Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority Advances Plan To Fund East Liberty Improvements

Locator map with the East Liberty neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania highlighted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority board is pushing ahead with a plan to divert a large portion of real estate and parking tax revenue from a host of projects in or near East Liberty to help fund road, pedestrian and other improvements in the area.

Board members will vote Thursday on a proposal to create an East Liberty Transit Revitalization Investment District in which 75 percent of the new real estate and parking tax revenue generated by development within half a mile of the East Liberty stop on the East Busway would be used for infrastructure improvements.

Also Thursday, the board is expected to vote on $500,000 in loans to help clear the way for Fifth Avenue Pub and Lofts, a proposed restaurant and apartment development across the street from Consol Energy Center. It would mark the first major private development to take place in that area since the arena opened in 2010.

The transit revitalization investment district in some ways works like a tax increment financing district, only it typically involves a broader area and is utilized for a host of projects, not just one.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/urban-redevelopment-authority-advances-plan-to-fund-east-liberty-improvements-686742/#ixzz2SlF96I2J

Developer To Buy Former Harley-Davidson West Campus In York County

A developer has signed a sales agreement for Harley-Davidson‘s 58-acre west campus.

Earlier this month, the York County Industrial Development Authority approved the deal with Hillwood Development Company, a Texas-based venture chaired by Ross Perot Jr., the son of former presidential candidate H. Ross Perot.

“The IDA’s goal is to have jobs on that site and employment,” said Blanda Nace, senior manager of development for the York County Economic Alliance and project manager for the authority. “We aren’t real thrilled about it being a parking lot or a storage area.  We want real jobs created there. Hillwood recognizes that.  They have the same goals in mind … that’s part of the reason why they were selected.”

Read more:  http://www.ydr.com/business/ci_22604005/developer-buy-former-harley-davidson-west-campus-york

Callahan Announces Tech Hub Plans For Former Bethlehem Steel Annex

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan announced Thursday the city and Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem are in discussions to turn a five-story former Bethlehem Steel building into a technology hub.

The $30 million project, known as Tau, would provide office space for as many as 450 employees working for several companies in an annex building of the Steel General Offices on E. Third Street.

The 125,000-square-foot annex, built in 1952 and the home for Steel’s main frame computers, has been vacant for years and was last used in the 1990s as a temporary classroom for elementary students.

“Tau will recast the former Bethlehem Steel General Office Building East Annex as a fully integrated technology center which attracts companies in every stage,” Callahan said.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-bethlehem-callahan-state-of-the-city-20130214,0,1613020.story

Center City Allentown Construction To Bring 900 Jobs

English: City of Allentown (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The concrete foundation of Allentown‘s $272 million arena complex has begun to rise at Seventh and Hamilton streets, along with the number of yellow-vested construction workers.

It is a welcome sight to an army of local tradesmen whose livelihoods took a beating in the Great Recession.

For ironworker Carl Graves, 33, of Easton, the arena project didn’t just put him back to work in a tough construction market, it gave him his family back.

With construction in the Lehigh Valley at a near halt the past four years, Graves has had to accept jobs as far as 100 miles away. During his six months working on a job at New York University Medical Center last year, the four-hour round-trip commute left him little time to spend with his wife and sons, ages 5 and 1.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-arena-union-jobs-20130119,0,4563413,full.story

Macungie To Revisit Downtown Improvement Plan

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tom Bartholomew took a bold step when he decided to move his insurance agency from a Lower Macungie strip mall to downtown Macungie, a relocation that is costing him a “substantial” amount of money.

“The [Macungie] building makes a statement,” Bartholomew said. “It’s a 200-year-old building that has stood the test of time. It kind of makes a statement to your clients if you have an investment in your own business.”

Bartholomew and other Macungie business owners are hoping borough officials are willing to make a similar statement. They’ve asked Borough Council to revive its discussion of a downtown “streetscape” plan that has generated little steam since 2008, when a downtown study was completed.

Council decided recently to revisit the streetscape plan and hold a related workshop in March.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/eastpenn/mc-macungie-downtown-improvement-plan-20121226,0,3418106.story

Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield Business District Is Flourishing

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One evening last summer, Rachelle Timarac and a friend went to Bloomfield for pizza.  Other people were walking and hanging out at sidewalk tables on Liberty Avenue.

“There was electricity in the air, and I got a really good vibe,” she said, “but I saw so many vacant storefronts and couldn’t understand why.”

One in particular caught her eye — 4615 Liberty Ave., a former Dollar Tree that had been vacant for almost two years.  Five weeks ago, she opened GoldNGals, an antique jewelry store, there.

It is one of 14 new businesses that have opened in Bloomfield since 2011.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/bloomfield-business-district-is-flourishing-666718/#ixzz2FKdKUsYS

Smart Growth Conference In Pittsburgh Focuses On Transportation, Green Infrastructure And Urban Redevelopment Financing

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This week’s 12th annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Smart Growth Conference will focus on three issues its organizers call “make or break” for the region: transportation funding, green infrastructure and urban redevelopment financing.

Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch will be a featured speaker at the event, scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

The General Assembly and Gov. Tom Corbett are expected to take up transportation funding in the coming session.  Funding cutbacks and shortfalls have caused a decline in road quality across the state and threaten to arrest progress in repairing structurally deficient bridges.

Public transit systems, including the Port Authority of Allegheny County, have struggled financially and been forced to raise fares and reduce service.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/transportation/smart-growth-conference-in-pittsburgh-focuses-on-transportation-infrastructure-665723/#ixzz2EfaBizzb

Water Bottling Company To Locate New Facility In Lehigh Valley

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ice River Springs Water Co., Inc will locate its new bottling and manufacturing facility in the Lehigh Valley and create 49 new jobs, according to an announcement today by Gov. Tom Corbett.

Ice River Springs, with facilities in seven locations in the United States and Canada, will lease an existing 100,000 square-foot facility in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, with an option to purchase after one year.

The company will invest $21 million in leasehold improvements, new equipment and employee training and has committed to creating at least 49 new jobs within the next three years, the press release said.

Ice River Springs Water Co. Executive Vice President Sandy Gott said the new site “is a great location for our business, it has access to key markets for us, allowing us to locate closer to our customers.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-water-company-web-20121129,0,6739983.story

Sharp Corp. Wants To Expand In Upper Macungie Township

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Sharp Corporation wants to expand its operations at its pharmaceutical packaging location in Fogelsville, company represenattives told the Upper Macungie Planning Commission on Wednesday.

Sharp plans to add floor space to its existing building where it will build multiple clean rooms used to package drugs for a variety of clients.

Paul A. Szewczak, an executive with Liberty Engineering, Inc., Sharp will also remodel an adjacent 25,000 square foot building on Keebler Way and use that additional space for production.

According to Szewczak, Boyle Construction Management will build the addition to the structure formerly occupied by the Keebler Company. He said construction would be done in two phases, with remodeling of the existing building being the first phase.  Work on the project will start after Jan. 1.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/parkland/mc-upper-macungie-sharp-20121123,0,6103020.story

Redesigned Fulton Bank Project Gets Lancaster Board Approval

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A redesigned street-level facade for the planned Fulton Bank expansion won approval and praise from members of Lancaster city’s Historical Commission  this week.

But the eight-story office building project was not greeted as warmly by a dozen members of the public.

“Is there any way to make it look less like an eight-track player?” Marty Hulse, owner of Building Character, asked project architect Rick Beck.

Beck, of the Philadelphia firm Francis Cauffman, explained the contemporary office building draws from the mid-century modern style popular about 60 years ago. Large windows capping the building on the top two floors are a currently popular style of architecture, he said.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/783378_Redesigned-Fulton-Bank-project-gets-city-board-approval.html#ixzz2D41Ji3D1