E-Malt.com News article: USA: Koehler Brewery pays overdue property taxes

Koehler Brewery Square's developers have made a deal with Erie County government to repay more than $20,000 worth of overdue property taxes, Erie Times-News reported September 25.

The move helped developers avoid a tax sale of the former Koehler Brewery site on the west side of the 2100 block of State Street.

Steve Letzelter, Erie County's director of revenue and tax claims, confirmed Monday that Koehler developers had entered into a payment agreement with Erie County government regarding the taxes.

County records show a total of $20,006.74 in unpaid city, school and county taxes on the property. The taxes are for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 tax years.

W. John Knox III, the development group's president, said Koehler Brewery Square LLC agreed to immediately pay at least 25 percent of the overdue tax amount for 2005 and 2006. "We paid around $4,300," Knox said.

County records show the total 2005 and 2006 property taxes due on that site as $16,189, and 25 percent of that amount is $4,047.

Letzelter said developers are also required to make monthly payments on the remaining amount beginning in October.

Knox said the deal, which was struck Friday, is part of the developers' effort to settle outstanding debts at a time when the long-delayed project is being reworked.

Developers recently announced that they now plan to remake the former Erie Brewing Co.'s office building, on the east side at 2111 State St., as a $20 million retail, commercial, office space and light-industry complex that will also include a restaurant, outdoor market and a 200-vehicle parking ramp.

The building is across the street from the vacant former Koehler Brewery site -- the site that developers had focused on for years and the property for which the taxes are overdue.

Developers also announced earlier this month that Dave Hallman Chevrolet-Hyundai has agreed to develop the former brewery property with an automobile dealership.

Hallman will lease the property with an option to buy it after two or three years, Knox said.

Knox said he and the other developers are still trying to work out an issue with paperwork that will keep the project eligible for Keystone Opportunity Zone tax breaks. That will determine how much of the unpaid tax bill Koehler developers must pay.

Sites with a KOZ designation, like the Koehler property, get extensive state and local tax breaks, including on property and sales taxes.

However, Koehler developers were told by the state's Department of Revenue that they did not have documentation to renew the site's KOZ status from 2005 on. Knox said that paperwork is being resubmitted.

If KOZ status were approved for those years, Koehler Brewery Square would be exempt from paying those property taxes. KOZ status must be renewed each year through the state, and the onus is on the property owner.

"If we get word from the state about the KOZ being approved, we'll certainly abate those taxes," Letzelter said.


26 September, 2007