SHAMOKIN - Along with a change of ownership for Center City Apartments will come a name change, too.
Shamokin Housing Authority board President Raymond G. "Jerry" Splane said Monday a contest will be held to come up with the new name.
During a visit to Center City Monday morning, Splane and authority Executive Director Ronald Miller discussed changes for the five-story building while it transfers from private to public hands.
They were at the Shamokin Street building for a 10 a.m. meeting with Susan Good, rental agent for the former owner, Red Gold Enterprises, who had been offered the same position for the authority. However, Good didn't show, and Miller later reported she sent an e-mail at 9:32 a.m. saying she was declining the offer.
"We didn't want to change anything that was working previously," Miller had said Monday before learning of Good's decision.
She had already taken a new job, Splane added later.
After a four-year legal battle, the deed for the property was transferred, in lieu of foreclosure, to the authority on Friday for $1. Personal property and all rentals started after Oct. 1 were to be sold to the authority for $10,000, and that money will be distributed to creditors.
First: An assessment
Miller, who was taking care of logistical matters such as access to the post office box at Center City, said the authority will first review what needs done physically at the building, which once operated as the James Madison Hotel.
"Before we can put any new tenants in here, we are going to do a physical assessment," he said.
The authority board will discuss a plan of action at a meeting Jan. 10, and will schedule a meeting with the 17 current tenants shortly thereafter.
The authority will apply for grants to modernize and renovate the building, and organize the name change contest, Splane said.
A sheriff's sale was scheduled Sept. 27 for the building, but one day prior, Red Gold filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. That gave the company, owned by Eugene Picarella, protection from creditors and forced what was the second stay of the sheriff sale, but it also put in motion the opportunity for a bankruptcy ruling.
Lawrence G. Frank, the appointed bankruptcy trustee, filed a motion to seek the deed in lieu of foreclosure, and it was granted by a judge Dec. 10.
Red Gold at one time had not made a payment on the primary and support mortgages for the property for more than 11 years, and at one time owned $72,000 in back taxes.
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), the loans' underwriter, transferred the mortgages to the authority in 2009, intensifying a court battle that went all the way to the state Supreme Court.
With the mortgage in its possession, the housing authority was set to foreclose on the property and have the sheriff's sale, at which it could sell the property to recoup the mortgage or acquire it outright. The authority would have had first bid.
The bankruptcy, however, allowed the authority to acquire the property without the need for a sale.