As taken from pottstowncitizens.org https://sites.google.com/view/pottstowncitizens/home
“Pottstown Citizens seeks ways we can best manage our resources for the common good…Pottstown Citizens for Enlightened Leadership was established to 1.) Provide information and analysis to help inform readers about local issues; 2.) Advocate for traditional neighborhoods which house people of all ages, races and incomes, with walkable neighborhood schools and tree-lined streets — safe and attractive for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists. 3.) Encourage Pottstown Borough and the Pottstown School District to conduct their business in an open and professional manner; 4.) Make the best and most efficient use of community assets. We do this through our Web site and through biweekly columns published in The Mercury as paid advertisements. Note: Pottstown Citizens for Enlightened Government was created as a community service in 2007. It is financed entirely by Tom Hylton. In the interests of transparency, we file annual financial reports with the Montgomery County.” To learn more visit pottstowncitizens.org https://sites.google.com/view/pottstowncitizens/home
The following essay, written by Tom Hylton, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has recently appeared as a paid advertisement in the Pottstown Mercury:
Ever since its construction in 1888, the Security Trust bank building at High and Hanover streets has been the anchor of downtown Pottstown. A succession of banks occupied the first floor until April 1995, when First Fidelity Bank closed its office. The upper three floors, which at one time had offered the most desirable office space in Pottstown, had been vacant since Sanders and Thomas engineers moved out in the 1960s. Fearing that the building might be demolished, the Pottstown Historical Society bought the building from the bank in 1997 and soon turned it over to Philadelphia developer Michael Grasso. When Grasso was unable to put any deals together, Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc. (now known as PAED) bought the building at cost ($100,000) from Grasso.
To find serious bidders to restore the building, PAED conducted a structural analysis and a phase one environmental study of the building. The studies showed the building was structurally and environmentally sound. PAED also installed a new roof to protect the interior of the building. Renovating the building was not financially feasible without subsidies. Working with the county, state and federal governments, PAED obtained $500,000 in two state grants, a $312,000 Community Development Block Grant through the county, and about $400,000 in historic preservation tax credits from the federal government. In addition, the project enjoyed a taxing structure called tax increment financing, which raised another $375,000 toward renovations. In 2003 PAED sold the building, with numerous legal caveats, to developer John Wolfington, who spent more than $4 million restoring the building. Today, the building is owned by restauranteur Win Somboonsong, who operates the upscale Blue Elephant restaurant on the first floor.
Tenants on the upper floors include the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce, PAED, and the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation.