Metro

The family of a city builder was approved Friday as the first borrower from a newly repurposed revolving loan fund of the city Redevelopment Authority.

DERT Enterprise LLC, owned by Sam McCloskey II, son of builder Sam McCloskey, will borrow the maximum $50,000 to renovate a long vacant building that once housed Myer Bros. Florist on the 800 block of Chestnut Avenue near the Altoona Water Authority’s administration building.

The younger McCloskey plans to turn the old building into “flexible commercial space,” with “new black windows, contemporary siding panels and brightened brick facade,” along with new framing inside and finishes to create a “white box,” according to the proposal.

The project will cost $465,000 — $190,000 for purchase of the property and the rest for mechanical, plumbing and electrical upgrades, interior improvements, replacement of the roof, facade construction and utility installation, paving and concrete work, according to a proposal presented to the authority.

The money is coming from a total of $210,000 that had been dormant for a long time in the former In-Town Housing program.

It’s now available through the Redevelopment Authority Improvement Loan program at 1% over 15 years, with no match required.

An Altoona Blair County Development Corp. loan evaluation committee recommended that the authority approve the loan.

ABCD is providing an additional $200,000, while McCloskey is adding $215,000 cash, according to the proposal.

The loan will be secured with a second mortgage lien and assignment of rents and leases on the subject property, according to the proposal.

The city supports the project, said authority board member and city Mayor Matt Pacifico.

It will help clean up a property that has festered on a “gateway” artery for a decade, said board member Ron Beatty, a member of City Council.

Authority board member Jessica Sprouse questioned whether the loan opportunity was publicized sufficiently.

Typically, area developers approach ABCD for advice on how to fund their projects, other board members said.

Sprouse dissented on the approval vote.

Exchange with developer

The authority also agreed to a non-monetary exchange with a Duncansville company that is renovating a three-story apartment house at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Seventh Street.

Cityscape Apartments, which is connected with Tony Luther of Luther Lawn Service, tore down a blighted house next to the apartment house and in exchange for that, the city conveyed the land on which the blighted house was located to Luther, so he can use it as a parking lot for his apartment tenants.

The demolition work by Luther saved the city having to pay a contractor approximately $13,000 to tear down the house, which the city had acquired at a tax sale for $1,000, said City Manager Christopher McGuire.

Luther was eager to get rid of the house quickly because it had become a magnet for squatters and illegal drug use, according to Community Development director Eric Luchansky and Community Development Block Grant manager Diana White.

Luther has invested about a quarter-million dollars in materials into the apartment renovations, according to McGuire.

Having the parking lot next door for tenants will enhance the value of the apartment house, McGuire said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.