Monday, November 25, 2013

New warehouse brings 150 jobs to Tatamy



Commercial owner-builder Bucknell Industrial is adding a 100,300-square-foot food-distribution center and warehouse in Tatamy to its portfolio.

The pre-leased space will serve Mondelez International, a multinational snack and confectionary company that was once part of Kraft Foods Inc. The center will ship products such as Cadbury chocolates, Oreo cookies and Nabisco snack crackers to regional grocers.

The warehouse, in the Chrin Commerce Centre at 120 Commerce Lane, is expected to bring 150 jobs to the Northampton County borough of about 1,200 people. Combined with a new 730,000-square-foot warehouse in Champaign, Ill., the Tatamy project brings Bucknell's industrial holdings to 101 properties totaling 10 million square feet.

Anything coming in is going to be a bonus for Tatamy, said borough secretary Deanne Werkheiser. The warehouse will be the first light-industry project in the borough since the Equipta storage equipment factory was rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire in the 1960s, she said.
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"It's income for the borough but it also means more jobs. We are extremely small, so it's wonderful to have a Fortune 500 company come in," she said.

No. 88 in the Fortune 500 ranking, Mondelez International was formed when Kraft Foods Inc. split in 2012 into the publicly traded American grocery business Kraft Food Group Inc. and the multinational snack company.

Werkheiser said Mondelez was attracted to the location, which is near its Bethlehem facility and will be served by a new Route 33 Interchange, allowing easy access to Route 22, Interstate 78 and Interstate 80.

Construction of the $27.4 million interchange between Routes 248 and 191 began in spring. It is being funded mainly through a tax-increment finance district, whereby taxes from future commercial development would pay back bonds used for construction. Closing on those bonds was Thursday.

"It's been a long process by a core group of committed people to see this project come to fruition," said Northampton County Economic Development Analyst Alicia Karner. "Northampton County, Easton [Area] School District and Palmer Township directly contributed to creation of the bonds, but the project is going to be a boon to the entire region and neighboring school district."

While proponents of the TIF district had touted the creation of 6,000 jobs and the leverage of $240 million in private funds, Karner said, the Bucknell Industrial project, which is outside of that district, is a bonus.

Porsche Logistics LLC is currently the sole tenant. "The line between Palmer and Tatamy runs right through the middle of the Chrin Commerce Centre," Werkheiser said. Porsche is on the Palmer side and within the TIF district.

Other projects in development include 425,000 square feet of speculative warehouse space by Denver-based DCT Industrial, which won Palmer Township approval in late September. Chicago-based Verus Partners also has an option on land within the Chrin Commerce Center to create 2.5 million square feet of commercial space within several buildings likely to be used for light manufacturing or distribution, said Jarrett Witt, vice president of economic development for the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.

"It's an attractive piece of ground in a great location," Witt said. "The interchange is the final piece that opens it up. Location is everything, and I think we are going to see a lot of demand."

In June 2012, Palmer Township created the Route 33 Neighborhood Improvement District to protect taxpayers in case that projected commercial development faltered. The improvement district ensures that Charles Chrin, who had initially offered to fund the entire Route 33 interchange and is contributing $6.6 million, would be responsible to pay back the bonds if the project wasn't significantly developed and occupied within four years.

Source: Morning Call

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