20B — July 22 - August 18, 2022 — Pennsylvania — M id A tlantic Real Estate Journal
www.marej.com
P ennsylvania
continued from page 19B Penn’s Northeast announces millions of square feet of new construction . . .
scarce,” Cummings said. “With the new business parks that have been proposed, Great- er Hazleton finds itself in a unique position to transform its economy and reverse long- term negative economic indi- cators such as high unemploy- ment rates and below average family household incomes.” Since 2007, Cummings said Mericle’s CenterPoint Com- merce & Trade Park in Jen- kins Township and Pittston Township has been one of the fastest growing business parks in the Commonwealth. Today, the park has 70 tenants and 7,500 employees. Mericle constructed the large majority of the buildings in the park on speculation, with no tenants in-hand. “We credit the state and lo- cal governments with creating a pro-business environment that made it worth taking on such significant financial risk,” Cummings said. “Cen- terPoint’s immediate high- way access and proximity to the major metro areas in the northeast U.S., strong utility service, and affordable busi- ness costs, are some of the factors that have helped us attract companies to the park.” Since January of 2020, Cum- mings said Mericle has seen an increase in inquiries for industrial space. “We have been able to ac- commodate quite a few of the businesses in our buildings located throughout Lackawa-
nna and Luzerne counties,” he said. He said the nation’s fastest growing industrial areas are those that are within a few hours of tens of millions of people. “The I-78/I-81 Corridor is able to check that box,” Cum- mings said. “Whenever na- tional firms like JLL issue reports that list this part of Pennsylvania among the leaders for industrial develop- ment, private industry takes notice. Companies don’t like to blaze trails. They tend to locate where their friends and competitors have already done due diligence and opened successful operations. Lately, the I-78/I-81 Corridor has been that place.” GAT Report In February, Augustine said the annual report is- sued by the Governor’s Action Team (GAT) for Fiscal Year 2020-21 showed Northeastern Pennsylvania as the Common- wealth’s leader in job creation as a whole, as well as in the manufacturing industry and regional and national head- quarters sectors. “Northeastern Pennsylva- nia is leading the state and country in manufacturing and e-commerce distribution,” Au- gustine said at the time. “We expect that trend to continue in 2022 and beyond. Com- panies realize our strategic location, excellent workforce and low operating costs are the keys to their success.”
Augustine has been advo- cating a regional approach to economic development for years and the effort is showing huge dividends. “This is a testament to our regional approach to economic development,” Augustine said. “This could not have hap- pened with one community competing against another. This is cooperation at its fin- est, showcasing the best that Northeastern Pennsylvania has to offer.” Augustine said the report provides additional detail on GAT’s results this year, including major job creation projects like Ball Corpora- tion in Jenkins Township and CANPACK Group in Oly- phant, Lackawanna County, establishing aluminum can- ning operations in Northeast- ern Pennsylvania; and many other examples of businesses choosing Pennsylvania as the best location for sustainable long-term growth. “This report showed that we created more new jobs than any other region in the state,” Au- gustine said. “And the majority of those jobs were in manufac- turing and other sectors.” ‘The GAT report reaffirms what we know — that our re- gion is one of the most sought- after locations in the U.S.,” Augustine said. “It also shows that it’s not just about e-com- merce distribution, but also manufacturing and national and regional headquarters.”
Augustine said major compa- nies in the U.S. and globally no longer see municipal boundar- ies when they look at NEPA. “They see opportunities,” Augustine said. “And our col- lective whole is our greatest good.” Earlier this year, Sen. John Yudichak, I-Swoyersville, said $1.19 billion in private invest- ment leveraged the creation of 2,362 jobs and the retention of 2,622 existing jobs, while spur- ring an economic ripple effect that sustained 11,048 jobs in the region. “It has been a long time since northeastern Pennsylvania led the state in job creation, and it is important for the economic and community leaders of our region to take pride in this great accomplishment, wel- come new companies who are investing in our region, and double our efforts to sustain the historic economic growth we are experiencing in the region,” Yudichak said. “The entire I-81/I-80 corridor is bustling with new economic development and poised to create thousands of new job opportunities in northeast Pennsylvania over the next decade. Northpoint, Blue Cup Ventures, Mericle, Blue Creek, and Hazleton Creek Properties are just a few of the private developers lining up to invest in the transformation of the I-81/I-80 corridor into the num- ber one place to do business in Pennsylvania.”.. MAREJ
Mericle sees increased interest
Jim Cummings , vice presi- dent of marketing at Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, said the national brokerage community has branded eastern and central Pennsylvania as the I-78/I-81 Corridor. This includes an area that starts just north of Scranton and extends south to the Pennsylvania/Maryland border. The Allentown/Bethle- hem/Easton and Greater Har- risburg areas are included in this geography. “Robust industrial growth in the Corridor over the past 10 years has made it one of the largest areas for development in the nation,” Cummings said. “In its report entitled — United States Industrial Out- look | Q1 2022 — the national commercial brokerage firm JLL lists eastern and central PA as having a total industrial inventory of approximately 787 million s/f, the second most for any market in the country. Only Chicago, with 1.3 billion s/f, has more.” Cummings said Greater Hazleton’s proximity to Inter- states 81 and 80, affordable operating costs, productive workforce and the pro-busi- ness attitude of its local gov- ernments, are very appealing to major corporations. “In competing metro areas, real estate costs are skyrock- eting and land is becoming
Algatt of Colliers completes sale of 2 Public Square
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Prestige Group announce dthat Saj Shah has been pro- Landmark Commercial Realty adds associate to team president of Prestige Group. “Saj started his commercial real estate career at Prestige Group as a sales trainee. He has been successful in rising through the ranks from Sales Associate to Senior Sales Associate through his dedication to hard work, understanding of his clients’ objectives and keen financial acumen. He will continue to be a major asset to our sales team.” MAREJ Saj Shah moted from sales associ- ate to senior sales associ- ate. Shah concentrates his sales ef- forts on in- vestment and multi-family Prestige Group promotes Shah to senior sales associate
properties. He holds real estate licenses in New Jersey and PA. In addition to his sales ef- forts, Saj is the office liaison to the Commercial Real Estate Di- vision of Tri-County Suburban Realtors Association. “We couldn’t be more pleased with Saj’s performance with our firm over the last four years. Saj has received a well deserved promotion to senior sales associ- ate, ” said Richard B. Natow , nancial Planning and an MBA Concentration in Finance and Investments, Adam will use his finance background and experi- ence to help clients substantial- ly mitigate risk when it comes to real estate transactions. “We are excited to bring Adam on board,” said Barb Murdocca , COO. “Adam’s financial planning and com- mercial banking experience will be a welcomed addition to
WILKES-BARRE, PA — Colliers announced Jeff Algatt , senior VP, recently completed the investment sale of 2 Public Sq., a six- floor, 98,555 s/f multi-tenant office building at 1 W Market St. as listing agent on behalf of the locally based, private capital seller. This 99% leased archi- tectural gem occupies an important corner on Public Square, the hub of down- town Wilkes-Barre. With a long record of high occu- pancy by strong tenants, the property is well maintained, noted for its historical sig- nificance, and recognized as a successful conversion to prime office space. Algatt notes, “The inventory of office space in the Wilkes- Barre CBD market continues to decline as older stock is removed as obsolete or for conversion to other uses, such as residential. Also, no com-
2 Public Square
petitive new office construc- tion is underway or planned in Center City Wilkes-Barre. This supports occupancy and stable rents for well located, functional and professionally maintained office buildings surrounded by the right ame- nities, like this asset.” He described the Purchaser as an established group of high-net worth individuals based in the Midwestern US who continue to grow its portfolio of state government- leased office buildings. The property traded for $10.3 million at a 9.8% cap rate. MAREJ
CAMP HILL, PA — Land- mark Commercial Realty announced the addition of
our team.” Landmark Commercial Re- alty, established in 1988, is a full-service commercial/ industrial brokerage firm headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, focusing on the South-Central Pennsylvania region. Serving more than 200 markets globally, Landmark is a member of TCN Worldwide with more than 1500 brokers and salespeople. MAREJ
Adam Bous- satta as As- sociate to its growing team. As a gradu- ate of Mary- wood Uni- versity with a BBA in Fi -
Adam Boussatta
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online