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2005 Press Release

MEDIA ADVISORY

ATTENTION: EDITORS / ASSIGNMENT EDITORS

Contact:
Neil Cotiaux, FHLBank of Pittsburgh, 412-288-2851, cell: 330-703-0753
Gretchen Wintermantel, press secretary, Rep. Kanjorski, 202-225-6511

REP. KANJORSKI, BUSINESS LEADERS TO DEDICATE
SCHOOL-TURNED-OFFICES: CELEBRATION TO MARK $100 MILLION MILESTONE IN SMALL-BUSINESS LENDING

PLAINS TOWNSHIP, PA, April 12, 2005 — U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (PA-11), area commissioners, business leaders and Jay Roy, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh (FHLBank), will hold a news conference Monday, April 25, at 11:30 a.m. at 140 Maffett Street, Plains. The event will celebrate the reopening of the former Maffett Elementary School as a regional office center, creating new jobs, adding tax revenues and revitalizing a township neighborhood.

The group will hold a news conference in the third floor conference room at which Congressman Kanjorski will speak, to be followed by a ribbon cutting at the entrance to the building. Following the news conference and ribbon cutting, The A + E Group, a regional architectural and engineering firm and the building's anchor tenant, will host a series of building tours and explain the renovation process for transforming the schoolhouse into a prime commercial location. Others attending the April 25 event include representatives of area banks, tenants and members of the congressman's office.

The A + E Group converted Maffett Elementary into state-of-the-art office space through the FHLBank's low-cost Banking On Business (BOB) program. To date, Banking On Business has provided more than
$28 million in financing to 56 small-business projects in northeastern Pennsylvania — part of $100 million in such funding across Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The Bank has relocated its regional office to the facility. In addition, The A + E Group has recruited Cornell Storefront Systems, a retail security firm, adding 30 new jobs in Plains. In all, about 60 area residents now work at the renovated schoolhouse, opened in 1915 and closed in 1997, with plans for an additional tenant in the offing.

Directions:
From I-81: From either north or south, merge onto PA 309 North via Exit 170-B toward Wilkes-Barre. Go 2.4 miles. Take Exit 3 toward Wilkes-Barre/Plains. There are two right turns at the bottom of the exit. Remain in the far right lane and make an immediate right turn onto Maffett Street. The former school building is up the street on the left around a bend, approximately one-half mile. Turn left onto Ann Street and drive to the back of the building for parking.