Stephen Senick, Patricia Buzinkai win Wyoming Valley Striders 20K Run

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Students toured WVCA’s Together We Grow preschool

<p>The newly announced $28 million hotel/conference center in downtown Wilkes-Barre meets state requirements to receive a Keystone Opportunity Zone tax break, a city official said.</p><p>The site&#8217;s inclusion in the program was uncertain because it is in a final KOZ phase that provides exemption from real estate taxes through 2024, but only if significant development is underway by the end of 2015.</p><p>City Economic Development Director Greg Barrouk said the state ultimately decides if the planning and other work completed at these sites to date and over the next two months will meet the state&#8217;s definition of &#8220;significant.&#8221;</p><p>The state recently concluded that prior demolition and design planning and agreements that have been completed in the hotel project at South Main and Northampton streets have progressed enough to allow the project to participate in the KOZ, Barrouk said.</p><p>Approval from Luzerne County and other taxing bodies is not needed because they already publicly voted years ago on the properties that were eligible for this KOZ phase, he said.</p><p>The former Hotel Sterling tract at the corner of River and Market streets also received state approval to remain in the final KOZ phase due to demolition at the site and the city&#8217;s work to identify a prospective developer, Barrouk said. The city owns the property.</p><p>The city had demolished structures at both sites due to public safety concerns.</p><p>Securing viable developers willing to spend millions of dollars of private funds to develop either location would be difficult or impossible without the KOZ, Barrouk said.</p><p>Critics say the program unfairly gives some properties a government-funded competitive advantage, while supporters say it&#8217;s a necessary tool to attract employers who are offered tax breaks in other states.</p><p>&#8220;These are critical sites,&#8221; Barrouk said.</p><p>City officials also are working with the state to try to lock in the KOZ for the former First National Bank building, Public Square, which was purchased by the city for $225,000 in 2005, Barrouk said. The city completed roof repairs and other stabilization and is wrapping up roof repairs while talking to an interested developer, Barrouk said.</p><p>In addition to the ownership break on real estate taxes, business tenants in KOZ properties are exempt from most state taxes, including the corporate net income tax and sales tax on certain purchases, such as equipment used in a restaurant. Tenants in residential KOZ properties are exempt from local and state income taxes.</p><p>Some past KOZ phases automatically provided breaks for a decade or 12 years. This final KOZ stage expires in 2025 and does not kick in until a property is constructed and occupied. If that doesn&#8217;t happen until 2020, the property owner and tenants would receive the break for five years, officials say.</p><p>In the hotel project, Mumbai, India-based Sphere International Corp. plans to acquire the city-owned land at South Main for $500,000 and break ground this spring on a 10-story complex, with occupancy planned for the fall of 2017.</p><p>The Dec. 31 significant development requirement was added by state officials after complaints that some of the properties in initial KOZ phases automatically received breaks but did little or nothing to improve their properties or create jobs, officials say.</p><p>Luzerne County Council members voted unanimously last month to cancel KOZ designations for all parcels that don&#8217;t meet the Dec. 31 requirement. More than 30 properties were on the roster in this final phase, most in Wilkes-Barre. Notification of the county decision will be sent to the state Department of Community and Economic Development, which oversees the program, officials said.</p><p>The county council members also voted to ask the county administration to conduct a comprehensive review of all properties in the tax break program to ensure they comply with state law requirements and determine if any disqualifications are warranted.</p><p>&#8220;The point in my introducing this resolution is to hold people&#8217;s feet to the fire,&#8221; Haas said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">This planned hotel/conference center in Wilkes-Barre will remain in a final phase of the Keystone Opportunity Zone tax break program because it met state requirements, officials say. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_Hotel-13.jpg</photo0><caption0>This planned hotel/conference center in Wilkes-Barre will remain in a final phase of the Keystone Opportunity Zone tax break program because it met state requirements, officials say. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Hotel Sterling, futurehotel properties qualify</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Two prominent Wilkes-Barre sites cleared for KOZ tax break