A Cumberland County agency has taken another step toward the purchase of a Carlisle factory that shut down last year.
The Real Estate Collaborative LLC, a subsidiary of the Cumberland Area Economic Development Corp., has struck a tentative agreement to buy the Frog, Switch & Manufacturing Co. site at 600 E. High St. in the Cumberland County borough.
No price was disclosed in a press release announcing the purchase agreement.
The deal calls for a period of due diligence and equipment removal, with a sale expected to close by the end of May 2025.
If the deal goes through, it would mark the culmination of a process that began in August 2023, when the collaborative, known as REC, signed a letter of intent to buy the 26.71-acre property. The longtime industrial site was rezoned at the end of last year for urban mixed-use development.
“This is a significant opportunity for the REC and the Carlisle community,” Real Estate Collaborative chairman Andrew Notarfrancesco said in a statement. “We are committed to the transformation of this site and creating a landmark opportunity for redevelopment.”
In an interview, Notarfrancesco said redevelopment is likely years away.
Why is this happening: The Frog, Switch plant shut down in July 2023 after leaders decided it was impossible for the company to continue in the face of international competition.
The factory started out making steel parts for the railroad industry — a frog is a section of rail that allows a train to switch tracks. But its most recent output was manganese steel castings for crushing machines used in mining.
As recently as 2008, the plant employed 240 people but, by the time it closed, the workforce had dwindled to about 30.
The buyer: CAEDC formed the REC in 2016 to tackle industrial sites and other properties that would have trouble attracting private developers.
The Frog, Switch plant is likely to require substantial cleanup and demolition work, given the long history of manufacturing there.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to conduct environmental assessments of the site by the end of this year, Notarfrancesco said. “We will know then what we have to contend with from a cleanup perspective.”
REC can apply for grants to support redevelopment, and earlier this year the REC applied for funding through a state program called Business in Our Sites. The application was not funded, Notarfrancesco said. The agency is now planning to seek funding from PA SITES, a state program created this year to fund site-prep work at former industrial properties.
The REC’s past projects include the purchase of the former Lemoyne Middle School, which private developers turned into an apartment building called 701 Schoolhouse Flats.
Editor’s note: This story has been upated from its original version to include comments from Andrew Notarfrancesco, chairman of the Real Estate Collaborative LLC.
