Erie Real Estate

New dorm and Gannon

Erie City Council has given Gannon University the green light to build its first new residential hall on campus in more than two decades.

City Council earlier today voted unanimously to rezone a parcel of land Gannon needs for the $10 million to $15 million project.

 

The new dorm -- the first new residential building since the construction of Crispo Hall in 1987 -- will be built on green space that Gannon already owns within the now-rezoned area, on West Fourth Street between University Apartments and the Erie Center on Health and Aging.

 

Other action taken by council.

 

SOME MORTGAGE TERMINOLOGY

 

Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) - A loan in which th einterest rate is adjusted periodically based on a preselected index rate

 

Amortization - Equal principal reductions of a debt, usually by monthly payments in excess of the interest due.

 

Annual Percentage Rate (APR) - The APR is the cost of credit represented as a yearly rate to the consumer.  This rate is calculated by including the yearly interest rate, discount points charged to the Borrower, and closing costs such as mortgage insurance premiums.

 

Questions about mortgages, which mortgage is right for you?  Just ask.

Erie Housing Authority gives city $64,400

The city of Erie received a holiday gift from the Erie Housing Authority today: a payment of $64,400 in lieu of taxes.

 

The authority also paid the city $467,931 this year to support various services and functions, including $400,000 for supplementary police patrols in public housing, $62,931 for systematic code enforcement around public housing neighborhoods, and $5,000 for CelebrateErie and the Farmers Market.

Erie County and the Erie School District also will receive payments from the authority in amounts of $25,339.13 and $80,692.96..

"Although the Housing Authority is, by law, exempt from real estate taxes, we make these payments to the taxing bodies for the services they provide to public housing residents," authority Executive Director John Horan said in a written statement. "Providing financial support to our local governing bodies is the right thing to do even though we are tax exempt."

 

The Housing Authority of the City of Erie (HACE) exists to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing for lower-income families, elderly and persons with disabilities; and to foster among the they serve economic self-sufficiency, and a sense of community and pride in the neighborhoods where they reside.  This is from their website.

Grant to remove lead paint from homes

More than 200 property owners in Erie County will benefit from a new $4 million federal grant to control the hazards of lead paint in homes.  It’s being run by the city of Erie -- but the offer is open to any county resident.

Erie County was one of 15 communities nationwide to share in $48 million dedicated to removing hazardous lead from homes.  

The Erie Redevelopment Authority received such a large piece of the funding -- 8 percent of the total -- because it included both the city and county in its grant proposal.

 

The Redevelopment Authority and the city have received $6 million in two federal grants for lead abatement since 2006, but those funds were restricted to homes in the city. Lead-abatement work has been done on about 325 properties with that funding.

The city still has enough of that original funding to complete about 100 more homes by the end of 2010, said Jorge Alvear, who administers the program for the city.

To qualify, households must have a child younger than 6 and have low to moderate income. The homes must also have been built before 1978, the year lead-based paint was banned.

 

Lead Safe houses 2008.

Looking for a challenging new career?

Real estate is both challenging and rewarding.  Are you earning what you're worth?  Would you like limitless opportunities?  Do like being your own boss?  Would you like to determine your income rather than having someone tell you what it is?  Would you like flexible hours?

 

Do you have questions?  Would you like more information?  If you are interested in a career in real estate, please contact me.  I can be reached at the office - 825-7761 or e-mail.  Pro Realty, Inc. is an independent, locally owned company.

 

Paul Gornall.

Extreme Makeover - 650 E 21st

The recipient of Erie's first "extreme" home is Clara Ward, the founder of the former Youth Development Center for abused and neglected children.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will demolish her home at 650 E. 21st St. and build a new one from the ground up -- all in 106 hours.

More here.

City gets $2.1 million grant

The city has received a $2.1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development's Neighborhood Stabilization Program, part of $57 million being allocated to communities across the state in the wake of the national foreclosure crisis.

The money will be used to purchase blighted and foreclosed properties for demolition or renovation in three areas:

-Between State Street and East Avenue, from East Fifth Street to the bayfront. The area is largely covered by the Bayfront East Side Task Force, or B.E.S.T., a nonprofit neighborhood-revitalization group.

-The Little Italy neighborhood, between Cranberry and State streets, from West 19th to West 12th streets.

-The central city/midtown neighborhood. For the purposes of the grant, it's an irregularly shaped area that runs from State Street as far east as Elm Street, as far north as East 12th Street and as far south as East 33rd Street.

The full article is here.

New Peach St. WalMart - finally approved

The site plan for the store to be built behind Quaker Steak and Lube was approved by Summit Township's board of supervisors Monday night.

If construction begins as planned, the new store will open in late 2010 -- nearly two years later than originally proposed.  The project was originally scheduled to start in the fall of 2007, with the store opening in late 2008. However, it was delayed three times because Wal-Mart changed the new building's footprint.

Nancy Agostine, Summit's zoning administrator, said she expected to record Wal-Mart's plan on Tuesday, and after that the corporation could begin building.

Wal-Mart is expected to start the bidding process within weeks.

The new supercenter building will be built about a quarter of a mile south of a smaller Walmart on Peach Street, which it will replace.

More here.

Video Contest - Erie ROCKS!!

CATV Announces Erie Rocks Video Contest

Posted using ShareThis

18th & Hickory - New Homes - 10 Unit

Construction crews continued working as city leaders announced a major construction project in Little Italy on Wednesday afternoon.

The project is "another piece in the puzzle that will ultimately lead to a revitalized and vibrant historic Little Italy neighborhood," said Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott at a groundbreaking ceremony.

Four new three-bedroom homes are being built by the Housing and Neighborhood Development Service (H.A.N.D.S.). The homes' addresses will be 250 W. 17th St., 254 W. 17th St., 1711 Hickory St. and 1715 Hickory St. In addition, a 10-unit apartment building called North Coast Place will be built on the northeast corner of West 18th and Hickory streets. The lot is currently vacant.

The apartments will be open to people with chronic disabilities. The homes will be available to low-income, first-time homebuyers. They are expected to cost about $80,000.

H.A.N.D.S. has arranged to have a lease-to-purchase option on the homes so that people who can't obtain a mortgage can still qualify for the homes, said Mary Sorge, H.A.N.D.S. director of property management.

The project is the latest in the neighborhood, which was part of the area targeted by the Weed and Seed program. Weed and Seed's focus on the community has reduced crime, residents and police have said. "The weeding has been done, and now we're all taking turns seeding," said H.A.N.D.S. President Charles Scalise.

H.A.N.D.S. has already constructed several new homes in the neighborhood and rehabilitated other homes for resale.

Harborcreek Mall - DEMOLITION

The long-vacant Harborcreek Mall's main building is tumbling down.

Demolition crews from Rohrer Trucking Inc. of Waterford have started to raze the property's 70,000-square-foot building. See the above video.

The demolition is part of a township plan to purchase the property and revamp it for redevelopment. Township officials on Friday closed on a $557,970 purchase with Baldwin Brothers Inc., the East Lake Road property's management company. 

As part of the agreement, Baldwin Brothers is paying for the demolition, estimated to cost about $100,000, said Jack Munch, Baldwin Brothers' director of commercial leasing and development.

The township plans to market the property to private developers, most likely as a site for single-family homes.

The Harborcreek Mall, once a thriving shopping center, has been vacant since 1998.

Pepicello has called the property "the most prominent blighted property, certainly in eastern Erie County, if not the entire county.''

A township-commissioned appraisal on the 18.6-acre site from Tom Smith, of Niagara Realtors, set the property's value at $460,000 with the mall building still standing, and $557,970 if that building is razed, Pepicello said.

The property's assessed value -- the value placed on it by Erie County government for tax purposes -- is $445,000.

Rohrer Trucking President Bob Rohrer said the demolition work should take three to four weeks. The company will use two large excavators to demolish the building and trucks to haul debris away. Rohrer said the company also plans to remove light poles from the mall's parking lot.

Harborcreek supervisors in 2008 approved amending the township's Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance ordinance to include the Harborcreek Mall and Eastway Plaza properties in an expanded tax-break zone. The goal is to bring new development to the mall and the Eastway Plaza, on Buffalo Road, which has been losing tenants for several years.

Harborcreek's LERTA program offers 100 percent property-tax breaks to commercial, industrial and other businesses for five years. LERTA tax breaks apply to new construction and property improvements.