HBA Newswatch
February 20, 2008
PENGUIN REITERATES PLANS FOR THE FLATS
By R. JONATHAN TULEYA, Staff Writer
COATESVILLE — Penguin Real Estate Investors stepped back to square one Tuesday night in its bid to acquire the vacant industrial site known as the Flats.
In December, the Coatesville Redevelopment Authority board members approved a deal to sell the 26-acre property to Penguin for $2.3 million, but before the paperwork could be drafted and signed, members of City Council intervened.
On Tuesday night, Coatesville resident Robert McNeil, and other company representatives were before the RDA board again, pitching their mixed-use vision for the Flats.
McNeil said his company’s plans offered the RDA the chance to “build something that will be for the long-term good of Coatesville.”
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CHESCO UNVEILS DRAFT HOUSING POLICY PAPER
LANDSCAPES2 FOLLOWS ON THE HEELS OF THE COUNTY’S 1996 PLAN
By ANNE PICKERING, Special to The Phoenix
WEST GOSHEN — The Chester County Planning Commission released its Landscapes2 draft policy paper on housing at its Feb. 13 meeting.
The planning commission is in the midst of a major overhaul of Landscapes, the award-winning county-wide comprehensive plan that the county first developed in 1996 to address sprawl.
Many things have changed in 11 years. The commission is in the second phase of the update, which includes developing policy papers on 12 issues including housing, transportation, agriculture, and land use, to name a few.
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WALL STREET TAKING SUBPRIME BLAME
REGULATORS ZEROING IN ON WHAT FIRMS KNEW ABOUT MORTGAGE RISKS
By MARK JEWELL, AP Business Writer
BOSTON — Regulators are trying to punish Wall Street for mortgage finance practices that expanded home ownership and spread risk among a host of new players — but also may have duped borrowers and investors who supplied cash to fuel a housing boom that’s turned bust.
A handful of state securities regulators and a couple foreclosure-blighted cities have fired the opening shots with lawsuits trying to prove that investment banks and big lenders are guilty of more than just bad business decisions and failing to foresee looming mortgage troubles. Some regulators say greed and fraud underlie much of the subprime mortgage mess that has spread across the broader housing market, triggering a spike in foreclosures.
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