Collingswood Redevelopment Moving Forward After Debt Upgrade
Moody’s recently lifted Collingswood out of the junk-pile when it upgraded their credit rating to the lowest investment grade last Thursday. NJBiz. com quotes Mayor Maley: “Nothing changed on our end. All that changed was that (Moody’s) got a better understanding of what condition the town and the project is in,” Maley said. “Moody’s should have been giving me a gold star, not downgrading us.”
The downgrade originally occurred because of risk of default on an $8.5 million dollar loan caused by its struggles with the Lumber Yards redevelopment project. This is not uncommon – as we blogged about a year ago, Harrison’s suffered a downgrade amid concerns of the health of its redevelopment adjacent to Red Bull Stadium.
Moody’s spokesman David Jacobsen was also quoted: “Enterprise risk for the project remains because the borough is dependent on the LumberYard sales for payment” . . . “The borough still has a high-debt obligation. It needs capital markets to refinance the note. “That’s baked into the new rating. It’s something we’re very aware of.”
Mayor Maley is confident the redevelopment will move forward successfully with the new credit rating.
We’ll see if his confidence proves that it was justified, and will keep you posted.
Related articles
- Moody’s upgrades Collingwood’s credit rating (philly.com)
- Collingswood Mayor Maley: Moody’s admits mistake, maintains Borough’s status (gloucestercitynews.net)
