News

CREDC Financing Supports PPO&S Renovation of 100+ Year Old Building in the City of Harrisburg

HARRISBURG, PA (March 4, 2016) – The Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC (Chamber & CREDC) announced today that the Partnership of Packer, Oesterling & Smith (PPO&S) recently closed on an Enterprise Zone loan to renovate 513 N 2^nd Street in the City of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.

CREDC provided a $200,000 Enterprise Zone Loan towards the real estate and relocation project. This financing leveraged another $430,000 in equity and bank financing provided by First National Bank.

PPO&S is an integrated marketing communications firm founded in 1980, and until late 2015, resided at 122 State Street. President Virginia Roth evaluated a number of options to provide the growing agency with a more functional space, but was also committed to remain within the City of Harrisburg. Literally around the corner, she found a diamond in the rough that would support the company’s goals, personality and energy. Roth and her team saw that the property had real potential to provide a major upgrade in the agency’s working environment, and smarter space for collaboration, creativity and innovation.

“We’ve been in the new space for over three months now, and I’m thrilled with the feedback from my colleagues and clients alike with the decision to stay in the city and make this our new home,” said Roth. “It will support our continued growth in serving clients across the Commonwealth and in more than14 states. Our partnership with CREDC’s leadership and staff was an invaluable ingredient to the successful transition to the new property, and I’m most grateful.”

The Capital Region Economic Development Corporation is the economic development arm of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber, and is the leading organization for promoting and performing economic development activities in Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties. The group offers a variety of programs and resources to help attract, retain and expand business in the region. CREDC is a certified lender in Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry counties.

The Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC serves as a catalyst for promoting growth and quality of life in Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry Counties by providing a unique blend of business, community and economic development and advocacy services under one roof to boost our economic vitality and livability as a region. The Chamber & CREDC has been accredited with five stars from the United States Chamber of Commerce.

In honor of Pennsylvania Economic Development Week, PEDA's Board of Directors has adopted its FY2016-17 legislative priorities.

Click here for a press release.  Click here for this year’s legislative priorities.

Greater Hazleton has proven on numerous occasions that it possesses an abundance of available employees who are highly skilled at a variety of business and industry positions and are dedicated to effectively doing their jobs every day.

This was evident again earlier this year when internet services company Web.com chose to re-shore 74 jobs from the Philippines to its facility in the CAN DO Corporate Center in Drums, increasing the company’s workforce to nearly 350 employees.

Governor Tom Wolf conducted a press conference at the Drums facility to officially announce the completion of the re-shoring efforts. Wolf spoke highly of the many positive attributes companies will find in Greater Hazleton.

Wolf said, “Other than the natural beauty, the attraction for this area is the good people who live here, the good skills they have and the real opportunities for companies like this to find real talent. I think there is a lot of quality of life here. You have high-tech companies like this with objective criteria looking all over the world and they said they want to be in Drums.”

The economic development and financial resources that are available to businesses from a local, regional and statewide level is another element that makes locating jobs in Greater Hazleton an attractive solution for businesses. Officials from CAN DO, Inc., the Governor’s Action Team and Pennsylvania CareerLink Luzerne County collaborated to provide assistance to Web.com to help locate the re-shored jobs in Drums. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provided financial incentives, including tax credits, and on-the-job training funds. The CareerLink staff helped Web.com conduct several job fairs to place qualified employees in the positions.

The Department of Community and Economic Development put together its own package that included Job Creation Tax Credits, a Pennsylvania First Program grant and WEDnetPA funding for employee training. 

Click here to read a letter from Governor Wolf supporting April 10-16, 2016 as Pennsylvania Economic Development Week.

Please use the following links to submit your questions in advance of 2016 PEDA Spring legislative Conference panels. 

• Keynote Presentation 
• Regional Talent Attraction Depends on a Vibrant Urban Core
• Regional Airports as Economic Drivers
• The Dying Mall: Reinventing Shopping Malls to Revitalize the Community
• Trends in the Industrial and Office Market 2016
• Revving Up the Regional Economic Engine
• Pennsylvania DCED Update 
• Legislative Panel
• Transformative Strategies, Economic Vitality, and Civic Engagement in PA's Downtowns and Neighborhoods
• Tools for Economic Development Partners

In this time of PA budget uncertainty, what is one of the best business incentives?

As economic developers, we are well aware that not everyone wants money. Not every company interested in a new business location or in expanding their business wants a business loan from us – no matter what the interest rate. Whether it is an issue of timing, already having adequate capital in hand, or not being able to meet the job creation or other threshold requirements, not everyone wants or can utilize state financing.

So, what is one of the best incentives that Pennsylvania can offer companies? Yes, you guessed it – our legislative priority #3 advocating a streamlined, predictable, and coordinated permit review focuses on one of the most meaningful incentives that can be offered.

For several years, we have been discussing streamlining the permitting process as an important step for the Commonwealth. Excessive permitting timelines and onerous regulations – associated with various state agencies – result in increased project timeframes and costs, impairing economic growth and job creation. Due to the uncertainty caused by these increases, investment and related jobs are often sacrificed and Pennsylvania communities’ competitiveness is negatively impacted. 

This is not about cutting corners and ending up with projects that violate established ordinances. It is about a clear and consistently applied permit review process that is of benefit to everyone. Permit applications that are analyzed and considered more efficiently and effectively afford a reasonable degree of comfort and certainty that the timing and expenses associated with the permitting processes will be more predictable.

So perhaps I am showing my bias to you as it is now time to take another look at establishing priorities for 2016-2017, but our work in this area is not yet done. I encourage you to participate in the Advocacy process, identifying legislative priorities for PEDA in the coming weeks. It is important that the priorities identified during this year’s process represent how you want us to spend time and resources. And, if this issue sounds familiar, frustrates you, or inspires you – you probably want to make sure that you reach out to Chuck Leonard and become part of the PEDA Permitting and Regulatory Review (PARR) committee.

Mr. George Connor is the Executive Director of the Dauphin County Department of Community and Economic Development, located in Harrisburg, PA.

Having received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Communications at Penn State University – Harrisburg, Mr. Connor has been with the Dauphin County Department of Community and Economic Development since December 2002, administering the Community Development Block Grant Program, the HOME Investment Partnership Program, and the Housing Rehabilitation Program as well as acting as the main liaison for the DCDCED to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In addition, he administers the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery grant program and he secured Phase II Application submittal to the National Disaster Resilience Competition Grant program, the only grantee in entire state eligible for a potential award.

Mr. Connor is involved with numerous community organizations such as the Dauphin County Housing Authority, Dauphin County Redevelopment Authority, Community Action Commission, Harrisburg University, Dauphin County Diversity Committee and LBA Baseball Association by serving as a board member, mentor and coach, just to name a few.

He currently resides in Harrisburg and has a 13 year old son who keeps him busy.

An economic development corporation in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania has announced the creation of a new partnership with area banks to provide access to a range of financing options to support economic growth.

With economic growth on the rise in the region, the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) has worked with 13 local banks to establish the Lehigh Valley Lending Network. This unprecedented new program will offer a single point of entry to both private and public financing, allowing businesses that are seeking financing to simultaneously access and shop commercial lending institutions and economic development resource providers.

“We believe this lending network which allows new customers to shop for capital resources in one spot, is very unique in the economic development world and will serve as a best practice for the entire country,” said LVEDC President and CEO Don Cunningham. “Most regions aren’t fortunate enough to having competing banks working in this unique way to support regional economic growth.”

The Network will streamline the process for Lehigh Valley businesses seeking to establish new bank relationships and allow them to determine the lowest cost options to finance their project. Through the Network, they can canvass incentive financing and traditional bank loan products through one inquiry simultaneously.

“The fact is many companies find the process of trying to find the right bank for their needs exhausting and layered in redundancy,” said John Kingsley, LVEDC Vice President of Finance. “We want to help companies find the right financing quickly.”

The program is simple: An eligible borrower completes a series of forms outlining their business and provides a financial profile outlining their operating history and financing needs. This information is circulated to banks and economic development lenders based on the preferences of the borrower.

Representatives of the selected lending organizations will then provide an expression of interest in working with the borrower that will outline the likely terms of a loan that could be offered if the company meets specific eligibility and credit criteria.

Participating banks include Bank of America, BB&T Bank, Conestoga Bank, Embassy Bank, Lafayette Ambassador Bank, M&T Bank, National Penn Bank, New Tripoli Bank, PNC Bank, Peoples Security Bank, Provident Bank, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo.

The Lehigh Valley is the third-largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. With a population of about 822,000, the region has a GDP of $35.4 billion, larger than that of the entire state of Vermont and 94 other countries.

Click here to read more.

Jamie B. Keener, AICP, is a Shareholder with Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. (HRG) and Senior Sales Executive for the firm’s Eastern Region.  In this role, Jamie is responsible for driving business development activities, identifying and tracking new client leads, managing proposal and qualifications package development, and for client management. He also assumed office management responsibilities of the Shippensburg, PA office that opened February 1, 2016 following development of a strategic alliance with Carl Bert & Associates.

Originally from Shippensburg, PA, he earned his bachelor’s degree in geography from Bucknell University and began his professional career in York, PA. After 12 years in York and 12 years in the Poconos (where he was active with the Greater Pocono Chamber of Commerce) he returned to southcentral PA. In addition to his new role with the Chamber, he is involved with several community and industry-related organizations, including; West Shore Chamber of Commerce (Chairman of the Board), the Hampden Township Zoning Hearing Board, the Cumberland York Areal Local Defense Group (CYALDG), ULI – Central PA Council, and Greater Carlisle Chamber - Legislative Affairs. He coaches Little League Baseball in Hampden Township and Upward Basketball.