Four communities in Pennsylvania were awarded grants totaling $8
million along with $18.6 million in loan guarantees to stimulate
economic development and job growth in abandoned industrial areas,
Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Roy A. Bernardi announced
recently. The grant funding is provided through HUD's Brownfields
Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) and is expected to create
nearly 1,000 jobs in Allentown, Chester County, Harrisburg and Montgomery
County.
"Today we join local communities in Pennsylvania to make
another investment in areas some may have forgotten," said
Bernardi. "Together, we will not only breathe new life into
these distressed areas, we will restore economic vitality in surrounding
neighborhoods and create a thousand jobs for those who live there."
This funding and guaranteed loan assistance help local communities
to redevelop abandoned, idle or underutilized facilities where redevelopment
is complicated by environmental contamination. The following Pennsylvania
communities will receive BEDI funding.
The City of Allentown will receive $2 million of BEDI funds
and $2.5 million in Section 108-guaranteed loan funds to assist
in the construction of 150,000 square feet of retail space for the
location of a Wal-Mart store on Lehigh Street. An automotive battery
manufacturer formerly occupied the site. The city estimates the
creation of 155 jobs as a result of the project. The BEDI grant
will be used for remediation. The Section 108 loan will be for remediation
and demolition. Approximately $12.8 million in other private and
public funds have been leveraged for the project. The total project
costs are estimated at $21.8 million. Contact: Cyndi Romero (610)
437-7546.
Chester County will receive $1 million of BEDI funds and
$4 million in Section 108 funds to acquire and clean up a 46-acre
vacant parcel adjacent to a former landfill in the city of Coatesville.
After the site is remediated, it will be tranferred to the Oliver
Tyrone Pulver Corporation which will construct a 125-room hotel,
along with a 5,000 square foot restaurant and a 90,000 square foot
office building as the first phase of a larger development. The
first phase is estimated to create 333 full-time jobs and cost in
excess of $36 million. The 108 funds will be used to offset construction
costs and all the BEDI funds will be put into a debt reserve account
to provide security for the Section 108 loan. Contact: Thomas McIntyre
(610) 344-6900.
Chester County will also receive $2 million of BEDI funds
and $5 million in Section 108-guaranteed loan funds for Phase I
of the Whitebrooke Hills Brownfields redevelopment project, entailing
the development of 112,000 square feet of retail space and a 250-car
parking garage in East Whiteland township. The site is the location
of a former Worthington Steel processing and manufacturing facility.
The county estimates that the project will create 280 new jobs.
The BEDI grant will be used for site clearance and preparation,
as well as for construction. The Section 108 loan will be used for
demolition and construction. Approximately $24 million in private
funds have been leveraged for the project. The total project costs
are estimated at $31 million. Contact: Thomas McIntyre (610) 344-6900.
The City of Harrisburg will receive $1.5 million in BEDI
funds and $6.795 million in Section 108-guaranteed loan funds to
assist in the proposed relocation and expansion of the facilities
of the Advanced Communications Agency, a private printing company,
into a new 500,000 square foot printing facility to include both
office and industrial space. The project entails the remediation
of a highly contaminated former steel manufacturing plant site,
and the construction of site improvements for a new 500,000 square
foot building, including 350,000 square feet of manufacturing space
for Advanced Communications' printing operations and another 150,000
square feet of office space. Total cost of the project is expected
to be nearly $28 million, with the developer, city and state all
committing funds toward its completion. Both the BEDI and 108 funds
will be used for remediation, site preparation and improvements,
as well as construction of the building, and there will be two 108
loans, one from the city and another from Dauphin County, provided
as one grant to the developer. A total of 265 new jobs will be created
by the expansion and 65 existing jobs will be retained, for a total
of 325 jobs in all. Contact: Richard Heaney (717) 255-6590.
Montgomery County will receive $1.5 million in BEDI funds
and $3.0 million in Section 108-guaranteed loan funds to assist
in the cleanup of the heavily contaminated Nicolet industrial site
located in the city of Norristown into 120,000 square feet of light
industrial and commercial space to be developed by the O'Neill Properties
Group, L.P. Total cost of the project at completion is expected
to be $6.9 million. Both the BEDI and 108 funds will be used for
infrastructure improvements, site preparation and building construction.
A total of 120 new jobs will be created as a result of the project.
Contact: John F. Nugent, III (610) 275-5300.
By combining grants with a low-interest guaranteed-loan program,
HUD helps communities to convert abandoned or underutilized sites
into useful commercial and industrial developments, thereby increasing
the area's tax base and creating new job opportunities where none
existed.
Often perceived as unproductive eyesores in their communities,
these Brownfields hold tremendous potential as sites for community
revitalization. Many of these brownfield sites are strategically
located in or around key areas and were, in many cases, the economic
centers of their communities. Redevelopment of these sites is both
a challenge and an opportunity and returning them to productive
use can serve as a catalyst for local economic recovery. Complex
financial, legal and environmental risks and uncertainties are some
of the biggest barriers to owners and developers.
Since 1998, HUD has made an investment of more than $177 million
in BEDI grants and $845 million in companion Section 108-guaranteed-loans
in 137 communities. These funds have leveraged another $1.1 billion
in other public and private funds.