Curtiss-Wright Corp. is the latest neighbor to join
Bethlehem’s Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII, transforming a vacant brownfield
site on former Bethlehem Steel land into an active business for the defense
industry manufacturer.
In 2013, Curtiss-Wright announced it would move its
engineered pump division from Phillipsburg, N.J., to the vacant brownfield site
off Route 412 near Interstate 78. The company hired J.G. Petrucci Co. Inc. as
the design/build organization to build the 180,000-square-foot research,
development and heavy manufacturing facility worth more than $25 million. It
includes a warehouse and two-story office space that are connected.
Wednesday, officials celebrated a grand opening for
Curtiss-Wright’s facility with more than 100 people, including guests,
customers and employees.
The facility will bring 95 jobs over three years and
offer room for growth, said Todd Schurra, general manager for the engineered
pump division.
“We invested heavily in the Lehigh Valley,” Schurra said.
“We hope that this first step will transition to years of continued success.”
The facility contains 145,000 square feet of
manufacturing, testing and warehouse space and 35,000 square feet of office
space, Schurra said.
Part of Curtiss-Wright since 2004, the division provides
engineered pumping solutions for aircraft carriers and submarines for the Navy,
Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command and commercial marine and foreign
military programs.
Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez noted how much Lehigh
Valley Industrial Park has grown since it began in 1959.
“Who could imagine that we’d be standing here today and
Bethlehem Steel is no longer here?” Donchez said. “The transformation taking
place at this site is remarkable.”
Kerry Wrobel, president of Lehigh Valley Industrial Park
Inc., said it was a great time for Curtiss-Wright to move in, noting that by
next year, the Route 412 reconstruction will be complete and the highway will
have delis and restaurants.
Lehigh Valley Industrial Park provides the framework that
creates an environment that lets these projects happen, said Jim Petrucci,
president of J.G. Petrucci, which has offices in Bethlehem and Asbury, N.J..
“Ready land is what makes these projects go,” Petrucci
said. “It is unheard of that there was such confidence that this project is
going to happen.”
He noted how the project began on a spot with no public
access.
Workers built a new road, Feather Way, to access the site
after looking at another property in LVIP VII that was closer to an active
railway. Concerns about vibrations from the rail cars and their impact on
testing and manufacturing led Curtiss-Wright to pick another site at the
industrial park.
During a tour of the new site, officials described the
benefits of operating the engineered pump division out of one building, as
opposed to the multiple buildings in Phillipsburg that were spread out and less
efficient.
With its new layout, the company can receive, test,
manufacture, store and ship products from one site.
Several organizations came together to make the project
happen, including the Governor’s Action Team, a group of state economic
development professionals; the state Department of Community and Economic
Development; the Northampton County Industrial Development Authority; and the
Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.
National Penn Bank financed the project, and Ceminara
Architect of Hillsborough, N.J., was the architect.
In competing against other projects in the Lehigh Valley,
Curtiss-Wright’s new facility also earned the best new business project of the
year from the LVEDC at the organization’s annual investors meeting and awards
show in March, said Matthew Tuerk, vice president of administration and
investor relations for LVEDC.
Furthermore, Curtiss-Wright chose the Lehigh Valley over
several other competing locations, he added.
Source: LVB
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