Cordwell steps down as authority chief
The executive director of the city redevelopment authority has resigned after four years at the post.
Art Cordwell said his resignation was effective Wednesday, but said he will continue working with the authority through its transition to a new director.
“I felt the time was right,” Cordwell said this morning. “I feel good about what we accomplished in four years.”
The authority’s mission is to attract businesses, create jobs, and implement overall growth in the city. One of its primary functions is to administer state Department of Community and Economic Development grants for the city to benefit low-to-moderate income residents.
But the Centre City project has been perhaps the most talked about task for the redevelopment authority in recent years.
The authority will be a 25 percent owner in the new Marriott Springhill Suites hotel to be built at the corner of Jefferson and McKean streets. The project also will include a parking garage owned by the city.
Cordwell said he stayed with the authority to see that project wrap up. J.S. Capitol, the developer of the hotel, closed on its agreements to build the structure last month.
“Centre City will be a real boom for the downtown area,” he said.
Cordwell said his primary goal over his four years has been to reduce the debt on the authority.
The authority earlier this week had about $2 million in debt wiped away when the city Parks, Recreation Grounds and Facilities authority took over ownership of Kelly Automotive Park.
But Cordwell inherited a lot of other debts when he took over as executive director.
“Even without the ballpark, we had about $3.2 million in debt when I came on,” he said, adding much of that debt was wrapped up in several properties in the city. “Right now, there’s $400,000 that we still owe. So I think we’ve come a long way from where we were.”
The former Penn Theatre remains the authority’s most notable liability.
Cordwell said a lack of state funding has been the biggest hurdle for the authority.
The authority used to receive $680,000 per year in state funding. Last year, that dropped to $274,000.
To cut expenses, the authority cut its office hours to two days per week and Cordwell’s salary from $56,000 per year in half.
Even then, he said he hasn’t been paid in “quite a few” months due to the financial concerns of the authority.
“Last year I made about $14,000,” he said. “We’ve been doing everything we could to get the costs down.”
Cordwell said running the authority that had little money to work with was difficult and stressful.
“The steps are small and slow,” he said. “But you have to remember that you’re here to help the community.”
Cordwell said he is not sure what his future will be once he leaves the authority. He said he was working as a consultant before he joined the authority. He also had been the director of the Community Development Corporation of Butler County for 10 years.
