The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Business

August 12, 2009

Bank buys much-debated N. Hermitage Road parcel

By Joe Pinchot

HERMITAGE — The Franklin property on North Hermitage Road, which has been one of the most studied parcels in the city in recent years, has been sold to Farmers National Bank, said real estate agent John Fair.

“Wonderful,” Luann Franklin said of the sale of the 3.2-acre parcel where she grew up and that she inherited from her parents.

“They were very quick and efficient and John took care of a lot of the details,” she said.

The sale closed in late May, said Mrs. Franklin, who declined to reveal the sale price.

Farmers plans to build next year, with a possible opening in the summer, she said.

Marcia A. Hirschmann, city director of planning and zoning, said she had heard that the property at 449 N. Hermitage Road had sold, but has received no plan submissions from Farmers.

Farmers initially looked at 1679 N. Hermitage Road, in the Dollar General building, but that proposal was pulled after Hermitage Planning Commission recommended approval in January.

The Franklin property, just north of the Douglas and Joseph law firm, was the subject of intense scrutiny by city officials after Mrs. Franklin asked that it be rezoned from institutional to central commercial in 2003. The proposal was turned down, as was the same request in 2006 by a Pittsburgh developer, who wanted to build a retail plaza on the site.

In 2007, Hoss’s Restaurant Operations, Duncansville, Pa., asked for the same rezoning so it could build a restaurant there. City commissioners requested staff to study the area, and created a new zone, institutional-3, that allows a few more business uses on the property and neighboring parcels to the north.

Hoss’s submitted plans for its restaurant after the rezoning was approved, but in September let lapse its contract with Ms. Franklin to buy the property because of the economic downturn.

Banks are permitted uses in the I-3 zone, Mrs. Hirschmann said.

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