Owners donate CNA building in Reading to I-LEAD Charter School [Reading Eagle, Pa.]

Sept. 30--A major piece of the downtown Reading puzzle has a new owner.

The five-story, 260,000-square-foot CNA Insurance building at Fourth and Penn streets has been donated to the I-LEAD Charter School, company and school officials said.

"It's a blessing from the sky," said Angel Figueroa, vice president for resource and development at I-LEAD. "It's going to change the lives of many young people."

Officials from CNA and I-LEAD are expected to officially announce the donation at an event this afternoon.

Brian Doyle, director of real estate for CNA, said the 32-year-old building has become too large for the company. It has been on the market for about a year, he said, but has garnered little interest.

Without a potential buyer, the company decided to donate the building to a local nonprofit organization.

"It wouldn't be our first choice," he said. "But we didn't want to abandon it."

By gifting the building to a nonprofit, CNA will receive a substantial tax break. Doyle declined to discuss the size of the tax break or the current value of the building. According to Berks County tax records, it's currently assessed at just less than $9.7 million.

Doyle said I-LEAD's mission to help students who have dropped out of school makes it the perfect recipient of the hefty gift.

"We just thought that the charter school would have a better short-term and long-term use for the building," he said.

Doyle said CNA, a commercial property and casualty insurance carrier based in Chicago, will continue to occupy the building until spring, when it will move to a new space in Wyomissing. He declined to say exactly where the new office will be until negotiations are finished.

"Obviously, we are staying in the area," said Jennifer Martinez, a CNA spokeswoman. "For us, we've had a long commitment to this area and that will continue."

For I-LEAD officials, the offer of a free building in downtown Reading seems almost too good to be true.

"We were ... in shock. These things don't happen every day," Figueroa said. "I walked out and was like, 'When is somebody going to slap me and tell me it's a dream? '"

David Castro, president and chief executive of I-LEAD, said the new digs will provide all sorts of options for the charter school, which serves about 400 students.

"This is a huge, long-term opportunity for us," he said, adding that the building is spacious and well-maintained.

I-LEAD has rented space in the former Hershey/Luden's building at Eighth and Walnut streets since it opened in 2011.

Owning the CNA building will free up money that currently is being used to pay rent, Castro said, and offers the chance to expand. It also will give I-LEAD the possibility of leasing space to other groups that "work with our educational plans," such as health care services, he added.

"There is a lot of enthusiasm for the new building," he said.

The I-LEAD Charter School, the only charter school in Berks County, likely will open in its new location for the 2014-15 school year.

Contact David Mekeel: 610-371-5014 or dmekeel@readingeagle.com.

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