The Lehigh Valley got a visit from Gov. Josh Shapiro Wednesday.
Shapiro and Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary Rick Siger stopped in Allentown to announce more than $10.6 million in grant funding awards through the PA SITES (Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites) pilot program to help sites across the state become “shovel ready” to attract more businesses and create more good paying jobs.
The announcement was made at the site where the Allentown Commercial and Industrial Development Authority is receiving over $1.1 million from PA SITES to run utility extensions for water, sewer, and natural gas from the existing city infrastructure to the proposed site.
“It’s great to be back here in the Lehigh Valley where just a few months ago, Secretary Siger and I announced our Commonwealth’s first economic development strategy in nearly two decades,” said Shapiro. “Last year, we launched a pilot program for site development through DCED, asked for applications, and made $10 million in grants available for developers and companies to begin that process. These sites are key to growing our economy, creating more jobs and thriving communities, and helping Pennsylvania compete and win.”
Shapiro said the PA SITES program was developed in response to feedback from leading site selectors from across the country, who were asked what they needed to attract them to the state.
They told him that while Pennsylvania has a great strategic location and strong, highly skilled workforce, it did not have enough shovel-ready sites available.
“Today’s announcement is another exciting step forward in positioning the commonwealth to win more business investments, create jobs, and spur our economy,” said Siger. “There is significant demand for this investment across every region of Pennsylvania, as we received 102 applications requesting more than $236 million in funding through this pilot program.”
Scott Unger, executive director of the Allentown Economic Development Corporation, said the funding meets a significant need.
“The PA SITES program will allow AEDC to accelerate our redevelopment of a vacant brownfield and return the property to productive use,” Unger said. “The funding will address a unique need of this property that requires utility extensions and with the help of the pilot program, AEDC can continue our mission of increasing access to manufacturing employment and restoring economic activity to underutilized sites throughout the City of Allentown.”
The governor said that compared to neighboring states like Ohio, New York, and Virginia which allocate more annual funding to site development incentives, Pennsylvania lacks readily available sites to support companies’ major business expansions.
“We are thankful to Governor Shapiro for making economic development a priority in Pennsylvania. Programs like PA SITES provide much-needed support, making hard-to do properties economically feasible for development,” said Don Cunningham, president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation. “Bringing sites to market sooner will allow us to compete for new and expanding businesses and meet the high demand for manufacturing and industrial space in the Lehigh Valley.”
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