In Reading, some downtown projects progress while others stall

Oct. 6—Reading City Council was updated on the progress of redeveloping the downtown now that there is a renewed sense of excitement in the city.

Reading's Community Development Director Jamal Abodalo could have titled his presentation "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly."

"We have had a lot of activity in the downtown," Abodalo said Monday night at council's committee-of-the-whole meeting. "Some of it has been completed and some of it is still in the works."

The good

Several projects have been completed downtown, Abodalo said.

Most notable of these is Alvernia University's CollegeTowne, a 125,000-square-foot project that officially opened in September.

"It had its challenges from the site reviews, to the planning commission to the zoning," Abodalo said. "But we made it through all these things, and I'm delighted to let you know it's on its way to completion."

The Barley Square project at 125 S. Second St. was recently completed and brought 57 apartments for low-income seniors to the downtown, Abodalo said.

The $8.2 million plan to redevelop the city's former public works building at 225-249 N. Fourth St. is well underway, Abodalo said.

"Where it stands right now is that we met with the building owner as well as the contractor a few days ago," Abodalo said. "We worked through all the building permits, and right now we are trying to work through the planning commission."

Leopoldo Sanchez, owner of Super Natural & Fresh Produce, announced plans in 2019 to redevelop the 49,000-square-foot property into a grocery store, food warehouse and tortilla manufacturer.

"We are hoping for an opening sometime in March or April of next year," Abodalo said.

Developer Alan Shuman has two projects in the works downtown.

The Medical Arts building project is off to a quick start.

"The developer is taking very assertive and aggressive steps there," Abodalo said. "He's working with us to develop 39 market rate units with adaptive reuse."

The project at 230 N. Fifth St. has gone through the planning commission and is going back to the zoning board for some revisions, Abodalo said.

"Speaking to Mr. Shuman," he said, "we believe this project will move on in the first quarter of 2022."

The Berks County Trust building at Sixth and Washington streets is also owned by Shuman and is moving forward.

"Mr. Shuman is diligently working on the commercial side in there," Abodalo said.

The Reading Redevelopment Authority and Philadelphia-based Spak Group entered into an agreement to redevelop 301 Washington St. and 124-126 N. Fourth St.

"The intent is again mixed-use for Washington Street and all residential for Fourth Street," Abodalo said.

Abadalo also provided an update on the city-owned properties at Fifth and Penn streets.

"You've been very patient with us," he said.

Soon after Mayor Eddie Moran took office, the city received a single bid for the five properties. The properties were put out to bid in the waning months of Mayor Wally Scott's administration.

Moran's administration tossed the lone bid and said it would not have been responsible to accept the only offer.

Selling the properties is a priority since it is estimated to cost the city $18.2 million in maintenance costs over the next 11 years, according to the city's Act 47 exit plan.

Moran's administration also conducted a parking study and downtown strategic plan and wanted to wait until those were complete before putting the buildings out for bid again.

The city hopes to put out a request for proposal on Oct. 15 and receive bids by Jan. 14, Abodalo said.

"We would like to go through a public-private partnership with developers who are going revitalize these properties and will bring in a use that will be a complement to CollegeTowne and inspire future development in the downtown area," Abodalo said.

Councilwoman Donna Reed said she is ready for the the properties to be developed.

"I just hope we can both move on these and be realistic when developers come to us," she said. "We've had in the past appropriate developments that dovetailed with what we are looking at now, and it was rejected. I hope we are extremely open, and I hope we don't go through another phase of saying no to every developer.

"The more those buildings sit there the more problems we have. I'm beyond frustrated for how long it's taken. It should have been done eight years ago."

The bad

Things hit a bump with a developer that is involved with three major projects downtown.

The Scharf Group purchased the Madison and Reading Eagle buildings and is the developer for the Berkshire building, which it does not own, Abodalo said.

The plan to create 83 market-rate apartments at the Madison Building at 400 Washington St. was off to a great start, Abodalo said.

"Unfortunately, the developer is not exactly working the contractors that are on site (at the Madison)," he said. "We've seen a lackluster performance. Sometimes it goes very well and sometimes it just dies down."

David Hasenfeld, owner of Madison 2020 LLC based in New Castle, Del., and a member of The Scharf Group could not be reached for comment.

The city did meet with the bank and general contractor for the project on Monday, Abodalo said.

"We were assured the funds are available," he said. "We asked for proof of funding, and we will receive this. We also asked for a schedule of activity, and we were promised in the next two weeks we would receive a complete list of subcontractors and tasks for completion."

The previous contractor, Abodalo said, terminated its building permit with the city.

A new permit will not be issued by the city until there is proof of funding, a schedule and a list of the project's subcontractors, which the city was told it would received by the end of this week, Abodalo said.

"At this point in time, any activity in there does not have a building permit, and as such we will shut it down immediately," Abodalo said. "We were very clear with them a building permit would not be issued and you are not authorized to do any work until we get proof of funds, a schedule and list of contractors they are working with."

The Scharf Group is still hoping to complete the project in the first quarter of 2022, Abodalo said.

"I cannot promise anything," he said. "We hoped it would have been finished when CollegeTowne opened up their doors and unfortunately that did not happen. We're trying to work with the developer as fast as we can."

Things also are not progressing at the Reading Eagle building, Abodalo said, but that's for different reasons.

"This developer here is trying to do something across commercial, institutional and residential (lines), and that is where the challenge is," Abodalo said. "We were also told we would be able to see some actual architectural rendering, but we have not seen anything. I remain hopeful we will be able to work with the developer and see something."

The developer asked Abodalo to allow them to finish the Madison and the Reading Eagle project would be next, he said.

Alvernia University entered into an agreement with the Scharf Group to create housing for international students at the Berkshire at Fifth and Washington streets, Abodalo said. The building is owned by New Jersey-based Berkshire II Real Estate Holdings LLC, according to Berks County property records, but Scharf is the developer for the project.

"Unfortunately, until now there has not been anything," Abodalo said. "We have been told we would be receiving the demolition plans in the near future, but this has not happened yet."

The demolition plans are for inside the building; the building itself would not be torn down, Abodalo said.

"We continue to pursue this matter to see where we are," he said. "Because the United Way has vacated the building and Centro Hispano is on a month-to-month lease. So, we should see some movement there."

The ugly

Councilwoman Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz asked if Abodalo was aware of the condition of the city-owned buildings that face CollegeTowne.

"We're trying to attract quality businesses and educational institutions to downtown Reading," she said. "They've been very supportive in working with us. We need to show them the same level of effort."

Abodalo said he has walked that courtyard many times.

"There are broken windows, at least one, and the paint is peeling in that area," he said. "We have tried to address the window to try and fix it, but unfortunately it was not in a timely manner for the ribbon cutting."

Goodman-Hinnershitz said the city is taking part in removing blight, something it is trying to get its residents to not do.

Abodalo admitted it is an eyesore.

"The intent here is to try and get a developer to help us with those things and revitalize those things," he said. "But to spend about $2,000 to replace a window at this point in time might be the thing we need to do."

Reed agreed with Goodman-Hinnershitz and said she hopes the city is using its codes and property maintenance divisions properly.

"To address the peeling paint," she said. "To address dumpsters that are leaking onto the streets. There are dumpster regulations for historic districts, and Alvernia is in a historic district. I hope we are enforcing this, if we're not then we have some issues."

Abodalo shared Reed's concern but said the problem will not be fixed overnight.

"This administration has been working very hard to fight blight," he said. "Blight did not just take place yesterday, it took years. We are trying to do everything we can."