HARRISBURG-LANCASTER-LEBANON-YORK | South Central, PA | Regional Development Thread

[EastSideHBG]

Lots and lots of news. Exciting times for Harrisburg indeed!!!

NEWS INFORMATION FROM THE OFFICE OF MAYOR STEPHEN R. REED
City of Harrisburg
King City Government Center
Harrisburg, PA 17101-1678
Telephone: 717.255.3040
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
May 11 2005

MOST EXTENSIVE HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOOD RENEWAL WORK EVER UNDERTAKEN AT ONE TIME UNDERWAY; GROUNDBREAKING OCCURS FOR THE TOWNS AT GOVERNOR’S SQUARE UPTOWN

Mayor Stephen R. Reed today said city housing and neighborhood renewal efforts are expanding to create the most extensive number of new and restored homes and neighborhood areas ever undertaken at one time in city record.

The work now underway or soon to be started over the next 18 months amounts to 1,752 newly built or rehabilitated housing units, representing over $143,173,000 in public and private investment. With the housing activity comes new sidewalks, exterior landscaping and other exterior amenities.

Today’s announcement was hallmarked by the formal groundbreaking for The Towns at Governor’s Square, involving 72 new townhomes that create a new city neighborhood in the city’s Uptown.

Reed said it is part of a 294 residential unit development covering a 9block area, on over 45 acres of land, on parts of Maclay Street and areas north and south of Maclay Street.

The new townhomes include two-story houses, 16 and 18 feet wide, that feature approximately 1,290 square feet of living space, with three bedrooms, a gourmet kitchen, gas heating, a one-car parking pad and architectural design standards that make it compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

Home buyers have the option of adding a finished third floor, front porches, gas fireplaces, sunrooms and detached garages, if they wish.

Homebuyers can receive assistance with down payment and closing costs on their mortgages. The developers, Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse and the Landex Corporation, are offering down payment help of up to $3,000. Further, the Dauphin County First Time Homebuyer Affordable Housing Trust Fund will grant up to $3,500 for low and moderate-income buyers. Other help is available from the Nehemiah Program. Attractive financing is available.

Reed said the new townhomes are all eligible for the city’s tax abatement program, too, which makes the ultimate costs of the homes very affordable and within financial reach of most.

The Mayor also said the homebuyers are eligible for Mortgage Tax Credit Certificates. Harrisburg was first in the nation to issue them. An MCC allows a percentage of the interest paid on a mortgage to return to the homebuyer for every year of the mortgage’s existence.

Homes start at $69,900.

In addition to private financing from the developer, financial support of the project has been provided by the city, the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority, the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh.

Total project costs are $29.9 million, which includes the costs related to 222 rental units that are being rehabilitated and upgraded throughout the neighborhood area and some of which have just been completed.

Reed said: : “The extensive new construction and rebuilding occurring over such a large neighborhood area provides a major transformation to a measurable portion of the Uptown, which is one of the factors underlying the expected success of the new investment here.”

The Mayor said he expects that when such a dramatic change occurs over such a wide area, it tends to also spur other housing work nearby---which is already starting to happen.

The project was made possible because after a previous housing development fell into disrepair, with most of its units empty, the city stepped in, took over the multiple sites, and issued a Request for Proposals to generate a major upgrade to the area. Development standards were set to assure high quality and the current developers were selected following that process.

Reed said other work taking place in the city now and in the coming months involve newly built or completely restored housing units in every part of Harrisburg. Projects and site areas include the city’s Homeownership Opportunities Program and Home Improvement Program, Market Place Townhomes, Capitol Heights, Allison Hill Apartments Project, Habitat for Humanity work, student housing complex, the Commons at Barclay Court, International House, private developer initiatives and scattered site vacant property take-overs, followed by rebuilding and resale to new homeowners.

“We have never had so much housing activity at one time. It is further proof of the sustained momentum of Harrisburg’s continuing resurgence and of the city’s further rise as a desirable place to not only work and visit, but to also live in close proximity to employment centers, parks, and the public amenities we offer,” Reed said. “Adding to this is that city homes are best home buy in the regional market.

************

CITY RECEIVES TOP NATIONAL AWARD FOR FINANCIAL REPORTING AND ACCOUNTING FOR 17TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR

[EastSideHBG]

Bar to open with beach theme

Friday, May 20, 2005
BY KIRA L. SCHLECHTER
Of The Patriot-News

In an effort to stay competitive in the dog-eat-dog club scene on Second Street in Harrisburg, NOMA, the sleek martini bar at 20 N. Second St., reopens tonight after a week-long remodeling as the Cabana Beach Bar.

"NOMA was very upscale, very stark, very big-city looking," manager Ron Kamionka said in a telephone interview. "This is sitting on a beach in Key West -- you get the same feel.

"I want it to be a Corona [beer] commercial. I think of it as sunset at the beach," he added.

Why the change?

"NOMA was about to turn 3 years old," Kamionka said. "I definitely am a big fan of cycling the clubs before they start to dwindle. NOMA was doing a good job as what it was, but along Second Street, everyone is starting to niche out, and we wanted to find another niche."

Kamionka acknowledged that it was tough to craft a beach theme out of the club's pristine marble interior.

"The challenge in this building was to find ways to make it a significant enough change to make sure it wasn't just NOMA with a tiki hut," he said. "We had to make it impactful enough so you could get the feel of the theme. It's been an interesting challenge to design this one."

So instead of stainless steel, club-goers will now see indoor decks, ceiling fans and plenty of thatch and bamboo. Music will range from Jimmy Buffett happy-hour classics to reggae and Latin for dancing. The drink menu also will change to fit the island mood.

"We're hanging our hat on frozen drinks" that will be less expensive than NOMA's tony martinis, Kamionka said. White Castle burgers will be on the menu to assuage the munchies.

Kamionka said he's already heard from club-goers who said they'll miss NOMA's urban feel.

"It's just time," he said. "We've got to be able to compete against the center of Second Street. This postures us more effectively to compete.

"[People said] NOMA's a great place, but it's just too expensive. We've addressed that, which was the biggest concern," he added.

[Spudmrg]

Heh.....I'll be in da burg tommorow on a house tour, so I'll be able to see about the local housing market. I'll try to post my thoughts after I get home.

[EastSideHBG]

/\
Have fun, Spudmrg!!! I will be out of town tomorrow, but if I was going to be around, I'd suggest meeting up or something if you would be interested. Oh well, maybe next time...

[Spudmrg]

The Harrisburg Young Professional(HYP) house tour was excellent, covering almost 15 houses between the 2100 and 2900 blocks of Front and Second street, as well as the "penthouse" suites of the Korman Building. Food was kindly donated by various eateries from across Harrisburg. While summaries of each home are beyond me, I must say that those who opened their homes to us are masters of home decors. Mayor Reed was talking to some people as I left.

[EastSideHBG]

[Spudmrg]

3 day weekend! What's going on in 'da burg?

[EastSideHBG]

/\
Lots and lots. You have the ArtsFest on Riverfront, various things going on at the bars and clubs...


Wegmans and Target on the West Shore?

Developers propose retail plaza for Silver Spring Twp. racetrack site

Friday, May 27, 2005
BY CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Of The Patriot-News

The first Harrisburg-area Wegmans -- a high-end grocery store -- and a long-anticipated Target could become realities with a developer's plans for a West Shore shopping center.

The two retailers would anchor a complex in Silver Spring Twp. with as many as 22 other retailers, along with a bank and up to six restaurants.

The 500,000-square-foot plaza would be built on the current site of the Silver Spring Speedway and the Silver Springs Flea Market. Among the other possible tenants: Ross; Bed, Bath and Beyond; Best Buy; and Longhorn Steakhouse.

Plans for the Silver Spring Square II shopping center have been submitted to the Silver Spring Twp. planning commission. Township supervisors approved preliminary plans for a shopping center on essentially the same site in 2000, but that project fell through.

The concept gained new life last year when Regency Centers, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based development firm, came on board.

"The project went fallow for quite a while. We were able to come in and reassemble the real estate," said Powell Arms, who is vice president of investments with Regency's Bala Cynwyd office.

Regency will be the majority partner in the project. Developer Tim Harrison, who was involved in the original proposal, also is a part of the new partnership.

A Target department store has been mentioned as a likely tenant since the original plans were made public in 1999. Previous plans showed a grocery store, but gave no hint as to possible tenants.

The new plans show a 115,000-square-foot grocery with an additional 15,000 square feet of space on a mezzanine level. Those plans are similar to the footprint of recent Wegmans stores, which use the mezzanine space as part of their trademark Market Cafe in-store eateries.

Arms said no leases have been signed for any spaces, but he acknowledged that the footprint of the grocery reflects efforts to sign Wegmans.

*************

Gourmet grocery company shopping for midstate sites

Friday, May 27, 2005
BY APARNA KUMAR AND SUE GLEITER
Of The Patriot-News

Soon, midstate shoppers looking to stock up on gourmet groceries may not have to drive more than an hour to get to a Wegmans. The Rochester, N.Y.-based chain is weighing several sites for a store in the Harrisburg area.

Wegmans Food Markets, a family owned business, has 68 stores in four states, from New York to Virginia. The chain has 10 stores in Pennsylvania, the closest ones in State College, Allentown, Williamsport and Downingtown.

Population density, good transportation networks and development costs are some factors the company considers when picking a new location, said Jo Natale, manager of consumer services at Wegmans.

There are a "number of sites in the Harrisburg area that we are evaluating," Natale said, including a Cumberland County site at the Silver Spring Speedway. She said that there is no timeline for a decision.

No matter what, she added, competition will not be a primary concern.

"Regardless of where you open a store today, there are competitors and very good ones," Natale said.

Vast, airy and softly lit, Wegmans stores resemble European food markets. They lure gourmands, offering hard-to-find provisions ranging from artisan breads baked on-site to imported black truffles.

Shoppers can take a break from pushing their carts to nosh on prepared foods such as hand-rolled sushi.

Some local shoppers expressed excitement at the news that a Wegmans might be coming.

"I'm so excited," said Jean Griffith of Upper Allen Twp. "It's a fabulous store. ... Everything is so nice and top quality -- produce and things you can't get in other stores and the best subs ever."

Mary Hohe of Lower Paxton Twp., said she visited a Wegmans in Bethlehem. "I don't know how to explain it, it's like Alice in Wonderland," she said. "You could spend a whole day in that store."

Terri Maloney, editor of Maryland-based Food Trade News, said Wegmans is a "force to be reckoned with."

The chain targets areas with higher incomes and the space to build large stores, she said.

When a Wegmans comes in, it tends to have an immediate impact at other supermarkets.

"They want to get everyone pumped up," Maloney said. "They have a habit of when they open, they draw from a big range."

Denny Hopkins, vice president of advertising and public relations at Carlisle-based Giant Food Stores, was not surprised to hear Wegmans was testing the waters in the Harrisburg area.

"Wegmans have been looking at the Harrisburg market for the past five years -- they have been on and off again," he said.

"We're used to competing against Wegmans," Hopkins said. Giant competes head-to-head with Wegmans in several markets, including State College, Downingtown and Williamsport, he said.

Despite increasing pressure from Wal-Mart Supercenter Stores, convenience stores and drug stores, Giant remains the market leader in the Harrisburg area.

The chain has nearly 120 Giant and Martin's Foods Markets supermarkets in four states, and also operates Tops Markets in New York, where it competes against Wegmans in Buffalo and Rochester.

Hopkins said Giant has responded to the super-store trend by making its stores "one-stop shops." At many of Giant's 24-hour locations, shoppers can get gas or do their banking.

"Giant has become the place where you can find that hard to find item," he said. But he joked, "We don't carry expensive French butter."

Maloney said Giant won't be easily pushed around. "They are very adept at fighting competition," she said.

A spokesman for Weis Markets, which has two stores in Mechanicsburg and nine others in the Harrisburg area, was hesitant to speculate on possible competition. Weis competes directly with Wegmans in State College, Williamsport and northeastern Pennsylvania.

"Competition is a fact of life in the supermarket business, and our No. 1 focus is doing the best job we can," said Dennis Curtain, Weis' director of public relations. "In the Harrisburg area, we've invested in our stores, we've upgraded them and we've replaced a number of units and we will continue to do that."

[EastSideHBG]

DAMN!!!


Midstate housing market sizzles

Thursday, May 26, 2005
BY ELLEN LYON
Of The Patriot-News

For the first time around here, Realtor Lois Graham is seeing "escalation clauses" crop up in offers to buy homes.

These clauses, common in red hot housing markets like southern California and New Jersey, say the buyer will beat the seller's best offer.

Within the last two weeks, the Howard Hanna Detweiler Realty office in Swatara Twp. at which Graham works had a property that drew five or seven offers.

"It gets to be crazy. It's good for the seller," Graham said.

The median price for an existing home in the midstate remains well below the national median price of $206,000 in April, which was a record high. The median price refers to the midpoint, where half the houses sold for more and half for less.

As for new homes, the median price jumped 6.1 percent, to an all-time high of $230,800, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

Local real estate agents said housing prices are hitting highs around here, too.

Cumberland County's median home price last month was $155,700.

That's $6,700 more than the median price 12 months ago.

Overall, the median prices have increased in Dauphin and Perry counties, as well as in the northern part of York County.

In Lebanon County, median home prices have been rising each year since 2001, although the median price last month was slightly lower than in April 2004.

"It's an ultraconservative area. We have not had a deflationary period nor have we had a wildly inflationary period," said Paul Graham, president of the Lebanon County Association of Realtors.

Lois Graham offers several explanations for rising home prices.

A statewide building code that went into effect about a year ago has made new construction more expensive, as well as safer and more energy-efficient, she said.

At the same time, the cost of building materials, such as lumber, is steadily rising, she said.

And, with record low interest rates, demand is outstripping supply.

"There's so many financial options for home buyers," Lois Graham said. "People with the same credit or little or no money five years ago, with today's financing, they can now buy homes.

"We're finding more and more young folks that are choosing to own rather than rent."

And then there's the general attractiveness and affordability of the area.

Lois Graham said outside developers are drawn here by relatively inexpensive land prices, as well as by a friendlier regulatory climate than they find in bigger metropolitan areas.

"It's a great area to be. It's close to D.C. It's close to the beach. What's not to like?" she said.

The news is not all good for low- and moderate-income people hoping to become home owners.

In some cities such as Harrisburg, construction in some neighborhoods has been pushing up the price of many older, more modest homes, according to Mel Johnson, the chairman of the board of the Fair Housing Council of the Capital Region.

"We have people buying houses not worth what they're paying for them and being set up for failure," Johnson said.

And there is no low-income housing being built in the suburbs, where developers can make more of a profit on larger, more expensive homes, he said.

Paul Graham also worries about preserving the first-time home buyers market, which he calls the "keystone" of the rest of the real estate market. It's that first, less-expensive home that allows most people to move up, he noted.

One bright spot is the availability of county and state programs to help lower-income people with decent credit, Johnson said.

Some national economists warn that the real estate market could be in a bubble that is about to burst and bring down home values.

"People are just pushing it to the limit," said Tim Clouser, broker/owner of Remax Realty Select in Lower Paxton Twp.

Some sellers overestimate the market and think their homes are worth more than what the data and comparable sales show, said Clouser.

"You'll see a slowing in the market," he predicted. "I think as opposed to a bubble what you'll see is a correction. Real estate is not the stock market. It's not the Dow Jones. We don't have the bottom falling out overnight."

[EastSideHBG]

The DT scene just keeps getting better and better. :carrot:

City pub to reflect similar establishments in Ireland

Thursday, May 26, 2005
BY DAVID DeKOK
Of The Patriot-News

Downtown Harrisburg will get its third Irish restaurant/pub when Rock of Erin opens in October.

Rock of Erin is a project of Desmond Conboy and Brendan Gilsenan, who own a similar Irish pub in Stroudsburg. It will be in a former office building at 310 N. Second St., between Fathom, the gallery of losing mayoral candidate Jason Smith, and the Italian restaurant Mezzaluna.

"I do absolutely think there is room for a third Irish pub," said Conboy, a native of Ireland. "Each of them will be unique in their own way."

Rock of Erin takes its name from the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry, an all-Irish regiment from Philadelphia that helped turn back Pickett's charge at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

The pub will be modeled after modern Irish pubs in the Temple Bar section of Dublin, Conboy said. Temple Bar is Dublin's cultural quarter, a gentrified area of twisting cobblestone alleys that has been redeveloped since 1991 to attract young, upscale Irish.

Conboy, 37, of Stroudsburg, and Gilsenan purchased the former Keystone Building for $648,000, according to the seller, Mike Serluco at Consolidated Properties in Wormleysburg. The spacious first floor already is gutted.

Like Fisaga on the other side of Second Street, the front windows of Rock of Erin will open out onto the sidewalk. Inside will be a large bar, seating for 120 and a stage where live music will be a regular feature.

Conboy is a musician and promises both traditional and modern music, everything from the Clancy Brothers to U2 and more. Many of the fixtures in the pub will be made in Ireland and shipped or made here by Irish craftsmen.

The menu will include lots of traditional Irish food and American favorites, Conboy said. Guinness products will be sold, including the traditional dark Guinness stout, Harp Lager and Smithwick's, a tan-colored beer he compares to Samuel Adams. Smithwick's has been sold in the U.S. market for just the past 18 months.

Guinness does not have an ownership interest in Rock of Erin, according to Conboy, but the company provided him with a suggested business plan and put him in touch with Irish design firms who can help create the ideal Irish pub. The brewer does this in the interest of selling more of its products, he said.

Molly Brannigan's, the former "new" Irish pub at Second and Walnut streets in downtown Harrisburg, opened a year ago. McGrath's Pub, at 202 Locust St., is the other Irish pub.

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And on an unrelated note, HIA takes parking tax to court

[wrightchr]

^ AWESOME! I'll check it out when I come home in June. Thanks Dave.

[harrisburger]

2nd street really is growing...with this new pub and the quarter, the row should be starting to grow. i imagine this area will just get busier with all of these new attractions...i always thought those homes on 2nd were ripe for restaurants. now, i wanna see that parking lot next to belco filled...

[Spudmrg]

http://www.pennlive.com/business/pat...910.xml&coll=1

County, CREDC rift intensifies
Sunday, May 29, 2005
BY MATT MILLER
Of Our Carlisle Bureau
John Brinjac isn't worried about the escalating feud between Cumberland County commissioners and the Capital Region Economic Development Corp.

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by harrisburger

2nd street really is growing...with this new pub and the quarter, the row should be starting to grow. i imagine this area will just get busier with all of these new attractions...i always thought those homes on 2nd were ripe for restaurants. now, i wanna see that parking lot next to belco filled...

harrisburger, that parking lot will be filled (if you are talking about the one directly next to/behind Belco). Belco demolished some of the old structures there and is currently in the process of expanding. If you go down there now you will see a construction fence up with a rendering on it of what the new addition will look like. To my knowledge it is still a little ahead of schedule and to be completed by the fall.

[Spudmrg]

This is a day long coming.....

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriot...000.xml&coll=1

SciTech High draws students from suburbs to city
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
BY JOHN LUCIEW
Of The Patriot-News
Like many high school seniors, Chau Minh Nguyen drives to school.

Unlike most, Nguyen drives from his parents' home in Mechanicsburg, bypasses the local high school and commutes to downtown Harrisburg, where he attends the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology High School.

Since the opening of SciTech High on Market Street last fall, the science-heavy school has done something unheard of. It has prompted students from outside the city to leave their suburban schools and transfer to the once-troubled Harrisburg School District.

They are students such as Micah Cook, a ninth-grader who left the Susquehanna Twp. School District, where his father is a popular coach, to carve out a niche at SciTech.

"I just didn't feel like going to high school at Susquehanna," said Cook, who has two popular brothers at Susquehanna. "This has been great. I've found a home here."

Troy Coney, a senior, left Central Dauphin East High School for SciTech, hoping to benefit from the smaller, 300-student setting and personalized attention from teachers.

"I wanted a close-knit environment and a small teacher-to-student ratio," he said.

SciTech officials said there are about 10 students who transferred to SciTech from outside the city. So far, these students and their families have been spared from paying Harrisburg's $9,000-a-year tuition for nondistrict students by tapping grants and scholarships.

About 20 other SciTech students hail from private or parochial schools. They live in the city but had been reluctant to attend city schools until now.

Sophomore Sarah Canfield transferred from Trinity High School, and James Wilson Craighead came from Bishop McDevitt.

Both said they are more comfortable at SciTech and their parents like saving on tuition by taking advantage of the city schools.

"I'm learning a lot," said Canfield, who cited Spanish and geometry as her favorite subjects.

Most of the influx from other schools has occurred without aggressive marketing, said SciTech Assistant Director Meg Burton.

"It's word of mouth," she said.

Nguyen said he based his decision to switch on what he had heard about SciTech's technology-rich classrooms and the promise of a smooth transition to the planned Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, an affiliated college to open in the fall.

"I saw all of the programs that SciTech was going to offer," said Nguyen, who is considering attending Harrisburg University to study pharmacy.

"My parents said, 'If you want to go, we'll support you,'" he said.

Those who have attended other high schools said the situation is markedly different at SciTech.

Students are given more freedom to pursue subjects and topics on their own, they said. There's an emphasis on applying knowledge, rather than regurgitating information. And projects, rather than tests, rule the day.

"I hate tests, so it works for me," Canfield said.

Above all, there's no way to duplicate the feel of a high school loaded with state-of-the-art labs, staffed with a hand-picked faculty and attended by 300 carefully selected students.

"I'm able to get more in- depth here," Coney said. "It's really preparing me for college."

Every SciTech student gets his or her own laptop computer, on which virtually all schoolwork is done.

At SciTech, there's no public address system. When messages go out or when students must report to the office, administrators simply send an e-mail. Grades and homework assignments are handled the same way.

"The first time they said, 'Take out your notebooks,' I took out a piece of paper," Craighead said. "They said, 'No, your laptop notebook.'"

Next year, SciTech officials expect to double the number of out-of-district students to about 20. That segment of the student body is to never go above 15 percent of the school population, Burton said.

SciTech representatives are making the rounds at private and parochial schools in the city to let parents and students know about the program and that there's an alternative to paying tuition.

"A lot of kids are finding that they like the smaller environment and the expectation that you have to want to go to college to be here," Principal Lisa Waller said.

JOHN LUCIEW: 255-8171 or jluciew@patriot- news.com

[Spudmrg]

As a side note....has anyone seen/heard anything about the 4th & Market building design? They have the signs up, but I have not seen any detailed drawings/layouts for the building yet. A parking garage AND university.....that's one that will be worth seeing....I hope I'm working in the DT when they put that up.

[EastSideHBG]

I agree, it is soooo nice to see a city school draw people in from all over the area.

No, I haven't seen anything at the 4th/Market site as of yet. I do think it is going to be AWESOME, though. And Mike, are you referring to the Sci-Tech Univ.? As far as I knew that was supposed to be at Cameron and Market St., where the Post Office is now. 4th/Market was where the cancelled condo project was to go (next to the G-man), which will now be an office tower the last I heard.


Atlanta Olympics Diversity Model Embraced by Harrisburg

CITY AND HARRISBURG ACORN TEAM-UP TO PROVIDE OVER $600,000 IN TAX REFUNDS TO CITY RESIDENTS; HOUSING & LENDING FAIR SET FOR JUNE 4TH

[Spudmrg]

As of May 9th, Harrisburg Univ.'s first home will be 4th & Market, with plans to expand to the post office site (Page 27 of this thread, about 1/2 the way down the page). I personally must say that I'm glad Harrisburg had more brains than another regional city and wants to put a location of higher learning inside the DT, instead of exiling it to wetlands in the suburbs.

[wrightchr]

^ i like the fact that the Univ will occupy 4th/Market; however, i would have rather seen the development of "The Residence" project. a 25 story, modern residential/commercial/retail tower (new tallest) would be more beneficial than another non-profit downtown. there were other options for temporary leased space for the university...including within the proposed residential tower. the city needs to improve it's image. building a new, modern, and tall addition to the skyline would do just that. the post office site is great. it's within walking distance of DT and has the potential for some great new designs.

[EastSideHBG]

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I totally agree with you, Chris.