Condo Project Intended To Give Lift To Pittston

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Roy

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

PITTSTON, PA — Shovels moved the first dirt Thursday for a 30-unit residential project along the Susquehanna River bank that most people agreed has been a decade-long labor of love.

The Riverfront Condominium, a residential building that for the past 10 years existed only on paper and in the imaginations of city officials and architects, promises to be the crowned star of Pittston, arguably the Wyoming Valley, it backers say.

“This is a long time coming,” Joe Chacke, Pittston Redevelopment Authority’s executive director, said.

The project’s original engineer, Alex Belavitz, whose firm is still the condominium’s official engineer after all these years, said public/private partnerships always bring obstacles. The $9 million construction uses $4 million in state grants — $1.5 million from a gaming tax grant and $2.5 million assigned by Gov. Tom Corbett.

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

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Roy

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.

Lehigh Heavy Forge Deal Could Bring 100 Jobs To Valley

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Roy

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

As the U.S. moves forward in bolstering its nuclear technology and power grids, one of the Lehigh Valley‘s longest-standing manufacturing companies stands to benefit in terms of job creation and expansion.

Bethlehem-based Lehigh Heavy Forge, the only remaining super heavy forging operation in the country and the largest open die forging process in the Western Hemisphere, will see more jobs come on line in the next 10 years as the result of a partnership announced Wednesday with the Babcock & Wilcox Co., a provider of clean energy technology to nuclear and renewable power markets.

At a press conference Wednesday at the company facility adjacent to the Sands Casino on grounds once occupied by Bethlehem Steel, company President Jim Romeo said Lehigh Heavy Forge will see about 100 engineering and manufacturing jobs created by 2022 as a result of the contract with Babcock & Wilcox to provide forgings for small modular reactors.

“It is with great anticipation that we look forward to our partnership with B&W,” said Romeo, who was joined at the podium by Christofer Mowry, president of Babcock & Wilcox mPower, and Gov. Tom Corbett.

Water Bottling Company To Locate New Facility In Lehigh Valley

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Roy

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.”

A Tip Of The Hat To Berks Park 78

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Roy

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Equipment from area construction companies pointed to the reason Gov. Tom Corbett was standing Friday in an open field in Bethel Township.

PetSmart Inc. was about to begin work on a new 870,000-square-foot distribution center in the Berks Park 78 industrial center.

The $50 million project is expected to be completed by early 2014 and eventually create 500 permanent jobs in the region by 2016.

The site off Interstate 78 and Route 501 is ideal because it’s within one long day’s ride of 60 percent of the eastern United States, Corbett said.

Pennsylvania Counties Line Up For New State Block Grant Program

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Roy

The Corbett administration’s plan to allow counties to use a new block grant to pay for such key social services as drug and alcohol treatment and intellectual disabilities programs was one of the most contentious proposals of this year’s budget debate.

But with the money now up for grabs, county officials have apparently gotten over their reservations. Officials in 30 of the state’s 67 counties have applied for 20 available spots in the new block grant program. And funding recipients are set to be announced next month, the state Department of Public Welfare said this week.

Counties have “repeatedly asked for greater flexibility in human services funding” and the new program delivers it, Public Welfare Secretary Gary Alexander said in a statement. County governments had until Aug. 17 to apply for the funding.

Gas Drilling Adds Fuel To Pittsburgh’s Resurgence

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Roy

Pittsburgh, once known as America’s Steel City, is laying its Rustbelt heritage to rest by fostering growth in education and health services, while drawing strength from the booming natural-gas industry it keeps at a distance.

Drilling into Marcellus shale deposits is banned in Pittsburgh, yet hydraulic-fracturing, or fracking, operations in the countrysiSde nearby have helped bring in jobs and boost demand for office space in Pennsylvania’s second-biggest city.

“Like eds and meds, like steel once was in Pittsburgh, it would be the industry to grow and employ people and turn the economy around,” Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, 32, said of gas extraction. Nearby drilling can provide a “growth mechanism” the city can use to propel a rebound, he said. The city faced insolvency in late 2003, as the population and employment fell.

Fracking is driving wage, job and population growth, even after health concerns led the City Council to ban it, according to development officials. Wells Fargo & Co. economists recently called Pittsburgh a “logistical hub” for the industry. To fuel the boom, Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, is offering Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, at least $1.65 billion in tax credits to build a gas-fed chemical plant nearby.

Dollar General To Build Distribution Center In Bethel Township, Berks County

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Roy

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dollar General Corp., a national retailer with more than 10,000 stores, will locate its new distribution center in northwest Berks County, creating more than 500 new jobs and an additional 75 indirect trucking jobs, Gov. Tom Corbett announced today.

Dollar General will build a $100 million, 900,000-square-foot distribution center in Berks Park 78, a new industrial park in Bethel Township.

Lock Haven’s Piper Airport To Get $977,708 For Runway Project

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Roy

Piper PA-40 Arapaho in 1974 in Lock Haven, PA I took this picture in 1974 in Lock Haven, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HARRISBURG, PA - The William T. Piper Memorial Airport in Lock Haven is one of 27 airports across Pennsylvania that will improve facilities and enhance safety with a piece of a $12.6 million investment of federal and state funds.

The airport at the east end of Lock Haven will receive $977,708 for runway work, according to an announcement by Gov. Tom Corbett.

The rehabilitated runway will be only 75 feet wide, which is regulation size, according to the city. It is 100 feet wide righ tnow, and the project will narrow it by 12.5 feet on each side.

Lighting also will be upgraded and the lights relocated as the runway is narrowed so they remain close to the runway’s edge. The city’s local match for the work is roughly $60,000.

Ocean Spray Begins Construction On $110M Plant

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Roy

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

State officials and business owners dug ceremonial shovels into the earth Tuesday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a $110 million Ocean Spray bottling plant in Upper Macungie.

The 315,000-square-foot plant is expected to bring 165 jobs to the region when it opens in September 2013. The plant will replace Ocean Spray’s aging facility in Bordentown, N.J. Some of the jobs at the new site will be filled by existing Ocean Spray employees who were given “the most generous incentive, relocation and transition packages” to help them move to the Valley, company officials said in a news release.

Pennsylvania lured Ocean Spray across the Delaware River by promising the company a $4.52 million incentive package. That included money for infrastructure improvements and job training, as well as a low-interest loan through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority. The plant will be built using the latest environmentally friendly designs and materials.

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