A half-dozen projects, all within a stone’s throw of Penn Square, are in line to receive more than $5.5 million through Lancaster’s CRIZ economic development program.
The local board overseeing the program approved the allocations on Tuesday, along with three more covering administrative services. The board’s action follows the first set of allocations last month and completes the disposition of $12.1 million in annual CRIZ “increment” received this fall.
The largest amount, $2.6 million, will go to LancasterHistory’s Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History & Democracy, now under construction at the corner of South Queen Street and Vine Street under the eaves of the Lancaster County Convention Center.
In 2022, the CRIZ board agreed to provide the Stevens-Smith Center $4 million within 10 years. Combined with awards in previous years, this week’s allocation fulfills that commitment seven years early.
The fact that the CRIZ authority could do so “is a symbol and a signal of how effective the CRIZ strategy is,” incoming LancasterHistory President Robin Sarratt said. Sarratt, now vice president, will succeed Tom Ryan as the nonprofit’s leader on Jan. 1.
The funding will allow LancasterHistory to make prepayments on its construction loan and reduce the time it has to carry debt. “I’m very grateful,” Sarratt said.
Construction on the Stevens-Smith Center is expected to wrap up next month. Next comes the process of designing and installing exhibits, for which LancasterHistory has contracted with Art Guild, an exhibit development firm with offices in West Deptford, New Jersey.
That’s expected to take about a year, Sarratt said, setting up an opening date in early 2026.
Other allocations
The next largest allocation, $1.8 million, is going to the Lancaster City Redevelopment Authority to reduce its debt on bonds issued to pay for the second tower of the Marriott Hotel.
Last month’s awards included $1.5 million for the same purpose, based on the “increment” the Marriott generated in 2023. This month’s allocation is a grant from general CRIZ funds and will help the authority, a public entity, reduce its debt load ahead of schedule.
Other awards would go to the Lancaster Convention Center Authority for the center’s Commons on Vine renovation; Lancaster city for renovations to its Welcome Center on Penn Square; and to the Shot & Bottle and Norbu restaurants.
The Shot & Bottle project has already received state approval. Approvals of the other three are pending; should any of them be denied, the funds would instead go toward the city redevelopment authority for additional debt reduction, the CRIZ board said.
Besides the six economic development awards, the authority allocated $514,639 for consulting and administration.
The acronym “CRIZ” stands for “City Revitalization & Improvement Zone.” Under it, business taxes paid by entities in a designated zone, known as “increment,” are returned to a local authority for economic development.
Businesses can arrange to receive their own increment, and the authority board can award grants to eligible projects. Any increment not allocated by the end of the year must be returned to the state.
The Lancaster City Alliance administers the CRIZ on the city’s behalf with technical assistance provided by FourScore and EDC Lancaster.
