"Impact Warren" is not just a "pretty picture" anymore.

The decision of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency to provide $1.5 million to help finance construction of 28 riverside townhouses validates the plans to rejuvenate downtown Warren, according to funding specialist Larry Segal.

Segal is working with Susquehanna Development Group to pull together state funding for the $40 million project.

PHFA earlier this week approved the first of what will be many applications for state funding for "Impact Warren."

"We're pumped!" Segal said on Thursday.

Since "Impact Warren" plans were announced this summer, said Segal, generating momentum for the concept has primarily involved the local community, local businesses and local groups.

"Building a community consensus is usually the hard part," said Segal, "but the support in the Warren community has been unprecedented."

"PHFA's decision to make Warren one of only five projects in the state to receive funding is a validation of what we've been saying all along ­ This is a great project in a competitive sense'," said Segal. "The symbolic importance (of the PHFA funding) can not be overstated."

The PHFA decision, said Segal, shows "we're able to convince people outside of the community that this is a great project. This is real. We are real. It's not a pretty picture anymore."

In Segal's experience with community development projects which rely on multiple funding applications, the first success is often the most difficult to attain.

"No one wants to be the first one into the pool," said Segal. "But when it starts to look like we may actually get this done, everyone says, 'We would like to participate'."

PHFA has a reputation of scrutinizing funding applications very closely, said Segal, and the agency's decision to boost "Impact Warren bodes well as we go to other sources."

The fact that PHFA is backing "Impact Warren" may have increased the project's funding chances with other agencies "two- or three-fold," Segal estimates.

Segal said he is proceeding with "a lot of parallel efforts" for other components of the riverfront project.

He recently met with John Oliver, secretary of the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, to discuss plans for an amphitheater and river barge stage. An application for $500,000 in funding for the project was submitted and Segal expects some decision will be made by the agency in February or March.

An application for tax credits which will make senior housing feasible has also been submitted and Segal said "we're working on" financing for the parking deck component of the project.