Midtown aiming for pre-sprawl character
Buildings being recycled with heavy emphasis on the environment
Monday, January 26, 2009
BY JOHN LUCIEW
Of The Patriot-News
Can you recycle a neighborhood?
The ambitious, environmentally conscious development firm formerly known as Powers & Associates is trying to do just that in Harrisburg's midtown.
Already, the Harrisburg-based firm, which recently changed its name to GreenWorks Development to project its environmentally friendly mission, has converted a vacant printing plant at North Third and Reily streets into the Harrisburg Area Community College's Midtown Campus.
Across Reily street, construction is well under way on a 75,000-square-foot retail and office building that will be powered by solar panels on the roof and heated and cooled with a geothermal system.
And that's just the beginning.
GreenWorks CEO Doug Neidich said he envisions building an integrated community in midtown where residents can live, work, play and learn, all without having to get into a car.
"You want a situation where people can get out from behind the wheel of their cars," Neidich said. "You want a sustainable lifestyle."
In many ways, the 1 million square feet of residential, retail and office space the company intends to build or rehabilitate are a throwback to the town-centered American lifestyle that existed before suburban sprawl.
If GreenWorks manages to pull off a truly integrated, self-sufficient community, it will have succeeded where previous plans, such as Vartan Village, fell short.
The late John O. Vartan hoped to transform 22 blocks just north of the GreenWorks project area into a no-automobile utopia of affordable housing and neighborhood shops.
Instead, the project came to naught. The city re-acquired the land, and another developer eventually turned a smaller section into town homes known as Capitol Heights.
The one constant is the appeal of the neighborhood.
Neidich said he hand-picked Harrisburg's midtown for his pro-environment experiment because it already boasted a tight-knit community of residents and retailers, along with plenty of vacant space where more could be built.
If all goes according to plan, Neidich said, this type of green urban renewal could be a blueprint for how future development can thrive without increasing the size of a community's carbon footprint.
"It's just a great canvas for this kind of development," said Neidich, whose company controls about 12 acres in the neighborhood.
The city's midtown, bounded by Forster, Front, Maclay and Sixth streets, also has a desirable location. It's just five blocks north of the state capital complex, close enough for residents to walk to work, or to attractions of downtown, but far enough away to feel like a real residential neighborhood.
Those charms have lured others well before Neidich and GreenWorks came along. For the most part, existing residents and businesses are generally welcoming the company and its grand plans.
"We're really lucky to have business people who have come in here with a real vision," said C.J. Elder, the president of the residents' group Friends of Midtown.
Elder, an eight-year resident, said the appeal of midtown comes down to a few seemingly basic qualities -- accessibility, openness and old-fashioned friendliness.
"I work downtown and I wanted to be able to walk to work," she said. "And I wanted to know my neighbors."
GreenWorks' heavy investment in the area -- already about $30 million and as much as $100 million planned over the next 10 years -- is attracting new businesses, such as Breads 'n Spreads, at 1419 N. Third St., and spurring existing ones, such as the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, to expand.
"There is a ripple effect, but somebody has to be the leader," said Midtown Scholar owner Eric Papenfuse, who estimated that he's investing nearly $1 million to expand in the former Fissel & Co. antiques store at 1302 N. Third St.
"There's no question that midtown always had plenty of potential, but [GreenWorks] came in and took the risk to do some bold things," Papenfuse said. "They deserve much of the credit."
The neighborhood also boasts the Broad Street Market, Harrisburg's farmers market, which also houses mom-and-pop grocers, bakers and restaurateurs.
Neidich said he'd like to build on the market's green appeal by working with the city and the market's nonprofit board to upgrade the facility.
"It's all part of an integrated community," Neidich said. "That's the local market."
JOHN LUCIEW: 255-8171 or
jluciew@patriot-news.com
GREEN INGREDIENTS
Highlights of GreenWorks plans for Harrisburg's midtown:
# A $14 million renovation project at Third and Reily streets turned a blighted building into a home for Harrisburg Area Community College's building and trade programs.
# An $11 million office-and- retail complex at 1426 N. Third St. to be known as Campus Square is under construction across from the HACC building, and is scheduled to open this summer.
# A $1 million renovation of three structures at 1425, 1427 and 1429 N. Third St., will transform them into an 8,400-square-foot complex, including a new Fulton Bank branch. It's scheduled to open this summer.
# Upgrading the Midtown Cinema at its current location, 250 Reily St. No date has been set.