Boscov backs out of major downtown Reading project

by Steve Reinbrecht

UPDATE: As noted by Reading Eagle reporter Don Spatz, the map was wrong on this story, and has been corrected.

Albert Boscov no longer wants to fix up the once-glorious, now-dilapidated [kind of a Reading theme] buildings in the center of downtown Reading.

Our City Reading – the nonprofit agency that Boscov runs, in part with federal Community Block Grant Funds – has sent a letter to Reading City Council announcing it is withdrawing from its agreement to develop buildings it owns in the 400 block of Penn St.

They include the nine-story brick “Callowhill” building on the corner [the "Archive" clothing store there said in December it will close] and the former bank building next to it. According to the letter, the agency doesn’t want the project without the support of the mayor and Council.

As Council has given Boscov support, this implies Boscov doesn’t want to work with the new mayor, Wally Scott.

“The logical question would be, ‘So what is the plan now?’ ” my source said. “I think if anyone said they knew they'd be lying.”

When the city first asked for bids, only Our City Reading and private developer Alan Shuman responded. Shuman said in November he was still interested. His original plan offered $1 for the properties, maybe not a bad deal at this point.

The city bought the properties in August 2013 for $2.5 million from New York owners who had let the buildings deteriorate. They comprise the eastern half of the block – from Penn to Court streets and from Fifth to the former CNA building.

At the time, former Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer said the purchase was urgent. He worried the owners would raise the price once the hotel opened across from the hockey arena.