberry and also wants to buy several other houses throughout the county.
The houses are in Cranberry and Oil City as well as the Franklin area, several people at the meeting said.
100 Seneca
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, Lewis said the construction timeline for the 100 Seneca project in Oil City hasn’t changed very much.
Work on the fifth floor is projected to be substantially complete by Aug. 24, and work on the first floor will be substantially complete by Jan. 5, 2025, Lewis said.
Commissioner Sam Breene said he is very pleased with Massaro Corp., which is doing work on the fifth and first floors.
Breene said he was recently in 100 Seneca talking with the foreman from Massaro who was excited to show him the pictures of 100 Seneca through the years which he had printed out and hung up in a makeshift office.
“None of the other contractors have done that,” Breene said of the sign. “It shows they are taking ownership of the project. I think we have found a good partner.”
In addition, the authority approved a contract to have the new roof on 100 Seneca inspected to make sure no damage was done to the roof while Hudson Construction was on site and left debris on the roof.
The panel also approved a contract with Urban Engineers for specialty testing on the first and fifth floors where a fireproofing coating on the steel beams is flaking off and seems to have not been properly applied.
If the testing comes back that the coating is defective, Hudson would be responsible for making it right under the contract, Lewis said.
Cranberry Mall
In another matter, authority member Bonnie Summers updated the panel on the Cranberry Mall.
Summers said she believes one of the mall owners has recently expressed interest in bringing retail tenants into the mall and fixing it up.
“I don’t think this owner has ever been at the mall. The manager who has taken charge was here two years ago,” Summers said. “Where all the owners are going is unclear. There are 12 owners.”
“Ollie’s and Dunham’s are successful there but people can’t get to them because of all the holes (in the parking lot). And don’t forget the senior center, the county put money into that,” Summers said.
Several people at the meeting expressed the view that until things are fixed at the mall it will be difficult to attract tenants and the expense to fix things like the parking lot would be enormous.
Authority member Maureen James said a number of smaller strip malls in the Pittsburgh area have reinvented themselves with various indoor amusements and indoor golf.
Revitalizing the Cranberry Mall calls for out of the box thinking, James and Summers both said.
Odds and Ends
- The authority approved a resolution to apply for a $99,500 grant to create a revolving loan fund in Oil City with the first recipient of that loan being the first floor tenant in 100 Seneca.
- Rod Griffin noted that Deb Eckelberger, the Franklin Industrial and Commercial Development Authority (FICDA) development director, is retiring soon. Griffin said he would like to see more applications coming in to fill her position.
- Lewis said that at the request of the Franklin Chamber of Commerce, she is working on applying for grant funding for a building survey of several old, multistory buildings in downtown Franklin to assess what improvements would need to be made for the upper floors of those buildings to become more viable.
