The city council approved a bridge loan for the Prendergast Landing project, which was also approved by the Jamestown Local Development Corporation last week. Screenshot courtesy of the city of Jamestown’s website

A bridge loan allowing for construction to begin on the Prendergast Landing project on the corner of Fairmount Avenue and West Eighth Street has now been approved by the City Council.

The loan for Jade Empire LLC is a bridge loan of $350,000 at a fixed rate of four percent over a period of 10 years.

As discussed at the JLDC meeting, the project is being funded by multiple state grants and the JLDC loan is meant to help construction begin and will be paid back in fixed increments at first until the funding from the state starts coming in, and then will be paid in full.

“Just a comment for the new people, anything over a $100,000 loan from the JLDC has to be approved by this body,” Councilman Tony Dolce, R-Ward 2, said during Monday’s city council voting session. “Normally, if they’re under $100,000 the JLDC board just makes that decision, but anything over $100,000, since this is a significant amount we have to approve that.”

Dolce also noted that the loan is a bridge loan, emphasizing that once the money from the state comes in it will be paid back.

Councilman Daniel Gonzalez, D-At Large, asked if this loan was similar to one that went towards the former Jamestown Brewing Company, which was also receiving state funding before the JLDC loan, which City Development Director Crystal Surdyk said is a completely different situation. While the brewing company predates her time in the position, she said with the details that she knew there was a lack of experience with that project and this project is very different, including how the state reimbursement went back into the brewing company project as well.

“The Department of Development and the city, we are administering the grant, so the funds will actually be coming through us,” Surdyk said. “We will be sort of the gatekeeper, if you will, of all of the funding, so there was not an agreement ahead of time with the brewing company that the loan would be reimbursed by state funds.”

The brewing company project was meant to be reimbursed by the revenue from the company that they would be making, which Surdyk said is different for Prendergast Landing, as it is a bridge loan where the brewing company loan was for the project itself, though both loans span a period of 10 years.

“Again, the anticipation is that we will be reimbursed as the state is reimburses the project,” Surdyk said.

The state will reimburse upon completion of the project, which is currently anticipated for July of this year.