Development Corporation

Camden County may be liable for at least $250,000 - about $150,000 more than initially suggested - in misappropriated community development funds, according to government officials familiar with a federal audit of the Community Development Department. Investigators from the Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development uncovered the additional irregularities during the closing days of their two-month review of the department, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified.

A pilot program of the Bucks County Housing Development Corp. will offer moderate-income, first-time home buyers the chance to own homes in Bristol Borough with a reduced-rate mortgage and a partial interest-free loan, officials announced Thursday. The program, a joint effort of the development corporation and Continental Bank, will allow two families meeting income and other requirements to buy $92,400 houses being built on the southwest corner of Bath and Mifflin Streets. The two semidetached houses, which should be completed by mid- October, each have three bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms and wall-to-wall carpeting.

Camden County may have to repay a federal grant program about $116,000 because of what officials say was inadequate record-keeping by the Greater Camden Development Corp., a nonprofit group that received almost $1.3 million in federal funds. County officials appealed to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development yesterday to approve the expenditures made by the development corporation from 1983 to 1985, thereby sparing the county from having to repay the federal Community Development Block Grant for the expenses.

There is a weapon aimed at Center City. It goes by various cryptic abbreviations: the DMC, the SSD, the BDA. Designed not at the Pentagon but in Philadelphia, it was unveiled yesterday in a key meeting of Center City building owners and managers. It will cost a fair amount of money. If it gets funding, and if it works, the weapon may wipe out some key components and indigenous traits of Center City - dirty streets, graffiti, poor lighting, shoddy sidewalk maintenance, ugly landscaping and lousy marketing.

Looking to buy a house? Can't afford a Society Hill townhouse or a Chestnut Hill estate? Lots of other viable options exist within the city. And that's exactly what the Central Philadelphia Development Corp. wants to press into the consciousness of homebuyers. Hoping to bring the success of a prosperous Center City to other neighborhoods in Philadelphia, the development corporation has targeted six neighborhoods to promote as places you'd love to hang your hat. "We looked for neighborhoods where there were people who were actively interested in seeing the neighborhood improve," said Paul R. Levy, executive director of the Center City District, which manages the development corporation.

A grassy patch under the Roosevelt Expressway is being converted to a 50-space parking lot, and leaders in East Falls are hailing the change as a key to this emerging community's future. Looking across the landscaped lot that is flanked by North Ferry Road, South Ferry Road, Ridge Avenue and Kelly Drive, Gina Snyder, executive director of East Falls Development Corp., said, "This is something people have been waiting for for years. " The East Falls gateway, which runs along Ridge Avenue from Allegheny Avenue to School House Lane, has grown in recent years to include numerous shops and restaurants, including the landmark Johnny Ma?anas Mexican grill at Ridge and Midvale Avenues.

When commuters step off the SEPTA train in Conshohocken, they step onto the platform of a graffiti-marred brick shell that once was a prosperous suburban passenger station. The Greater Conshohocken Economic Development Corp., developer Donald Pulver and the Southeastern PennsylvaniaTransportation Authority want to transform the building into a bustling business stop. A safe, clean ticket station and waiting area to serve customers would suit SEPTA, said Jeff Ordway, SEPTA director of real estate.

A spokesman for Gov. Casey said yesterday that the governor believed there was nothing improper about William Keisling, Casey's chief of staff, negotiating a $250,000 severance agreement with his private employer before he started his state job. "The governor was aware of the severance agreement and sees nothing wrong with it," said John Taylor, a deputy press secretary. Keisling, who served as president of the Harristown Development Corp., a nonprofit corporation that builds and manages major redevelopment projects for the City of Harrisburg, disclosed Wednesday that he had signed a severance agreement with the corporation in January, just before he took his job with Casey.

Housing Director Julia O. Robinson told City Council yesterday that the city would spend $23 million - more than half its total housing budget - in North Philadelphia on housing rehabilitation and other housing-related services in the coming fiscal year. Robinson's comments came as she presented Council with her final Community Development Block Grant budget as the city's head of housing. The spending plan assumes new block grant revenues from the federal government of about $52 million beginning July 1, the same amount as this year.

The vacant and crumbling George Washington Motor Lodge, a longtime eyesore along Route 1, might soon be replaced by a $10 million affordable senior housing development - with or without the cooperation of the owners. After months of discussions with the owners and local developers, the township moved Monday night to condemn the old roadside lodge if the owners did not agree to sell the four-acre lot to the township. "I hope that we can buy it directly from them," Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo said.

A grassy patch under the Roosevelt Expressway is being converted to a 50-space parking lot, and leaders in East Falls are hailing the change as a key to this emerging community's future. Looking across the landscaped lot that is flanked by North Ferry Road, South Ferry Road, Ridge Avenue and Kelly Drive, Gina Snyder, executive director of East Falls Development Corp., said, "This is something people have been waiting for for years. " The East Falls gateway, which runs along Ridge Avenue from Allegheny Avenue to School House Lane, has grown in recent years to include numerous shops and restaurants, including the landmark Johnny Ma?anas Mexican grill at Ridge and Midvale Avenues.

Even in a neighborhood as earthy and diverse as Mount Airy, the massive Flemish-brick building in the 6600 block of Germantown Avenue looks as if it were plucked from the edge of a canal in Amsterdam. Yet the structure, built in 1892 and designed by William Lightfoot Price, fits perfectly into plans the nonprofit Mount Airy USA community-development corporation has for the block and others along the avenue. Using grants from 13 sources and taking advantage of the city's 10-year tax abatement for residential construction, the organization has created four retail spaces on the first floor and carved six condominiums from the top floor.

Looking to buy a house? Can't afford a Society Hill townhouse or a Chestnut Hill estate? Lots of other viable options exist within the city. And that's exactly what the Central Philadelphia Development Corp. wants to press into the consciousness of homebuyers. Hoping to bring the success of a prosperous Center City to other neighborhoods in Philadelphia, the development corporation has targeted six neighborhoods to promote as places you'd love to hang your hat. "We looked for neighborhoods where there were people who were actively interested in seeing the neighborhood improve," said Paul R. Levy, executive director of the Center City District, which manages the development corporation.

William Hankowsky, who helped chart the economic revitalization of Philadelphia under three mayors, is leaving the helm of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. Hankowsky, 49, of Chestnut Hill, is expected to make a formal announcement about his resignation today, according to people close to him. He will leave PIDC after 11 years as its president to work for developer Willard Rouse's Liberty Property Trust. During the last few years, Hankowsky has been the nuts-and-bolts negotiator in the city's drive to build new ballparks, a nettlesome project that continues to break deadlines and is likely to miss the Nov. 30 cutoff for City Council to approve a deal with the teams.

An 1882 foundry in the heart of this borough will open its doors tonight for the first time since the early 1980s, when it was in partial use as an industrial building. The foundry, a part of the former Phoenix Iron & Steel Co. and now referred to as the Historic Foundry Building, is being renovated through efforts of the Phoenixville Area Economic Development Corporation (PAEDCO), said Barbara Cohen, executive director of the organization. The development corporation, along with the Phoenixville Sesquicentennial Commission, will sponsor a sing-along that will take a musical journey through the borough's history at 7 tonight.

The vacant and crumbling George Washington Motor Lodge, a longtime eyesore along Route 1, might soon be replaced by a $10 million affordable senior housing development - with or without the cooperation of the owners. After months of discussions with the owners and local developers, the township moved Monday night to condemn the old roadside lodge if the owners did not agree to sell the four-acre lot to the township. "I hope that we can buy it directly from them," Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo said.

Message to Philadelphia - don't get carried away. Despite the hoopla generated by the news of a $130 million entertainment project on Penn's Landing, another, far less pleasant reality about the Philadelphia economy was brought home last week. To wit: Even a top-rank developer and a gold-plated tenant can't persuade the private financial market to lend the cash needed to renovate a vacant Center City office building. City government still must step in, courtesy of a federal loan program.

When Councilman Donald McCloskey shocked the Borough Council last month with his abrupt resignation, he said that after 10 years on the council he had already given the borough the best years of his life. Turns out, the borough will take a few more. After withdrawing his resignation late last week, a somewhat sheepish McCloskey slipped back into his council seat Monday night promising to finish the two years remaining in his term. "I'm a little embarrassed to be back," said McCloskey, who waved off all suggestions of his return last month.

The Swedeland Development Corp. promised Thursday night that it would "bend over backward" to satisfy the Board of Supervisors in a subdivision plan involving the old Swedeland School. Because of a day care in the school, the supervisors were reluctant at their last business meeting to give approval to the development plan, which calls for the subdivision of the 9.7-acre lot on B Street in Swedeland to build 78 townhouses. The developers have promised to provide a 15-foot buffer between the townhouses and day-care center, widen the street that runs in front of it and do whatever else the supervisors deem necessary, said Harry Caparo, who is with the development corporation.

They may not like him, but they got him. Despite the protests of a handful of Ward 6 residents, the Board of Commissioners appointed Henry P. Jacquelin, a Willow Grove real estate agent, to fill the vacancy on the board left by Ned R. Nelson. Nelson, who served 12 years, resigned last month upon moving out of the township. Jacquelin will be sworn in next month. He would face election in November 1995 for a four-year term. At the commissioners' meeting Monday night, those opposing Jacquelin's appointment said he has a business involvement with Commissioner Joseph L. Hagy, and engages in real estate and development.