Slippery Rock Main Street lot sale extended to March
SLIPPERY ROCK — Borough council voted 5-1 on Tuesday, Dec. 16, to grant an extension to the pending new owner of 100 S. Main St. until March 30, 2026 to give him more time to finalize things on his end.
“He’s waiting to hear back from PennDOT regarding a (Highway Occupancy Permit),” borough manager Christian Laskey said.
The borough entered into an agreement of sale with Great Living LLC in May. The sale had previous potential closing dates of Oct. 31, Nov. 30 and Dec. 31 before being extended to next year.
The sale also impacts the finalized $1,237,000 borough budget for 2026, as it reflects the borough’s intentions to use the sale proceeds to eliminate around $175,000 in debt service.
Laskey explained that since the request for an extension came in after the budget was finalized, the borough will take on its debt service payments until the sale is finalized, which will then reflect the budget.
These extensions raised concerns for some council members, but all except Jeff Campbell ended up voting in favor of the extension.
At first, members of council discussed whether granting a 90-day extension over a 30-day, like was previously done, is a wise decision or not. Mayor Jondavid Longo advised council that a shorter extension may backfire.
“Nothing’s going to spur him on quicker, and I say that because he’ll pull out,” Longo said. “That’s what it’ll be. If we try to strong-arm a guy like this, he’ll just go away.”
Councilman Paul Lueken expressed concern over whether the property was being placed on the buyer’s back burner, but Longo said he believes a lot of the holdup had to do with the most recent election cycle.
“The reality is, that this year’s election cycle was so contentious that nobody was going to, in their right mind, make that investment,” he said.
At the October meeting, when the budget was approved for advertisement, Laskey said council could either make cuts to items such as “property maintenance and engineering fees” or dip into the borough’s reserves to cover the discrepancy.
