York's Royal Square developers seek piece of $30 million tax credit pie

An economic development group that two years ago helped fund the York Academy Regional Charter School has been awarded a $30 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits, which could be good news for a multimillion-dollar proposal to revamp a portion of West Market Street in York City.

Community First Fund was recently given the allocation from the U.S. Department of Treasury, to be used in low-income communities to stimulate growth and create jobs, said New Markets Tax Credit manager Pam Woodell.

"We're over-the-moon excited," Woodell said of the allocation.

Requests: Community First has already received about $80 million worth of tax credit requests from companies in the area, Woodell said.

Now the group has to decide which projects it will give the tax credits to, selecting those that will most positively affect communities — including York, Reading, Lancaster and Harrisburg.

One of those project requests came from Royal Square Development, which applied for a $12 million tax credit from the fund. Royal Square Development president and CEO Josh Hankey said that credit would create $3.6 million in equity to help start the company's West Market Street revitalization project.

If Royal Square's application is chosen, Hankey said construction on the project could begin as early as September, pending finalization of bank financing, including loans, investor equity and the actual purchase of the tax credit.

"Projects like this — really dilapitated, blighted buildings in a city that hasn't fully recovered — takes more money than you can make sense of," Hankey said. "(This project) really isn't possible without (the New Markets Tax Credit)."

West Market Street plans: Royal Square owns five buildings along West Market Street — The Haines building, Zakies building, Woolworth building, Weinbrom Jewelers building and the Police Heritage building — with plans for each involving a mix of revamped residential and retail spaces.

Hankey said he's received lots of interest from retailers who want to rent the spaces, but nothing has been finalized.

Hankey is hopeful Royal Square's application will be chosen because "this project is hugely impactful in a positive way," he said.

Community First plans: Woodell said the hope was for the allocation to help fund five or six new, worthwhile projects in its market area but that it was premature to discuss specific areas Community First was looking to address.

In 2013, Community First was awarded a $15 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits, which went toward funding three major projects. One of those was at York Academy Regional Charter School, which received $5 million in credits toward an expansion project.

Source: York Dispatch