MERCER COUNTY MCIDA to help finance counseling center

Community Counseling will combine its Sharon and Hermitage offices.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Mercer County Industrial Development Authority has agreed to loan its tax-free financing status to Community Counseling Center of Mercer County, which wants to buy an East State Street building to house its offices.
Angelo Stamoolis, Community Counseling's executive director, said the project will cost between $2.5 million and $2.7 million. His agency is seeking $2 million in tax-free financing through the MCIDA.
The MCIDA can tap state revenue bonds set up to provide tax-free financing that offers a below-market interest rate.
Community Counseling will put $588,300 into the project.
Stamoolis said the agency has sites in Sharon, Hermitage, Greenville, Mercer and Grove City. The Sharon and Hermitage locations, the two main offices, will be combined in one location under this project.
The agency has outgrown its Hermitage space and the second floor of the Sharon office is not handicapped accessible, he said.
The new building is a vacant 30,000-square-foot grocery store at 2201 E. State St.
The building was recently purchased by Rien Construction of Brookfield, which is remodeling it to fit Community Counseling's needs.
Lease
Community Counseling has a lease-purchase arrangement with Rien, and the building should be ready for occupancy March 1, but the lease is $21,800 a month, Stamoolis said, explaining that the debt service on the $2 million loan to buy the building outright would be less than that amount.
The plan is to buy it without ever paying a month's rent, he said, adding that closing the leased offices in Hermitage and Sharon will nearly cover the anticipated monthly debt service.
The project will help Community Counseling retain 52 full-time jobs and create at least six more over the next three years, Stamoolis said.
Community Counseling has a total of 175 full- and part-time employees at its various locations.
MCIDA's action must now go before the county commissioners for their approval and then to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for final approval.
gwin@vindy.com