by J. Milton Lindsay
The developer of the planned Fraser Centre complex has ‘no concern’ that state support ‘will not be there when we need it,’ even as Pennsylvania faces some budget cuts, he told State College Borough Council last week.
Construction on the long-delayed project is now expected to begin in the fall, according to information supplied to the borough.
‘When we met in the fall (2010), we had about a dozen issues’ holding up the project, Susquehanna Real Estate CEO Jack Kay told council members Friday. ‘Now we have one or two.’
Kay, whose company is leading the downtown redevelopment effort, said securing additional office-space tenants remains the biggest obstacle. Getting more commitments ‘will go a long way toward achieving our goal,’ he said.
‘We’re now focusing more on developing this project into a space for office and retail, and less on residential,’ Kay said.
He also said it remains within reach to complete the project, on the 100 block of South Fraser Street, in 2012.
Construction on Fraser Centre, a $51 million, 12-level project, was to have begun in 2008. But project leaders have said the turbulent economy has made it significantly more difficult to secure tenants and financing for the plans.
In December, council members voted 5-1 to extend a critical payment deadline for the effort. They gave Susquehanna until Dec. 31, 2011, to make a $1.8 million land-acquisition payment to the borough. The money had been due on Dec. 31, 2010.
As of late November, Kay told the council, he had occupants lined up for 70 percent of the 160,000-square-foot plans. But he needs to reach the 80 percent threshold before Susquehanna can solidify the construction financing needed to break ground, he said at the time.
The Fraser Centre project has received commitments of backing from public sources, too, including through a local tax-increment-financing plan and from the state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The project has a $4 million RACP commitment, delivered during the administration of former Gov. Ed Rendell.
But the administration of new Gov. Tom Corbett is reviewing a variety of RACP commitments made during Rendell’s tenure, according to published reports. (StateCollege.com has submitted, to gubernatorial offices, inquiries about the future of the RACP committment to Fraser Centre; those inquiries have so far been unanswered.)
Still, Kay aired confidence Friday that the state support will remain intact for the project.
In other news at the Friday work session, the council generally resisted changing the borough policy that keeps people from carrying firearms in local parks. The advocacy group Firearms Owners Against Crime has been lobbying for a change, asserting that only state laws can impose such a policy.
FOAC has said that litigation is possible if the local rule goes unchanged, according to the Centre Daily Times.
But ‘what does it say if we say it’s OK for guys to pack heat in the same park our kids are playing in’ council member Peter Morris said. ‘We don’t have to change this law, and we shouldn’t.’
Council member Silvi Lawrence, however, suggested the council pursue a slight modification in borough policy, to ‘see if there’s a way we could have the same regulation we have in state parks and schools.’
Morris was resolute, though.
‘We should act on our principle,’ he said. ‘So we get sued. I know these type of groups have a lot of money, but bring them on.’
(Editor’s note: J. Milton Lindsay is a StateCollege.com contributor.)
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