Published Saturday, Jan. 5, 2002
SHARON
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Businessman may halt plan for complex
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HE CITES MCIDA AS REASON FOR HIS DISSATISFACTION
Herald Business Editor
More bad blood surfaced between James E. Winner Jr. and Mercer County Industrial Development Authority on Friday as Winner said he's on the verge of ditching development plans for the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. plant in Sharon.
He left no doubt why.
"I'm just not getting the satisfaction from MCIDA,'' Winner said. "Life is short. I don't need the aggravation.''
Winner is chairman of Winner Development LLC, the Sharon company which is seeking $7 million in state grants to transform the sprawling complex into an industrial park. Cost of the project was recently estimated to be at least $49 million and is considered the top development project in Mercer County.
While no final decision has been made, Winner said, "My inclination is not to go forward'' with the project.
MCIDA has said for more than a year Winner's company hasn't supplied necessary information needed to complete an application for grants funds. At last month's MCIDA meeting, which Winner attended, a detailed report was given by the board's solicitors itemizing dozens of terms that needed to be met for the grant.
These terms were created by the state, the board and its solicitors said, and added the state set a March 7 deadline for the application and terms to be completed. Also, if the application wasn't completed by the deadline the grant funds could be jeopardized. MCIDA is the conduit for the funds and is responsible for overseeing the application.
At the meeting Winner acknowledged he was unaware of some of the terms and said he had taken oversight of the project for his company.
On Friday MCIDA held its regular monthly meeting at the Hermitage VFW and board members were given a report by its administrator that no new information had been received from Winner Development on the project over the past month.
Winner didn't attend the meeting and The Herald contacted him by phone at his Sharon office after the meeting for comment.
When told Winner was leaning on abandoning the project, Charles Bestwick, MCIDA's chairman, said the agency will continue to back the plan. But in the end, he said, the final decision rests with Winner.
"We will not be the make-or-break part of this,'' Bestwick said. "It's up to Winner whether this project flies.''
He added the state's March 7 application deadline still stands.
"Obviously, this is the most important industrial project actively being pursued in the county at this time and we want to do everything we can do to make it work.''
At times Winner and Bestwick have verbally sparred in public over who was delaying the project.
Last December a bitter dispute surfaced between the two men, with each accusing the other of snarling state funds for the project.
"We have no desire for Jim Winner to make us look like asses,'' Bestwick said at the time.
"Excuses come cheap,'' responded Winner.
Terms Winner Development still must meet for the state funds include:
With about 850,000 square feet of industrial and office space under roof, the former transformer plant was closed in 1985 and placed on the federal Superfund list in 1990. Winner bought the plant in 1999 with the idea of ridding the area of environmental toxins and then creating a multi-tenant industrial park at the site.
On Friday Winner indicated the project has taken an emotional toll on him.
"I'm a bit anguished right now,'' he said.
An environmental cleanup of the site is nearly done but had to stop due to the winter weather, he said, noting the cleanup will restart in the spring. After the cleanup is completed Winner said he wasn't sure what would happen.
"I may lease it or attempt to sell it, I don't know,'' he said. "At some point you say it's easier to give up.''