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Housing
Rehabilitation Program – For more than 40 years, the Titusville
Redevelopment Authority has been providing eligible homeowners the
assurance of healthy, warm and safe dwellings.
To date, this program has improved 530 Titusville homes.
Titusville
Opportunity Park – In a progressive effort to find answers to the
dramatic decrease in the industrial base within the city, the Titusville
Redevelopment Authority began developing Titusville Opportunity Park. In
December of 1998, the Authority acquired the former “Armco Steel Property”
known as the “Cytemp Division” consisting of 206 acres, including
approximately 670,000 square feet of industrial buildings. This 130-year
old facility is currently undergoing a massive transformation. Industrial
by-products of environmental concern on this “Brownfield Site” have been
remediated under the guidance of the PA Department of Environmental
Protection and have been granted “Special Industrial Area” and “Site
Specific” relief from liability to the current and future owners and
tenants.
Since acquisition
of the facility, the TRA has continued to approach this massive project
through phased development. State Keystone Opportunity Zone and
Enterprise Zone designation has afforded Titusville Opportunity Park the
priority necessary to attract over $5 million in state and federal funding
as well as nearly $5 million private sector investment. During the last
24 months, a large portion of the site’s infrastructure, as well as many
of its buildings, have been renovated enabling the Authority to secure new
business and industry for the complex.
Officially opened in September of 2000, Titusville Opportunity Park is
currently home to seventeen businesses collectively employing 166 people
to date.
Titusville
Towne Square – The Authority is continuing the work of its
predecessors in the enhancement and revitalization of the downtown by the
purchase, rehabilitation and development of several historic commercial
properties in the heart of the city’s Commercial District.
These
properties consist of three adjoining commercial storefronts and
approximately 24,000 square feet of upper story space in these and other
neighboring buildings. With the support of the Community Development
Block Grant, the Pennsylvania Museum Commission, private foundation grants
and private investment, this space is undergoing extensive rehabilitation.
Through phased
development, the Authority continues to remove disincentives to private
sector investment until it makes economic sense for the private sector to
take over. The Authority’s efforts in the removal of the architectural
barriers associated with these buildings began with the installation of a
four-story elevator to provide handicapped accessibility to the upper
levels as well as critical building stabilization efforts. During this
phase of the project, a spacious lobby was constructed, as was a corridor
on the second floor connecting the newly installed elevator to existing
professional offices.
During the fall
of 2001, all three buildings received new roofs. The next phase of the
Towne Square Project will involve further renovations including new
windows, public restrooms, a sprinkler system, the renovation of a second
floor corridor from the elevator to the other existing buildings. A
condominium agreement has recently been drafted that will enable tenants
to purchase their space leaving the Redevelopment Authority responsible
for the maintenance of all common areas. Prospective tenants that the
Authority has begun negotiations with for this unique space are in favor
of this approach and support their efforts.
The Authority
believes that this core project will not only begin to revitalize the
downtown but also enhance the current standard of living, attracting new
business and industry to our area. |