January 1st, 2017 by WCBC Radio
The Cumberland Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) has announced the award of a $250,000 Strategic Demolition Grant for the Maryland Avenue Redevelopment Project as well as the execution of a Letter of Intent with Cumberland Gateway Real Estate LLC to sell all real estate holdings within the MD Avenue Redevelopment Project area.
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development grant award from their Smart Growth Impact Fund will be used to assist the CEDC in demolition of properties owned in the Maryland Avenue Redevelopment Project site and preparation of the site for commercial redevelopment.
“Secretary Holt and all of the leadership of DHCD have been consistently supportive of economic progress in Cumberland, whether it is our extensive efforts at historic preservation or our redevelopment efforts that embrace the principles of smart growth. We can’t thank DHCD enough for their continuing support of progress in our community” said CEDC Executive Director, Shawn Hershberger.
The Letter of Intent dated on December 13 rd between the CEDC and Cumberland Gateway Real Estate is intended to result in a binding contractual agreement between the partners in the near future. The intent of this partnership is for a complete sale of real estate holdings from the CEDC to Cumberland Gateway Real Estate in early 2017. “We are excited to be able to turn this project over to a development partnership with a track record of successfully navigating complex real estate redevelopment projects. Their understanding of how important this project is to the future of our community and their willingness to become invested in the process immediately has created a level of comfort with their intentions and abilities to be successful in our market” said Mr. Hershberger.
In relation to the remaining homeowners in the neighborhood, Mr. Hershberger stated “we fully intend to honor all remaining verbal agreements we’ve made with residents in terms of acquiring their properties and would still welcome discussions with those who have not provided us an opportunity to discuss their properties. Additional acquisitions of properties within this site will be totally up to the discretion of Cumberland Gateway Real Estate but we anticipate commercial development to begin on the properties we are selling to begin within the next 12-18 months”.
CEDC chairman Jonathan Hutcherson added that “the purpose of this effort was to encourage private 5investment into this corridor in order to change the downward trajectory of not just this site but the city in its entirety; by putting the redevelopment of this site immediately into the hands of private developers it proves this effort has been a successful one and we hope it will spur additional investments into this corridor in the near future.” Mr. Hershberger added “we want to thank everyone who has been involved with this and the overwhelming support we have seen from the Cumberland community. The Mayor and City Council have shown an ability to maintain a steady focus on the betterment of this community and we couldn’t ask for a more progressive elected body to work with; specifically we do want to thank outgoing Councilwoman Alt-Myers for making introductions that led to the creation of the partnership with Cumberland Gateway Real Estate LLC. We also want to thank the members of the Western Maryland Delegation for their support of this project and our application for funding through the DHCD Strategic Demolition fund.”
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