FEATURE ARTICLE, AUGUST 2005

Pennsylvania is Ready for Development
Compiled by Nicole Thompson

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Current population: 251,798

Geographic areas and business sectors in search of development:

Technology/Life Sciences — Dauphin County continues to focus on attracting technology and life sciences companies to the area. Home to the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania and the forthcoming Harrisburg University, an opportunity exists to establish the county as a hotbed for emerging 21st century markets.

Upper End — While Dauphin County has always taken a comprehensive approach to economic development, a strong effort is being made to target opportunities in the county’s Upper End, which has traditionally gone underdeveloped. County economic development incentives, a talented workforce, and a strong quality of life make the Upper End attractive to entrepreneurs and businesses interested in relocating.

Economic development programs:

Economic Development Summit — In order to understand our strengths, Dauphin County is also studying its weaknesses. The commissioners recently called for and held the first-ever county economic development summit. Through this, the county is constructing a strategy to retain companies, attract others here and create family sustaining jobs.

Partnerships — The County continues to work in strong partnership with regional and local chambers of commerce to maximize opportunities to create jobs. These partnerships often lead to the pooling of resources that allows us to avoid the duplication of services.

Benefits and advantages of Dauphin County:

Transportation infrastructure — Located in the heart of Central Pennsylvania, Dauphin County is intersected by no less than two interstates and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Harrisburg International airport has grown dramatically and continues to add new flights to major cities. Rail and bus service are also available.

Location — Within a 500-mile radius of Dauphin County is the metropolitan areas of: Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington D.C., New York, Pittsburgh and more than half of the Canadian population.

Current Developments in the area:

Tecport — A former AMP/Tyco Electronics site, Tecport is being redeveloped into Pennsylvania’s premier technology park. The plan calls for incorporating existing facilities into an additional 500,000 square feet of office space. The developer is Crossgates Inc. It also includes several restaurants, daycare, walking trails and employee pavilions to fully accommodate workers.

Harrisburg University — While not be a typical development project, the City of Harrisburg is opening up the first new four-year university in Pennsylvania in more than a century. Unlike a traditional liberal arts school, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, opening with undergraduate classes in September 2005, offers a university education for students seeking 21st-century careers in broad areas of science and technology. The university’s first building will be constructed in the downtown area and a subsequent campus just east of this building is also in the works.

Sources: Dauphin County Economic Development Corporation/Dauphin County Industrial Development Authority Dauphin County commissioners: Jeff Haste, Nick DiFrancesco, George P. Hartwick III

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton and the Poconos (five-county area of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Wayne and Monroe counties)

Current population (of five-county area): 765,000

Business sectors in search of development:

We are attempting to attract financial services businesses, especially those located in New York and New Jersey, seeking business continuity locations.

Economic development programs:

In 2002, local economic development groups created Penn’s Northeast, a non-profit economic development organization, to market the collective assets of their five counties and serve as a single point-of-contact for prospect leads. Penn’s Northeast pools funding from economic development groups, local municipalities and private businesses and aggressively markets northeastern Pennsylvania as an affordable area with a highly productive workforce in a superb location.

Benefits and advantages of northeastern Pennsylvania:

Northeastern Pennsylvania has three major strengths:

• Location — Located at the crossroads of I-81, I-80, I-380, I-84 and I-476 and about a 2-hour ride from both New York City and Philadelphia. Distribution companies can reach 80 million consumers via overnight delivery from our area, making us an excellent location for firms wishing to serve an area stretching from Maine to Virginia and west to Ohio.

• Affordability — One of the most affordable locations in the Mid-Atlantic region with real estate, taxes, utilities, and labor costing significantly less than surrounding major cities. For example, studies have shown that a Manhattan-based financial services firm that relocates a 500-employee business unit into 100,000 square feet of Class A office space in northeastern Pennsylvania would save $89.4 million by 2013.

• Productive Workforce — northeastern Pennsylvania is known nationally for having an extremely dependable, highly productive labor force. In addition, Pennsylvania’s well-known tax abatement program — the Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) program — is highly utilized in northeastern Pennsylvania. 

Current Developments in the area:

• Cardinal Glass Industries — This Minnesota-based manufacturer of insulated glass is constructing a 171,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Crestwood Industrial Park in Luzerne County, which is being developed by Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services. The project will be completed by end of 2005, and 150 jobs will be created by this $17 million project. Site is located in a Keystone Opportunity Zone (no state or local taxes through 2010).

Verus Partners’ speculative flex building in the Jessup Small Business Center in Lackawanna County.

• Verus Partners — This Chicago-based real estate developer has broken ground on a 166,500-square-foot speculative flex building in the Jessup Small Business Center in Lackawanna County. The facility will be available to light manufacturing, office and distribution tenants starting in fall 2005. The project site is located in a KOZ.

• Arcadia Properties — This Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania developer has announced plans to develop a 600-acre business park along Route 611 just 4 miles from Exit 8 of I-380. 114 acres of the site have KOZ status. The other 486 acres have LERTA (real estate tax abatement) status. The site can accommodate industrial facilities as large as 2,000,000 square feet. Construction is expected to begin fall 2005 and lots will be available for sale by mid-2006. Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Financing Authority recently approved a $9.6 million financing package ($2.8 million grant + $6.8 million low interest loan) to install infrastructure here.

• Higgins Development Partners — This Chicago-based real estate developer has broken ground on a 400,000-square-foot speculative industrial building in Humboldt Industrial Park in Luzerne County. The building will have ceiling heights of 30 feet and up to 92 docks with cross dock capability when completed in early 2006. The site is located within a Keystone Opportunity Zone.

• Pike County Industrial Development Corporation (PIDCO) — This Milford, Pennsylvania-based industrial development corporation has completed construction on Pike County’s first business park. The 325-acre park consists of lots ranging from 6.6 to 37.8 acres and is just a few miles from Exit 34 of I-84. The park is also just 75 miles from New York City. Pike County is one of the fastest growing counties in Pennsylvania.

• Great Wolf Resorts — This Wisconsin-based developer is nearing completion of the $60 million Great Wolf Pocono, a 78,000-square-foot indoor water park located in Monroe County in the Poconos. The project will create 450 jobs when opened later in 2005.

Source: Penn’s Northeast (located in Pittston, Pennsylvania) — Jim Cummings, President




©2005 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.




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