Vantage bd. rejects abatement request

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

A request for a Community Reinvestment Area tax break is off the table for developers of a proposed assisted living facility on the site of a former Van Wert hotel.

Vantage Board of Education members unanimously rejected the request, with several board members from Paulding County citing financial problems of the developers, Louis and Mary Lengacher of Berne, Ind., in connection with a similar facility in Antwerp.

Louis Lengacher had requested a 90-percent, 10-year tax abatement for Manor House Van Wert Assisted Living, an 80-bed facility he plans to develop on the site of the former Van Wert Inn hotel on North Washington Street.

According to stories published in The Paulding Progress weekly newspaper for more than a year detailing lawsuits filed against the Lengachers and their company since last September, the couple is being sued by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services over nearly $20,000 in unpaid unemployment taxes, while Antwerp Holdings LLC, which owns a former Antwerp school the Lengachers turned into an assisted living center, is suing for more than $500,000 in back rent and money owed in connection with other contractual agreements.

The Lengachers have since filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing assets of $1 million and liabilities of $6.5 million, according to the newspaper articles.

CRA tax abatement is not an option for the Van Wert project, even if it had been approved by Vantage, Van Wert City Schools and the City of Van Wert, because of the unpaid unemployment taxes.

A meeting of Van Wert City Council’s Finance Committee was scheduled for Monday evening to discuss the CRA tax abatement, but will likely be canceled because of the Vantage decision and latest revelations about the Lengachers’ financial problems.