Oil City Sells Two Parcels at Industrial Park for Nearly $900k

| July 12, 2019

OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) – The Oil City Council approved the selling of two parcels at the Oil City Industrial Park for a total of $875,500.00 at its meeting Thursday, July 11.

The first parcel was sold to the SMS Group Inc. of Pittsburgh for $860,000.00 and the second parcel was sold to McIntyre Landscaping for $15,500.00.

“This has been a long time coming,” City Manager Mark Schroyer said. “It gets us out of the landlord business and it gets (these businesses) what they need.”

While the land and buildings are selling for nearly $900,000.00, the City won’t have nearly that much money coming in once it pays off the existing debt it owes.

That debt, according to Schroyer is $610,000.00, but while the City will only be bringing in a little over $250,000.00 in the end, there are other benefits to the sale.

“Overall, it’s a good deal,” Schroyer said. “It puts them back on the tax roll and back into private ownership.”

According to Schroyer, the City will still own some of the property at the site for its needs and has some land it can still parcel off if someone else approaches them about buying it.

As for the buyers, SMS Group is already in the Industrial Park and will become owners for property and buildings it is already leasing.

“We are fortunate to have someone like this who is already established in the building,” Schroyer said. “They want to rehabilitate the building and hire more people.”

McIntyre Landscaping, meanwhile, plans to build a new building to house its business on the parcel it bought, according to Schroyer.

Both bids came in slightly higher than the appraised value on the properties.

According to Schroyer, the SMS Group area was appraised at $820,000.00, while the McIntrye Landscaping area was appraised at $15,000.00.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business the council:

  • Passed the annual resolution naming Kelly Amos, Director of Community Development, as the local Section 504 officer to ensure compliance with the City’s Section 504 Plan adopted by Council October 26, 2017. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 provides that no qualified person with handicaps shall, solely on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any programs or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
  • Approved a modification in the 2016 CDBG street reconstruction activity to remove Wabash Avenue and Oak Grove Street and add Orchard Street. The first two were taken care of without the need to use all of the money leaving $125,00.00 that still needed to be used. Considering that the Orchard Street area comes n at 72.16% low-to-moderate income, it easily qualifies for use under the CDBG program.
  • Granted a request from Grace United Methodist Church to close City Parking lot 11 on August 13, 2019, for the church’s Summer Carnival. The lot will close at 5:00 p.m. and cleanup from the festival will begin at 8:00 p.m.
  • Heard from Amos that the City is receiving a $40,000.00 grant from the Samuel Justus Charitable Trust via Bridge Builders for the Mitchell Avenue Land of Laughter Playground. With the money, the City was able to purchase the final piece for the playground, a piece called the Clarks Gable for children 5 to 12 years old. With money still left over after that purchase, the City will buy the playground carpet to finish the project.
  • Was told by Schroyer that the first $5,000.00 donation from the Polish National Alliance Club (PNA) for the new firetruck had been received. The PNA Club agreed to donate a total of $15,000.00 over three $5,000.00 payments for the new truck, which was purchased at the June 27, 2019, meeting.
  • Heard from Schroyer that a meeting with the owner(s) of the Odd Fellows Building on Seneca Street went well. Schroyer said the owner(s) submitted a list of improvements that will take place inside the building beginning next week and also told the City that cleanup of vegetation will occur in the back and windows will be fixed. “The outside of the building is good,” Schroyer said. “We should be seeing some improvements in the next couple of weeks. The meeting was productive and fruitful.”

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