WYOMISSING, Pa. \u2013 For weeks, people have been reacting to a concept plan for the Berkshire Mall redevelopment.<\/p>\n
But Peter Abrams with Abrams Realty, who is in the process of buying the property, told 69 News the plan circulating is already outdated. A new version is expected Thursday during Wyomissing Borough\u2019s Economic Development Committee meeting.<\/p>\n
Some of the biggest names tied to the earlier plan are no longer involved, including Costco, Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods, Sprouts and St. Luke\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Instead, the developer said discussions are underway for a different mix of tenants, including a fitness center and potentially medical space.<\/p>\n
Questions also remain about how the project would be funded. The developer is seeking tax increment financing, or TIF.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a private investor, it gives you an incentive to invest in a distressed project,\u201d said Shahid Khan, a professor at Penn State Berks.<\/p>\n
In simple terms, future tax revenue generated by the project would help pay for the development.<\/p>\n
That depends, however, on the project succeeding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe risk can be that if you overdo it, or if the project never materializes as planned, if that doesn’t materialize in the future, that idea of funding is not really effective,\u201d Khan said.<\/p>\n
The financing plan remains in the early stages.<\/p>\n
The developer said the Wilson School District, a key entity needed to approve the plan, has not yet been approached.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe risks to the society\u2026if it goes well, it will create jobs, growth in the economy and maybe bring additional investment in the neighborhood,\u201d Khan said. \u201cBut [the public] may not see that additional tax revenue because that money would go to the developers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The developer said the mall is in poor condition, and demolition and improvements could cost about $30 million.<\/p>\n
The closing date for Abrams Realty\u2019s purchase of the property from its current owner, Namdar Realty, has been pushed back to mid-July.<\/p>\n
The Wyomissing Borough Economic Development Committee will meet Thursday at 9 a.m. at borough hall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WYOMISSING, Pa. \u2013 For weeks, people have been reacting to a concept plan for the Berkshire Mall redevelopment.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[131,67435,67436,33664,128,130,129,1081,132,5089,56305,133],"class_list":["post-147950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berkshire-mall","tag-investment-risk","tag-mall-renovation","tag-public-funding","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-real-estate","tag-redevelopment","tag-tax-increment-financing","tag-tif","tag-wyomissing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}