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The North Cornwall Township Authority approved a financing request for new construction at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center & Fairgrounds.
The vote came during a public hearing Nov. 18 and allows the Lebanon Valley Exposition Center to borrow up to $8.5 million for construction of a new 15,000-square-foot arena that will be a twin facility to the center’s existing North Hall. The project will also include new parking.
Read More: Lebanon Expo Center & Fairgrounds set to grow again with new twin-like facility
The resolution authorizes the financing and authority officers “to sign any necessary documentation to allow the tax exempt financing to move forward.” North Cornwall Township Authority members are Sam Abram, Doug Leiby, Tom Long, Robert Rakow and Steve Sherk.
The new project is estimated to cost between $5 million and $6 million and is expected to start in spring or summer of 2026, according to Pat Kerwin, executive director of the expo center.
Sean Frederick, attorney for the expo center, presented the terms of the resolution to the authority. It was noted that the authority is neither responsible for the loan nor lending the money to the expo center for the project.
Kerwin told LebTown after the meeting that the authority is able to issue a note for the requested amount of the loan as part of the Municipal Authority Act. The program is IRS-approved and encourages local investment in projects like expo officials want to build.
“It must be approved by an established municipal authority, and the authority issues a note for the requested amount of the loan,” Kerwin said. “The note is sold by the authority to a bank (probably First Citizens) and the recipient of the loan pays the bank.
“The loan recipient pays for any costs associated with the process, so there is no expense to the issuing authority. Also, the authority is not liable if the note is not paid by the recipient,” added Kerwin, who said non-liability is also known as non-recourse.
The benefit of seeking an authority to issue a note is that the loan recipient gets to borrow money at a reduced interest rate, according to Kerwin.
“Typically, that is about 2% less than the current interest rate,” Kerwin said. “The exact amount is determined by the size of the loan, the current interest rates at the time it is finalized, and probably other factors.”
Kerwin stated there is a benefit to the lending institution, too.
“There is a tax advantage to the bank because of the lower interest rate,” Kerwin said. “The bank does not pay federal taxes on their profit, which allows them to provide a lower interest rate to the borrower.”
Kerwin told authority members the plan calls for construction of a 40,000-square-foot twin arena to the complex’s North Hall, and that the project is being divided into two segments.
The first phase calls for 15,000 square feet to be constructed, with the other 25,000 square feet to be built as funding becomes available. The expo complex is located in North Cornwall Township.
“We really started out thinking it was 25,000 square feet, but the cost was too great. And this is the proposed pig barn, but it isn’t being built now, either,” Kerwin told authority members. “But it’s all part of the sewer water plan, so that we have all that in place (now).”
Currently during the fair, hogs are housed in the East Hall, but they will be moved into the new swine building, which will be built at a future date and is not part of this project.
“It (East Hall) is being lengthened as part of this project. It’s also the hall where the pigs are shown during the fair, and that presents all kinds of problems for us because we can’t get rid of the odor for months – literally,” Kerwin told authority members. “So that is going to become a connecting corridor. We’ll have some office space there. A board room, storage, because we use a lot of tables and chairs and things like that. And then there’ll be restrooms.”
While Kerwin is uncertain how fair officials plan to use the new facility once it is operational, he said the added space will expand the expo center’s footprint for non-fair events. (The new hall won’t be completed in time for the 2026 Lebanon Area Fair, which runs July 25 to Aug. 1.)
“This new building will also have its own entrance because frequently we do events, (multiple) public events, in the same day,” Kerwin said.
When asked about water discharge, Kerwin informed authority members that a retention pond will be built as part of this project with stormwater runoff being channeled there. He later told LebTown that the retention pond near the main entrance will have landscaping and other buffers to hide it.
The plan is for the new building to run north/south on the east side of the complex near the existing North Hall. That will require moving the stormwater retention pond from the east side of the complex to the front entrance along Rocherty Road.
Kerwin told LebTown that the expo center’s bank loan is exactly like a mortgage.
“Our loan will be a mortgage like every other, like a regular mortgage, but we did get grant funding, but we don’t get the grants until after the project is completed,” Kerwin said.
LebTown previously reported that the expo center received a $4 million grant through the commonwealth’s Office of Budget for Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, but those dollars are only paid upon project completion.
The expo center and fairgrounds currently feature 75,000 square feet of indoor exhibition space, over 70 acres of fairgrounds, livestock and equestrian facilities, a dirt track with bleacher seating, an outdoor pavilion, kitchen, and hook-ups for vendors and campers.
The complex currently hosts over 100 events annually, with over 60,000 attendees throughout the year.
On a separate note, Kerwin told LebTown the long-awaited expansion of the main entrance along Rocherty Road is tentatively planned to commence before the end of the month.
The project, which is expected to last three weeks, will cause some traffic delays along Rocherty Road.
“I know Rocherty Road is always very busy. And part of the project is it requires no work at nine o’clock and three o’clock,” Kerwin said. “You have to have flagged people there all the time when you’re on the road. We can tell people there might be some delays for a couple weeks. But I’d wait and see if it’s going to happen this year.”
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