Developer Ben Sutton has been working for more than a year to bake new life into a former bakery plant in West York.
This week, he secured a key ingredient: a low-interest state loan and accompanying grant totaling nearly $2.5 million in all.
“It was the missing part,” Sutton said in an interview with biznewsPA. “Now, we have everything we need to rock and roll.”
The project is a $3.5 million renovation of the former J.B. Fishel’s Bakery factory at 1501 W. King St. in West York.
Sutton said he expects about 85% of the state money to come in the form of a low-interest loan but details are still being finalized. He is using his own money to fund the remaining costs.
What’s the project: Sutton is transforming the 52,000 square-foot plant into a culinary and entertainment hub expected to open for business by the second quarter of 2025 as The Bakery.
It is one of eight projects around the state awarded money this week from a state program focused on construction and development: Business in Our Sites.
Other local beneficiaries of the program are:
- Adams County Industrial Development Authority, which was awarded a grant of nearly $957,000 and a loan of more than $1.4 million for cleanup and site work at a former aluminum foundry in Cumberland Township. The authority hopes to redevelop the 48-acre brownfield site.
- The city of Lebanon, awarded a grant of $631,000 and a loan of $1.7 million toward creating an arts, culture and small-business hub at a former Bethlehem Steel site. The project, undertaken by a partnership called Second Sail Development LLC, is known as the Lebanon Steel Works.
The state this week also awarded a Building PA loan of more than $1.4 million to Place Marie Lancaster LLC, which plans to purchase and renovate the four-story Place Marie building at 52 N. Queen St. in the Red Rose city.
Business owner Jared Mizrahi wants to convert the building’s vacant top three floors into office space in partnership with a company called IWG, according to LNP Lancaster Online.
Mizrahi, owner of PCI Auction Group in Manheim, was traveling this week and unavailable to comment.
Lancaster-based EDC Finance is acting as the fund manager for the loan.
