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The fourth phase of the Northwest Gateway’s rail yard
reclamation project is underway. The 28-acre lot, which starts here adjacent to
Harrisburg Pike, will eventually be developed. - (Photo / Submitted)
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For years, work on the Northwest Gateway project in
Lancaster had been mostly out of the public eye.
But that changed recently, as project partners jumped
into the fourth phase: Reclaiming the former Norfolk Southern rail yard, which
is visible from parts of Harrisburg Avenue.
The narrow tract measures about 28 acres, starting
between the Clipper Magazine Stadium complex and Lancaster Arts Hotel and
extending behind College Row to Dillerville Road.
“For anyone driving by right now, you can get the sense
of the mass really for the first time since this project has been
contemplated,” says Lisa Riggs, president of Economic Development Co. of
Lancaster County and EDC Finance Corp.
The site turned out to be pretty clean environmentally,
according to Kevin Burke, Franklin & Marshall College associate vice
president for communications, so “site preparation” is a good description of
the work D.H. Funk & Sons LLC is doing.
“Good weather over the summer and fall has been a huge
advantage,” Burke says, but completion of the phase is still expected to take
about a year.
Structures have been demolished, vegetation removed and
grading begun, the parties say. Eventually, public infrastructure will be
installed: natural-gas lines extended; water, sewer and stormwater management
added; electrical lines buried (once the Barnstormers conclude the 2015 season,
so as not to risk disruptions at the nearby stadium, Burke says); and Liberty
Street extended to College Avenue.
Then grass will be planted and ownership of the property
officially transferred from EDC Finance Corp., which has been facilitating the
project, to F&M and Lancaster General Health. That will likely be sometime
next fall.
“There are certain types of funds that cannot go directly
to the private partners that can be handled by us,” Riggs says of EDC's role.
Next steps
Exactly what will happen after that remains to be seen.
The partners' general plans for the Northwest Gateway have long been described
as “meds and eds,” but both say development discussions continue, and details
are yet to be released.
The land will be divided between F&M and LG Health,
but “the exact dimensions of ownership have yet to be finalized,” LG Health
spokesman John Lines says.
For F&M, Burke says, the Shadek Stadium sports
complex is expected to be the cornerstone of the development. It is named in
honor of the $5 million gift from Laurence Shadek and the Shadek Family
Foundation that was announced in 2012. According to F&M's website, it was
“the leading investment in a drive to raise $17.5 million for a multipurpose
facility that will offer spaces for training and competition, sports medicine,
and leadership programs for students and coaches.”
As for LG Health, Lines says, “Our plan has been to look
at that property for long-term potential uses” that could include
administration, medical residential research or educational buildings. But, “we
have not defined any specific uses.”
Generally speaking, though, Lines expects great things
from the project.
“There are cities that have brownfields that are
significant drains on their economy and quality of life. With investment and
foresight, we've been able to turn this as an opportunity for growth in the
city,” he says. “The Northwest Gateway project in total is a significant urban
redevelopment story and positions the city as well as F&M and LG Health for
tremendous opportunities in the future.”
Great cooperation between the private partners, city and
state throughout the project underscores the larger community impact he expects
the project to have.
“This is a generational development,” says Riggs, noting
that the site preparation does not mean buildings will immediately follow.
“You're talking about two major employers within the county that are going to
be facilitating their own growth for decades. That's hugely important to the
overall economic well-being not just of the city but also a much larger
footprint.”
“Nothing,” Lines says, “builds momentum like momentum.”
Project has long
history
The Northwest Gateway project has two main components — the
former Armstrong property and the former Norfolk Southern property, which
adjoin each other.
Demolition of the former Armstrong flooring plant began
in 2006 and is now complete. Armstrong World Industries Inc. consolidated its
operations on part of the site, but most of the cleaned-up tract is now being
used as athletic fields for Franklin & Marshall.
The Norfolk Southern work has a more complicated history.
It involved cleaning out a former municipal dump behind the U.S. Post Office on
Harrisburg Pike in Manheim Township, so some of the rail yard operations could
be moved there, then remodeling the portion of the existing rail yard behind
businesses west of Dillersville Road. Norfolk Southern dedicated that expanded
yard in October 2013.
Eventually both the Armstrong property and the Norfolk
Southern tract being worked on will be used for Lancaster General Health and
F&M development. All told, the reclamation part of the project is about 75
acres, will cost $75 million in public and private funds, and has taken more
than a decade so far, according to LG Health spokesman John Lines.
John Biemiller, executive vice president and COO of both
the Economic Development Co. of Lancaster County and the EDC Finance Corp.,
noted that the northwest part of Lancaster has also seen a number of other
significant redevelopment projects in the past 15 years, including the Clipper
Magazine Stadium on what used to be Armstrong land; the first Lancaster
Barnstormers season there was in 2005.
Source: Central
Penn Business Journal
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