The new parking garage in downtown Warren is well on its way up.

So where is the money from the state?
Last August, Gov. Ed Rendell pledged the second of two state grants toward the parking garage project, totaling $7.95 million. The City of Warren took out a $2 million loan to cover construction costs of the garage. Building began last fall.

In April, City Council voted to approve extending the $2 million loan from Northwest Savings Bank by another four months until the state grant money is received.

What's the holdup?

Simple, Warren mayor Mark Phillips says.

It's a complicated process.

Phillips pointed out that when Rendell presented the ceremonial check last August, it was exactly that ­ ceremonial. "Not one dime of the $7.95 million has actually been deposited in the city's bank account yet," he said.

According to Phillips, the city must go through a "very extensive, long and cumbersome" application process in order to qualify for having the grant funding released.

"It's a tedious and long, drawn-out process," Phillips said. "I think that caution in gathering and compiling the data is warranted rather than rushing through and turning in an incomplete application and not receiving one dime.

"It's like a contract," Phillips continued, "between the state and the city. If the city violates that contract, then there would be no receipt of that money."

Phillips said he understands there may be a feeling of frustration by the public over the state not releasing the grants. "But the state wants to make sure that the project is created as it was proposed.

"Numerous minutia must be addressed for the state to make sure if it's investing state money, it's going to a good use for local development," he said.

Once the application process is completed, Phillips expects the grants to be released in 60 to 90 days.

A part of the application process, according to Phillips, was securing a local funding source to match the state grant. That funding source was Northwest Saving's new corporate headquarters, located on the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania Ave. and Liberty St.

As a result of the city's loan extension, Northwest stands to make an additional $14,000.

Which isn't a problem, according to Phillips, who pointed out that Northwest was the low bidder when it came time for the city to approve the initial $2 million loan.

"Many people, as a result of the extension, might be theorizing that Northwest Savings has a vested interested in delaying the process," Phillips said. "And I can tell you, categorically, yes, they will be making money on their loan. That's what they do: they are in the loan business. But by going through our already existing lender, we were able to avoid the long and tedious process of approval required by the (state's) Department of Community and Economic Development. That being said, Northwest Savings has continued to work very closely with the city and developer to provide all documentation required in a very timely manner."

Phillips also pointed out that the state's decision to treat the two grants as one has slowed the process.

"They put the brakes on things until they could figure out how to correctly process the application," he said.