Over the last few years, influencers on social media have been pitching loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration as an easy path for taking over boring but profitable businesses from owners looking to retire. It was probably never that easy. But it is going to get harder – or at least slower – thanks […]
For years, banks in Central Pennsylvania have been pushing into the Philadelphia market, led by lenders such as Lancaster-based Fulton Bank and Harrisburg-based Mid Penn Bancorp. A Philly-area bank is pushing back. Wilmington, Delaware-based WSFS Financial Corp. has opened a limited service office in the Lancaster area for its banking and wealth management subsidiaries, WSFS […]
A state authority has raised the lending cap for borrowers tapping a low-interest loan program to cover real estate and construction costs. The statewide cap for the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority‘s Small Business First lending program is now $1 million or 50% of a project’s cost, whichever is less. The limit had been $400,000, in place […]
Truist, one of the largest banks doing business in Central Pennsylvania, has shuttered six branches around the region. The offices include three in Lancaster County and one each in Dauphin, Franklin and York counties. “The decision to close these branches was guided by multiple factors, including how and where clients choose to bank, local market […]
Mid Penn Bank is planning a new branch in the Ephrata area near where The Giant Co. is building a supermarket. The Millersburg-based lender is seeking regulatory permission to open a branch at 35 Hackman Road, a street address along the border between Clay and Ephrata townships off Route 322 northwest of Ephrata borough, according to state regulatory […]
An unusual coalition of financial institutions, law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in Pennsylvania is urging state lawmakers to pass legislation this fall to stop a growing problem: scammers who target and financially exploit senior citizens. In a letter last month, the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, the Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers, the CrossState Credit Union Association, the Pennsylvania Chiefs of […]
Nearly a decade after co-founding one of Pennsylvania’s first medical marijuana businesses, Mark Toigo has handed the keys to employees. Toigo and Jaime Toigo, his wife and co-owner, have sold 100% of Organic Remedies to its 450-plus workers through an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. The company had been courted by growing multistate cannabis operators, but […]
Several disgruntled shareholders are pushing back against the roughly $3.9 billion transaction that will make Select Medical Corp. a privately held business. Ahead of a scheduled vote on the deal this week, shareholders filed three separate lawsuits this month in Cumberland County and New York claiming officers and directors of the Mechanicsburg-based rehab chain did not […]
After graduating with a degree in business from Juniata College, Adam Metz began his banking career as a credit analyst at the former Dauphin Deposit in Harrisburg. He enjoyed the analytical side of the industry. But he also came to enjoy the people side, a side that continued to resonate with him throughout his career. […]
Fulton Financial Corp. is laying off 95 people from an administrative office in Parsippany, New Jersey, used by Blue Foundry Bank, which Fulton acquired for about $243 million. The workers are primarily in corporate and support positions, according to a spokesperson for Lancaster-based Fulton. The cuts follow a post-acquisition leadership review that determined some roles were redundant, […]
A prominent New Jersey business leader is eyeing a bigger stake in Mid Penn Bancorp Inc., the largest bank based in Harrisburg. In a securities filing, a trust associated with George Norcross III said it is weighing stock purchases that could raise the trust’s share of bank ownership to 24.99%. The trust, GAH Capital Trust, currently holds a […]
State banking regulators have scored a victory in their long-running quest to penalize an out-of-state lender for charging allegedly excessive interest rates. In a 17-page ruling this week, a three-judge panel of Commonwealth Court refused to intervene in regulatory proceedings that could result in a $52.7 million civil penalty for the lender, Carrollton, Texas-based TitleMax. Efforts […]
Fulton Bank is embroiled in a legal dispute with a Washington, D.C., real estate investor who has been hit hard by the weakened office market in the U.S. capital. Lancaster-based Fulton sued the investor, David Schaeffer, in February over an alleged default on a $4.7 million loan associated with an office building about half a mile […]
A new investment advisory debuted in January under the leadership of Gregory Ganse, whose family founded specialty pharmacy Ganse Apothecary in Lancaster. Based in Manheim Township, Lancaster County. ARX Private Wealth caters to high- and ultra-high-net-worth families through what its partners describe as a relationship-based approach. “We’re in a unique position to serve those kinds of clients […]
A nonprofit lender based in Lancaster has landed $45 million in federal tax credits that it will use to kickstart projects around the region. The U.S. Treasury last week named Finanta, formerly Community First Fund, as one of dozens of recipients this year under the New Markets Tax Credit program, which is designed to lure private-sector […]
It was time to sell the donuts — and the honey, the baseball team and the roller coasters. Not to mention the banks, manufacturers and engineering firms, among others, that changed hands over the past year. Local dealmakers faced the usual headwinds in 2025, including relatively high interest rates. But they also had to navigate […]
Camp Hill-based LinkBancorp opened in 2018 following a round of consolidation that took out several banks in Central Pennsylvania. Now, with bank mergers again on the upswing, LinkBancorp is on the sell side. Alexandria, Virginia-based Burke & Herbert Financial Services Corp. has agreed to buy the bank in an all-stock deal valued at $354.2 million. The transaction, expected […]
Lancaster-based Fulton Financial Corp. has agreed to buy a New Jersey bank in a deal poised to expand Fulton’s business in lucrative markets outside New York City. The all-stock deal for Rutherford, New Jersey-based Blue Foundry Bancorp is valued at $243 million and expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. The combined bank would do business […]
Inside a 22-story building that once housed hundreds of state workers, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced millions of dollars in state funding for an effort designed, in part, to replace the economic impact of those now-absent state workers. The funding includes $11 million for a new hotel planned for a portion of that 22-story building, which […]
At a meeting last week, township supervisors approved final land development plans for Mount Zion Commons, a residential and commercial project at the intersection of East Market Street and Mount Zion Road in Springettsbury Township, York County. The nearly 12-acre project will bring a Wawa convenience store to East York, while the residential component includes […]
A prominent office in downtown York could be the next building to undergo a residential transformation. York-based developer Royal Square Development and Construction has put the Wolf Building at 14 W. Market St. under contract and convinced city zoning officials to allow up to 50 apartments in the four-story office. Existing limits would have allowed […]
On a sunny Friday afternoon, regional developer Jordan Ilyes showed off the fruits of a $3 million conversion project that remade the former Zarfos Furniture building in Red Lion. Over the last year or so, Ilyes and his team cut 27 apartments into the three-story, 40,000-square-foot building. The apartments are a mix of one- and […]
Extra Mile Mechanical, a startup commercial and industrial HVAC company in Hampden Township, Cumberland County, is pitching itself as an alternative to what it frames as larger, impersonal contractors that increasingly dominate the industry. “No phone menus. No call centers. No layers of corporate bureaucracy. No shipping profits elsewhere. Just real people who answer the […]
A Texas developer unveiled plans this week for a pair of data centers on a triangle-shaped tract east of Interstate 283 in suburban Harrisburg. The centers would each span about 372,000 square feet and sit south of Highland Street in Swatara Township, according to plans submitted by US Highlands East Purchaser LLC. The firm’s managing member […]
A developer is proposing to transform a pair of empty Harrisburg office buildings into apartments, continuing a string of office-to-residential conversions in the capital city’s downtown area. The roughly $6 million conversion plan, submitted by developer Adam Breneman and Breneman Commercial Properties LLC, would put 38 apartments into buildings in the 100 block of North Second […]
York County-based Inch & Co. recently bought D.C. Goodman & Sons, a 112-year-old trades contracting company in the Huntingdon County region. All current D.C. Goodman & Sons employees are being retained, and the company’s name and Huntingdon base of operations will continue, Inch says in a news release. Inch is hiring additional staff to grow, […]
ARRO Consulting Inc., a Lititz-based engineering firm, has acquired an environmental consulting and drilling services firm based in Altoona. Terms of the transaction, which closed at the end of June, were not disclosed. Founded in 1985, the Altoona firm, Mountain Research LLC, employed 28 people, all of whom are staying on, according to an ARRO spokesperson. […]
Harrisburg city council this week unanimously approved acompany’s plans to convert a long-vacant building at 100 N. 13th St. into 12 apartments in a renovation project valued at $900,000, according to city records. Erected in 1922, the roughly 11,580-square-foot building is a former publishing company office that has been vacant for decades, according to Jarred […]
Miami-based homebuilding giant Lennar is ramping up construction of new townhomes on the site of a former Lancaster city hospital. Lennar plans to build 53 townhomes behind a former UPMC/St. Joseph’s hospital on College Avenue in the city’s West End neighborhood. Dubbed The Towns at West End, the townhome community will feature three-story units starting at 1,872 square […]
For nearly two years, officials and residents in South Hanover Township, Dauphin County, have been debating ground rules for data centers, large buildings full of computer equipment used in artificial intelligence and related applications. Now, with the ordinance still in draft form, the township is being asked to consider plans for a pair of data centers […]
Harrisburg nonprofit Wildheart is gearing up to break ground next month on a $3.3 million mixed-use project that will bring nine affordable apartments to Allison Hill, one of the state capital’s poorest neighborhoods. The nonprofit is laying plans for a similar project nearby — and just landed $200,000 in state grants as a kickstart. Wildheart is one […]
York-area developers are nearing the finish line on approvals for building a 60-unit apartment building in West York Borough. The project recently won key zoning variances and could wrap up the land development process by the end of this summer, according to one of the developers, Jordan Ilyes, who has worked on other multifamily projects […]
Bob Whalen felt like he was pitching a pipe dream when he first began describing employee ownership to companies he was hoping to fold into HB Global, a Mechanicsburg-based HVAC contractor that has been employee-owned since 2010. But over more than a decade, the pipe dream has turned 30 employee-owners into millionaires and allowed hundreds […]
Nearly four months after they started construction on a shared headquarters near Mount Joy, two Lancaster County companies landed a low-interest state loan to cover a portion of the nearly $17.2 million price tag. State officials said yesterday they approved a $2.25 million loan to Strickler Investments LLC, a real estate affiliate of solar installer Paradise Energy […]
Pennsylvania is earmarking additional funding for the cleanup of a former industrial site in Carlisle slated for a mixed-use redevelopment. The state has awarded $750,000 toward environmental remediation on the site of the former Frog Switch & Manufacturing plant at 600 E. High St. in the borough. The company closed in July 2023 after more than a […]
Another boutique hotel is coming to downtown York. Royal Square Development and Construction is unveiling plans for Mural Arts Hotel, a 20-room venue occupying a prominent, five-story building at 1 S. George St. on York’s Continental Square. It’s the first hotel project for York-based Royal Square, which has focused previously on retail and multifamily developments in […]
Despite ample headwinds from tariffs and higher oil prices, Central Pennsylvania has outperformed the nation this year when it comes to job growth, according to a new analysis by an economist from The PNC Financial Services Group. The question is whether the regional economy can withstand a period of rising interest rates ushered in yesterday […]
The Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation (CAEDC), through the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau, will be awarding more than $1.1 million in tourism grants to a number of entities to help encourage visitors to come to the region. Army Heritage Center Foundation, $32,433: The grant will help cover the cost of an electric tram to shuttle […]
Plenty of people are willing to debate what it will take to rejuvenate downtown Harrisburg. Others may want to pick up a hammer or paint brush and make a concrete contribution to the revitalization effort that has been gathering steam over the last year. City and regional leaders hope to inspire the latter group through […]
It will be no surprise if the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates flat after it ends a two-day meeting today. There is nothing flat about the rest of the economy, with oil prices spiking and U.S. tariffs still above their historical average. The risks, however, are primarily to the downside, according to Jay Hawkins, senior […]
As tariffs went up throughout 2025, sales went down for JLS Automation, a York County company that assembles automated packaging lines for the food industry. The company is expecting a rebound in 2026. But the comeback faces renewed uncertainty after a Supreme Court ruling Friday that struck down the bulk of President Donald Trump’s tariff regime. […]
As classes continue this year on Penn State‘s branch campus in York County, students aren’t the only ones with homework. Economic development leaders are racing to craft options for reusing the campus after it closes in May 2027. “Whether it’s Penn State or the community, the longer that the campus sits there with no active use, […]
The economic outlook for 2026 depends on a range of variables ranging from tariffs to the strength of the boom in artificial intelligence, according to Curtis Dubay, chief economist in the economic policy division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “If we could ever get tariffs down, we get a better immigration system, we could really […]
Pennsylvania’s population grew a negligible 0.1% for the year ending July 1 as international immigration plummeted, according to initial estimates released yesterday by the U.S. Census. The data is the first from Census to show the impact of the Trump administration’s tightened approach to border security. Nearly 27,000 people came to the Keystone state from other […]
Data centers need a lot of electricity. But they also need electricians — and pipefitters and steelworkers and HVAC specialists and general laborers, among others — to get them up and humming. Thus, the boom in data center construction is likely to squeeze the supply of labor in areas like Lancaster, where data center projects […]
A specialty clothing distributor is shuttering a warehouse and laying off 128 workers in northern York County just over a year after taking over the building from its former owner. In a notice to state and local officials, Illinois-based S&S Activewear said it plans to close its distribution center at 600 Industrial Drive in Fairview Township by […]
There were times it seemed too complicated to pull off. But after five years, the owners of Lancaster-area logistics business Founders Market & Co. found a way to start selling company shares to their employees. The owners — Scott Martino, Matt Stargel and Alex Thompson — began contemplating some form of employee ownership after they took […]
Confusion is giving way to a bit of clarity as employers wrap their heads around a new Trump administration policy enacting steep fees on visas allowing foreign-born workers to hold jobs in the U.S. When the policy was announced on Friday, employers worried they might have to pay to bring current visa holders back into the […]
As uncertainty over tariffs froze customer orders in the spring, JLS Automation in York County laid off 10% of its workforce. Business began to come back over the summer, JLS president and CEO Craig Souser said in an early August interview. The York-area company, which employs about 130 people, assembles automated packaging lines for food companies. “It’s […]
A higher minimum wage could be moving to the front burner in Harrisburg thanks to a Republican state senator who is hoping for action on the issue this fall. It is not a new issue for the lawmaker, state Sen. Dan Laughlin of Erie County. He has backed increases in the past. But with economic […]
The York Water Co., which serves more than 212,000 people in Adams, Franklin, Lancaster and York counties, is asking state regulators for permission to raise rates for water and sewer service. Under the proposal, residential water customers would pay an additional $14.16 per month, while sewer service would go up by an average of $35.85 […]
State lawmakers, city officials and the Capital Region Economic Development Corp. are launching a joint effort to revive downtown Harrisburg, which has yet to recover fully from the Covid-19 pandemic. The partners plan to assemble a steering committee that will begin work “immediately” on a downtown revitalization plan. “Everyone agrees that we need to provide some […]
Pennsylvania’s economy has been shaken by the rise of manufacturing in China and a shift in the U.S. population to the South and Southwest. But there are still levers the state can pull to boost its fortunes, and that’s where the focus is for Luke Bernstein, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business […]
Regional dealmakers came to life in the second half of 2024 as interest rates came down. Nonetheless, the volume of mergers and acquisitions in Central and southeastern Pennsylvania fell last year for the third year in a row, according to an annual report by professional services firm RKL LLP. This year began on an active note, according […]
After raising $15 million, a startup venture capital fund based in York has made its first investment. Keystone Innovation Fund II is backing Surface Design Solutions Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company developing software that helps manufacturers optimize product surfaces. Company and fund executives declined to share the investment amount. Surface Design co-founder and CEO Tevis Jacobs said the […]
National Recovery Agency, a revenue recovery company based in Harrisburg, hasacquired the collections accounts of York-based CBY Professional Services. The family-owned company—known as NRA Group LLC—has already completed the onboarding process for the accounts of all of CBY’s former collections clients, numbering around 300. That brings NRA’s client list to nearly 7,800. The transaction is only […]
As it finalizes plans for its first refinery, a Pennsylvania startup aiming to make vehicle gasoline from wood has forged a key agreement with a regional fuel supplier. Tioga County-based Woodland Biomass Innovations has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shipley Energy committing the York-based distributor to buy and distribute up to 100% of Woodland’s output for five years. […]
As leadership coach Chad Harvey came to grips with the potential for AI to change everything, he started learning as much as he could about the technology. Then he started using it to build tools. “Not just your standard chatbot-type things but really investing in the technology in ways that meaningfully enhanced the work that […]
When John Weinlader was learning to swing a golf club, simulators generated plenty of information that helped him hone his approach and figure out if he was making progress. Tennis, not so much. “I had no way of knowing if I was improving,” Weinlader said. After he and his brother sold their two Lancaster-area companies […]
Dr. Jordan Balencic raised nearly $1.7 million for ERApeutics LLC, a Lancaster-based beverage startup he co-founded in 2018 with his wife, Tessa. But after a costly series of production setbacks, exacerbated by the post-pandemic supply chain squeeze of the early 2020s, he didn’t think he could raise more. Nonetheless, he was not ready to pack it […]
Keystone Innovation Collaborative, a York-based nonprofit that aims to sweep away barriers frustrating entrepreneurship in Pennsylvania, held a launch event last week at its new home, a former coworking space overlooking Continental Square in downtown York. The nonprofit’s general goal is to make it easier for entrepreneurs statewide to find the capital, connections and other resources they […]
In fall 2024, Doug and Sara Taylor traveled to Philadelphia to open the first of two stores in the city for their Lancaster-based cookie company, Taylor Chip. The stores were opening 18 months later than expected, and the Taylors had taken on seven–figure debt to keep things moving. But they were hopeful it would all work […]
Mechanicsburg-based home improvement contractor West Shore Home is moving into New England with the opening of its first branch in the region. The office in the Boston suburb of Franklin, Massachusetts, will cover an area encompassing most of Massachusetts as well as parts of Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Founded in 2006, West Shore […]
Over the last several years, Utah-based waste collector recyclops has been sending plastic to a small plant in York city that converts the waste into a building material. In September, recyclops launched its own operation in the region. “We just needed more space to move our elbows,” said recyclops founder and CEO Ryan Smith. Where is this […]
A small retail building near the York Galleria mall in Springettsbury Township, York County, is heading for a makeover. Entrepreneurs Hale and Kate Milano are converting the property at 1955 Whiteford Road/1201 Memory Lane into one of the region’s first dedicated indoor rock-climbing facilities. It’ll be called Off Grid Climbing & Fitness. Avid climbers, the Milanos […]
By 2030, the youngest baby boomers will be 65 years old. With 74 million people in this group, coupled with a worsening physician shortage, the need for tech innovation to address care gaps is critical. To address this need, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania (Ben Franklin CNP) hosted the AgeTech Techcelerator […]
Fans at WellSpan Park this summer found new places to pitch their plastic spoons, water bottles and other plastic items. The home of the York Revolution baseball team set up bins to collect plastics under a partnership with CRDC Materials, a Costa Rica-based plastics recycler with an operation in York city. CRDC takes the plastic to its plant, shreds […]
Painterland Sisters, an organic yogurt maker based in Lititz, just raked in a seven-figure sum from a bevy of investors, according to company spokesperson Chloe Schwartz. Schwartz declined to share the precise amount raised in the seed funding round, which was disclosed yesterday. But the money will provide working capital to support innovation and operations for […]
Mark Small and Brad Curran quit their day jobs in 2022 so they could devote more time to their Mechanicsburg-based startup, which is developing cutting-edge strength-training equipment. The company, Poseidon Strength, closed its first sale in May 2024 and has now landed its first financing outside of friends and family. York-based venture capital firm White Rose Ventures has […]
After nearly a decade of fine tuning, a Spring Grove software company believes its main product is ready for prime time. CFA Solutions debuted an early version of the software — designed to root out errors in the manufacturing process — in 2017. The company spent the last few years testing it with local manufacturers. But […]
The expanded opportunity to sell canned cocktails in Pennsylvania has lured another player into the market. Carl Helrich, owner of York County-based Allegro Wine Co. LLC, has become a minority partner in Spring Gate Spirits LLC, a Harrisburg-area distillery founded by entrepreneur Martin Schoffstall. Helrich has been named president of the distiller, and its operations are moving […]
Local farms and businesses — including a Harrisburg-area company involved in an urban greenhouse in York — landed thousands of dollars in state grants from a new program designed to spur innovation in agriculture. The grants were unveiled yesterday by state officials during a press conference at a Lancaster County farm. Why is this happening: […]
Danielle Vincenti has been named executive director of the Hershey Harrisburg Sports & Events Authority, an arm of regional tourist bureau Visit Hershey & Harrisburg. Vincenti succeeds Gregg Cook, who is no longer with the organization, according to a spokesperson for Visit Hershey & Harrisburg. Vincenti joined the sports authority in 2022 as business development […]
Bell & Evans is feasting on the boom in organic food. The family-owned organic poultry processor is spending $152 million on a 50,000-square-foot addition to a processing and packaging plant in Lebanon County, according to the Shapiro administration. The administration, which disclosed the investment last week, is backing Bell & Evans with a grant of […]
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. leased 11,060 square feet of retail space at 910 W. Broadway in Red Lion from Red Lion Broadway LLC. Adam Hagerman, Cale Bruso, Brad Rohrbaugh and Chad Stine of Bennett Williams Commercial represented the landlord. First Watch Restaurants Inc. leased 6,000 square feet of retail space at 935 Northland Ave. in […]
Developers and government agencies have focused on adding to the stock of affordable housing in Central Pennsylvania. Another challenge lies in wait: maintaining what’s already affordable. Over the next 10 years, thousands of housing units around the region could lose their federally supported status as affordable, according to a report released yesterday by a state […]
Willonda McCloud has been named CEO of YWCA Lancaster effective Jan. 4. She succeeds Stacie Blake. Blake resigned in June after nearly seven years leading the Lancaster-based nonprofit but is helping coordinate a smooth transition for McCloud, according to the YWCA. McCloud brings more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, most recently as […]
Over the last few years, influencers on social media have been pitching loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration as
The Conrad Company, an industrial services holding company based in Springettsbury Township, York County, sold a majority stake to Incline Equity Partners, a Pittsburgh-based private equity firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Conrad was formed in January 2022 as a holding company for Penn-Air & Hydraulics Corp. and businesses that Penn-Air acquired over […]
Daryl Black has been named president of Groff Tractor & Equipment, a chain of heavy equipment dealerships based in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County. Black, Groff’s CFO, is succeeding Jeff Oldham, who left to become president of Murphy Tractor & Equipment Co. in Park City, Kansas. “Jeff has helped position GT&E for continued success, and […]
Inside a 22-story building that once housed hundreds of state workers, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced millions of dollars in state
Penn State Health has named Dr. Marthe Haverkamp as vice president of transformation and Matthew Kemmann as vice president of strategy, both effective Sept. 21. Haverkamp will lead enterprise-wide efforts focused on operational excellence, performance improvement and data-driven decision-making for the Dauphin County-based health system. She worked most recently as a senior leader in the […]
Austin Roth has joined Boyer & Ritter as a supervisor in the Camp Hill-based accounting firm’s government practice. Roth brings seven years of public accounting experience with a concentration in governmental auditing, including audits for cities, townships, boroughs, school districts, intermediate units, authorities and community colleges. “We are pleased to welcome Austin to Boyer & […]
At a meeting last week, township supervisors approved final land development plans for Mount Zion Commons, a residential and commercial
PSECU has added four senior leaders across marketing, product strategy, digital originations and technology. Amy Coates joined the Harrisburg-based credit union in July as director of digital originations and onboarding. She brings more than 15 years of leadership experience, most recently as senior director of digital marketing and operations at Diebold Nixdorf. Steve Juodawlkis joined […]
Mike De Stefano was less than thrilled when a friend suggested he look for a role as CFO of an accounting firm “Why would I want to go work somewhere where everybody else is going to think they can do your job before you ever get there?,” De Stefano said of his initial reaction. But […]
For years, banks in Central Pennsylvania have been pushing into the Philadelphia market, led by lenders such as Lancaster-based Fulton
A Cumberland County judge ruled yesterday against efforts to halt construction on the first phase of a $15 billion data center campus in Middlesex Township. Judge Matthew Smith also trimmed the underlying land-use appeal brought by the project’s opponents while voicing doubt as to its odds of success. “It does not appear from the record […]
Rachel Bitner, president- and CEO-elect of ENB Financial Corp., parent of The Ephrata National Bank, is slated to become chair of the bank’s board following the planned retirement of chair, president and CEO Jeffrey Stauffer at the end of this year. Stauffer, who has led the bank since 2020, announced in July his planned retirement […]
A second effort to find a developer interested in buying and building on a former Lancaster County airfield has come up empty. Columbia borough issued a request for proposals last month for the 41-acre McGinness Airfield property. But no one responded formally, and borough officials canceled a meeting yesterday where they had been hoping to […]
Developers and government agencies have focused on adding to the stock of affordable housing in Central Pennsylvania. Another challenge lies
Over the last few years, influencers on social media have been pitching loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration as
Inside a 22-story building that once housed hundreds of state workers, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced millions of dollars in state
In a speech last week in Pittsburgh, Gov. Josh Shapiro tried to stake out a middle ground in the raging national debate over regulating the most advanced forms of artificial intelligence. Advocates of stricter regulation warn unrestrained development could end in the destruction of humanity. Opponents say the fears are overblown and that onerous regulation […]
Could more time on the clock help state lawmakers meet a looming deadline to develop a regulatory framework for skill games, slot-like devices endangered by a court ruling this summer? State Rep. Brad Roae, a Republican from northwestern Pennsylvania, thinks so. He is seeking support for legislation that would give lawmakers another six months to […]
The U.S. Small Business Administration said yesterday it suspended 870,000 borrowers across the U.S. who allegedly defrauded emergency loan programs rushed into place during the Covid-19 pandemic. Individual borrowers were not identified, but they were said to have taken out $39 billion in loans through the Paycheck Protection and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs. […]
A Texas developer unveiled plans this week for a pair of data centers on a triangle-shaped tract east of Interstate
A state authority has raised the lending cap for borrowers tapping a low-interest loan program to cover real estate and
If you sell a new car in Pennsylvania, it’s pretty clear where the profits should be taxed. But when you’re selling a service, the picture gets foggier. State tax collectors are trying to clear things up, but they’re facing pushback from business lobbyists. At the heart of the dispute is how much leeway the state […]
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order yesterday outlining strict requirements data centers must comply with before receiving state approval. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will only review permit applications if developers have made a legally binding commitment to meet the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) requirements and have received approval from the local communities they […]
Despite new ways to crack down on drivers who dodge tolls, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission still struggles to collect what it’s owed, according to a report released Friday by the state’s independent auditor. At the same time, the commission has improved its ability to repay its own debt and boosted its credit rating, though it […]
An unusual coalition of financial institutions, law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in Pennsylvania is urging state lawmakers to pass legislation
Companies in Lancaster and York counties are among the businesses that will be getting low-interest loans through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA). Who’s in Lancaster: 637 N Plum St. LLC. The partnership secured a $200,000 loan, administered through the EDC Finance Corp., for 15 years at a 5% fixed interest rate. The loan will […]
The attorney for HCI DP Land Acquisition, also known as Hanover Co., notified a suburban Harrisburg township on July 31 that the company would “indefinitely extend” the time for a zoning challenge and special exception application submitted in June on behalf of a data center project. In a separate July 31 notice to residents in […]
Jim Spencer doesn’t blame business owners if they haven’t heard of the myriad programs offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, where he serves as administrator for the Mid-Atlantic region. He puts the onus on the federal agency, which turned 73 years old yesterday. “We can do better than that,” said Spencer, who worked in […]
After a hiatus of about 20 months, Pennsylvania is back in the RACP business. That would be the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, a grant initiative that regularly hands money to high-profile community and economic development projects around the state. State officials disclosed the latest round of grants yesterday. The last RACP announcements came in November 2024. […]
Soon after Penn State announced last year that it would close seven branch campuses across Pennsylvania, questions swirled about what was next for the properties. A question also arose about Penn State’s freedom to divest the campuses, at least to something besides another school. While the larger question of “what’s next” remains unsettled, state lawmakers answered the narrower […]
At a meeting this week, supervisors in a York County township passed an ordinance saying they will not accept any applications from data center developers for the next 180 days. The moratorium in Conewago Township comes amid speculation about potential data center development in the municipality, as well as efforts to draft rules to fill […]
Premiums are set to jump by double digits for Pennsylvania residents and businesses that buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. State insurance regulators trimmed the original increases sought by insurers after determining portions of the hikes were unwarranted. Nonetheless, premiums for individual plans will rise an average of nearly 16% in 2027, […]
Several forces are going to pressure hospital operating margins in Pennsylvania over the next few years, according to Roxanna Gapstur, president and CEO of WellSpan Health. Hospitals face shrinking Medicaid reimbursement, growing demand for charity care and an aging population burdened by chronic illness, she said yesterday morning at a conversation on healthcare hosted by the York […]
Double-digit rate increases are on the table once again for health plans sold in Pennsylvania under the auspices of the Affordable Care Act. The increases are not as steep as those sought by insurers last year for plans sold in 2026. Still, the requests are among the earliest predictors of rising health insurance costs for […]
A lawsuit brought against UPMC by a cardiologist who alleged he was fired after reporting alleged conflicts of interest involving the health system’s president and CEO has been dismissed. The dismissal follows a resolution of the matter, though the details are unclear. A UPMC spokesperson said no money or other compensation was paid to the cardiologist, Dr. […]
Nearly a decade after co-founding one of Pennsylvania’s first medical marijuana businesses, Mark Toigo has handed the keys to employees. Toigo and Jaime Toigo, his
A wave of fraud has been hitting Pennsylvania’s Obamacare marketplace amid an upsurge in suspicious activity in marketplaces nationwide. The state’s market overseer, the Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority, has tightened controls over the last few months in an effort to block fraudulent insurance enrollments. State lawmakers also are looking to clamp down, with one measure […]
In 1993, state lawmakers passed workers’ comp reforms barring doctors from referring injured workers to a menu of services in which the doctors have a financial stake. What’s on the menu has been the subject of a lengthy legal dispute settled last week by Pennsylvania’s highest court. In a 5-2 ruling, the state Supreme Court […]
The state House gave near-unanimous approval yesterday to a measure that would award tax credits to small businesses that help their employees buy individual health insurance. A small-business lobbyist expressed support for the bill as it moved through a committee vote earlier this month, noting that incremental change is better than no change when it comes […]
Healthcare giant UPMC is firing back at a prominent Central Pennsylvania doctor who claims he was fired after complaining about an alleged conflict of interest involving the health system’s CEO and offensive text messages exchanged between other colleagues. The Pittsburgh-based health system said it fired the physician, Dr. Hemal Gada, for cause “based on deficient clinical performance […]
A state House panel yesterday passed legislation authorizing tax credits for small businesses that help their employees pay for health insurance. The legislation, which was adopted on a party-line vote, is designed to offset higher costs faced by people buying insurance through the Affordable Care Act. How would it work: Under House Bill 2550, businesses with […]
High premiums have squeezed enrollment this year in health insurance plans sold in Pennsylvania under the Affordable Care Act, a federal law designed to make individual health plans easier to afford. The decline has been attributed primarily to the expiration of enhanced federal tax credits that lowered premiums for thousands of people. Other federal credits remain […]
Fewer state residents are enrolling in health plans sold under the Affordable Care Act in Pennsylvania. As of April 9, enrollment in the plans stood at 462,751, down nearly 5% from 486,577 at the end of the open enrollment period on Jan. 31, according to a spokesperson for Pennie, aka the Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority. The authority […]
The former head of UPMC‘s heart institute in Harrisburg is suing the health system, claiming he was fired last year after raising concerns about an alleged conflict of interest involving the system’s CEO. The fired executive, Dr. Hemal Gada, also alleges his termination followed his complaints about allegedly racist text messages sent by other leaders at the UPMC […]
After more than seven years on the job, Roxanna Gapstur is planning to retire from her role as president and CEO of WellSpan Health, a regional health system operating a dozen hospitals. Gapstur has not set a date but plans to step down once a leadership transition is complete. WellSpan has hired executive search firm Korn Ferry to […]
Penn Highlands Healthcare, a health system based in DuBois, is joining a regional network formed by WellSpan Health to improve medical care and lower costs for people on Medicare, a network known as an accountable care organization, or ACO. ACOs work to better coordinate treatment for Medicare patients. If they can deliver higher quality care at a […]
Mechanicsburg-based rehab giant Select Medical Corp is going private in a buyout deal valued at $3.9 billion. The buyer is a consortium led by Select Medical co-founder and executive chairman Robert Ortenzio; Martin F. Jackson, Select Medical’s senior executive vice president of strategic finance and operations; and private equity firm Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe. The buyout prices outstanding shares […]
WellSpan Heath is preparing to admit the first patients to Newberry Hospital, the first of three mini hospitals being developed by the regional health system. Located next to the Newberry Commons shopping center in Newberry Township, York County, the small-format hospital is set to open in early March, according to WellSpan leaders, who offered a behind-the-scenes look […]
At a press conference in Lancaster yesterday, state and local officials urged eligible Pennsylvania residents to enroll in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act before a deadline coming at the end of January. At the same time, officials acknowledged that thousands of state residents are facing higher premiums thanks to the expiration of enhanced […]
A Cumberland County judge ruled yesterday against efforts to halt construction on the first phase of a $15 billion data
After a years-long fight to stay open, Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery has filed for bankruptcy protection. The business, based in Lower Windsor Township, York County, filed for Chapter 11, which gives it a chance to shed debt and reemerge as a going concern. Moon Dancer is pinning its hopes, in part, on overturning a […]
In a federal lawsuit filed this month, West Virginia is accusing Pennsylvania of illegally closing its borders to protect in-state energy generation. At issue are credits generated by solar farms and certain other renewable energy projects and sold to electric utilities on a multimillion-dollar market. Utilities buy the credits so they can comply with state […]
CGA Law Firm has absorbed a small legal practice in Gettysburg, the second acquisition this year by the growth-minded law firm. Based in York, CGA also purchased the Gettysburg office of the practice, Hartman & Yannetti, as its first foothold in the Adams County borough. A CGA affiliate paid $500,000 for the office, which is at 126 […]
The legal battle over a shuttered York County winery still has some juice. In late August, Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery launched another legal effort to reopen, arguing that a majority of its neighbors are now on board with its operations. A York County judge rejected a similar claim earlier this year after two conflicting votes by […]
After a fire devastated a York County recycling facility in March 2022, the facility’s insurers tried to recover $26 million in damages by suing local contractors involved in the plant’s construction. After more than two years of litigation, the lawsuit has been settled, according to filings this month in York County court. The details were […]
J&K Salvage, the embattled York-area scrapyard, told a federal court this week that it’s permanently closing. The filing was made in the context of an environmental group’s lawsuit against the scrapyard, and it follows a sale of J&K’s property in June to an affiliate of York-area developer Inch & Co. After the sale, it wasn’t clear if the […]
The legal saga surrounding Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery in York County is entering a new phase. The winery and its owner, Jim Miller, are suing two law firms that represented them as they fought unsuccessfully against efforts to shut down the business. Miller initiated the first lawsuit in 2024 against CGA Law Firm. The York-based firm defended the […]
At a court hearing yesterday in Philadelphia, Daryl Heller entered a guilty plea for his role in defrauding roughly 2,700 investors in an ATM network that he founded and operated through a Lancaster-based business. According to documents filed by the federal government, Heller admitted sole responsibility for the fraud, which used proceeds from new investors to […]
A state court has voided a $230,000 penalty leveled by state regulators against York-area scrapyard J&K Salvage for violating child labor laws. In a ruling this week, a three-judge panel of Commonwealth Court agreed the company violated the law but that the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry failed to justify the penalty, which […]
A lawsuit brought against UPMC by a cardiologist who alleged he was fired after reporting alleged conflicts of interest involving the health
Officials in Silver Spring Township were justified in denying plans to expand a warehouse on a former IBM campus between Carlisle and Mechanicsburg, a state appeals court ruled this week. The owner of the roughly 478,000-square-foot warehouse at 180 Kost Road, just off Carlisle Pike, wanted to tack on another 210,000 square feet. But the request was […]
Federal authorities charged a former Constellation engineer with using inside knowledge of plans to restart an idled nuclear reactor on Three Mile Island to trade on the company’s stock. The alleged insider trading scheme earned the engineer, Casey Muggleston of Wilmington, Delaware, about $1.4 million, according to a complaint filed this week by the U.S. Securities and […]
In 1993, state lawmakers passed workers’ comp reforms barring doctors from referring injured workers to a menu of services in
The owner of a Lititz-area wireless company pleaded guilty yesterday to defrauding a federal program that subsidized broadband internet access during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Krandon Wenger allegedly claimed falsely that hundreds of his company’s customers lived on tribal lands, enabling it to collect […]
Pennsylvania’s top court split over a landmark decision allowing school districts to appeal property valuations based on the amount of fresh tax revenue the appeals might generate. The appeals are most likely to affect higher-value commercial, industrial and multifamily properties. But as long as school districts pick properties based on a policy designed solely on […]
A decision by state regulators to block a utility deal involving Mechanicsburg-based Pennsylvania American Water is headed for a do-over. In a ruling last week, Commonwealth Court vacated the decision and asked regulators to take another look at the deal. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission relied on outdated legal precedents when it nixed Pennsylvania American’s roughly […]
Pennsylvania’s top court reversed a lower court ruling in a case involving prevailing wages, a form of minimum pay applied to government-funded construction projects Commonwealth Court ruled in 2023 that prevailing wages should not apply to the construction of a building leased to the Pennsylvania State Police. But the decision was overturned this week by […]
The Conrad Company, an industrial services holding company based in Springettsbury Township, York County, sold a majority stake to Incline
In 1998, Kanson Electronics Inc. moved from the Dover area to a recently shuttered clothing factory in Hohenwald, Tennessee, where town leaders were anxious to replace the plant’s lost manufacturing work. Nearly three decades later, company owner Arthur Filson Jr. is preparing to bring Kanson’s footprint back to York County. The manufacturer paid $275,000 for a […]
A Lancaster defense business with its origins in World War II is under new ownership. The business is Ampwave Defense, formerly known as Photonis Defense. The business was spun out last year by its former parent company, Exosens, a French defense contractor formerly known as Photonis Group. Ampwave’s new ownership is affiliated with a Los Angeles-based family investment firm […]
A defense contractor with two plants in the York area has added a third. San Diego-based Kratos Defense & Security Solutions said yesterday it opened a 167,000-square-foot factory on the former York International campus at 631 S. Richland Ave. in Spring Garden Township. Kratos did not disclose its total investment in the plant, which will support the company’s […]
When John Weinlader was learning to swing a golf club, simulators generated plenty of information that helped him hone his
The hunger for cooling products is heating up, and a Lancaster-based specialty manufacturer is vying to meet the need. Advanced Cooling Technologies plans to add 50,000 square feet of space to support high-volume production of cold plates used in liquid cooling, a newer technology rapidly being adopted by data center developers. The expansion is the first […]
After several would-be buyers took a pass on their manufacturing business, Tim Horning and Greg Kimble found an option that appealed to them far more than closing up and walking away from the company they built over a quarter century. Horning and Kimble decided to sell Signature Vacuum Furnaces to its roughly 15 employees. “It just seemed […]
Flooring manufacturer AHF Products plans to cease production of sheet vinyl at its plant in Lancaster effective June 28 Based in West Hempfield Township, Lancaster County, AHF will continue operating the Lancaster plant but shift focus to its other chief product, luxury vinyl tile, which is in greater demand. A company spokesperson did not disclose how many […]
Prompted by dwindling volume, a packaging company is closing a plant in Cumberland County and laying off 83 workers effective July 6, according to a notice sent to state and local officials. Nearly half of the workers are line operators, with the rest including forklift operators, production managers and quality control inspectors, among others, according […]
More than a decade after expanding production of gummy vitamins at its factory in York County, a New Jersey-based consumer products company is shutting it down. As a result, Church & Dwight Co. Inc. expects to lay off up to 195 people at the plant, which is in West Manchester Township just north of Route 30. Why […]
A major defense contractor has agreed to buy Precision Components Group LLC, a storied York manufacturer with a foot in the nuclear power industry. Indeed, Precision’s nuclear business is part of the attraction for the buyer, Lynchburg, Virginia-based BWX Technologies Inc., or BWXT, which supplies nuclear components and fuel to the U.S. Navy and commercial reactors. Precision’s products […]
A Canadian company has acquired Oleson Saw Technology, a saw-blade manufacturer in Manchester Township, York County. The buyer, Comact, provides equipment and services for wood-processing industries. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Comact plans to maintain the business, which employs about 35 people and makes blades used in sawmills, according to Comact spokesperson Anne-Marie […]
York County manufacturer Campbell Chain & Fittings has been acquired by Hillman Solutions Corp., a Cincinnati-based company looking to expand its industrial and commercial chain business. Campbell had been owned by Apex Tool Group LLC, which has been struggling to manage its debt in the face of weak revenue in some tool categories, according to S&P Global Ratings. Terms of the […]
Three businesses in Central Pennsylvania are installing solar systems thanks to grants from a state program designed to cut carbon emissions from factories and other industrial concerns. The grants are some of the first authorized under the program, dubbed Reducing Industrial Sector Emissions in Pennsylvania, or RISE PA. Engle Printing & Publishing Co. Inc. is receiving $493,114 […]
Say hello to Hello Panda. Snack manufacturer Meiji America plans to invest $65 million into its York-area Stauffer’s plant in an effort to boost production of Hello Panda cookies, one of the company’s signature products. Meiji America currently feeds U.S. demand for the cookies from a West Coast plant. But the company wants to bring production capacity to the […]
One of the largest investment firms in the U.S. is buying into a Lancaster County company at the leading edge of trends in energy efficiency. New York-based Blackstone is planning to acquire a majority stake in Advanced Cooling Technologies Inc., whose portfolio includes products that help keep data centers from overheating. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, […]
A global dairy processor plans to pour nearly $133 million into expansion of a plant in western Cumberland County. Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Schreiber Foods aims to boost yogurt processing at the Shippensburg plant and add at least 47 jobs, according to the Shapiro administration, which is backing the project with a $1 million grant. State […]
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry is awarding grants of more than $4.1 million to support 17 projects that help students graduate with a clear career path. The grant dollars support partnerships among school districts, career and technical centers, employers, workforce boards and training providers. Regionally, grants were awarded to: Harrisburg Area School District ($250,000) – to […]
Digital marketing agency WebFx unveiled plans yesterday for renovating and expanding into a historic mansion along the Harrisburg riverfront. The Harrisburg-based company plans to spend $10.7 million on the project, which is unfolding inside the former Tracy Mansion at 1829 N. Front St. in the capital city. Based a block away at 1705 N. Front St., WebFx […]
Travis Snyder has gone from employee to owner of Triscari Productions Inc., a Camp Hill-area marketing company doing business as Triscari Video | Web | Marketing. Snyder became the company’s owner in December, taking over for its late founder, Sebastian Triscari. Triscari, who launched the company in 1983, died in April 2025. In an interview, Snyder […]
Over the last few years, Mechanicsburg-based West Shore Home has been striving to build a national brand in the historically fractured home improvement business. The company took a major step yesterday toward raising its profile: A 15-year, $50 million deal with Penn State University to stamp the West Shore Home name on Beaver Stadium. The venue is […]
Two Lancaster-based digital marketing agencies have come together as one. But for now, they are continuing to operate under their existing names. The firms are YDOP and WTM Digital, which offer similar services but for different clients. YDOP, which trademarked the term “near-user marketing,” works primarily with companies around ther U.S. seeking locally focused digital marketing. WTM Digital, […]
Merit Marketing, a Harrisburg-based advertising and marketing firm, filed last month for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, setting it on a path to liquidation. “The economic times are such the company is unable to survive and operate profitably,” Merit owner Adam Vasquez wrote in an email to biznewsPA. Vasquez has owned the company since 2015, when the […]
Harrisburg-based Andculture is poised to become part of Chicago-based accounting and advisory firm RSM US LLP. RSM said Thursday it has reached an agreement to buy Andculture, which specializes in marketing strategy, design and technology, Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But it is expected to close June 1, according to a press release. RSM was […]
Fourteen years after launching her own marketing agency, Julie Lando-Cross has sold it to one of her first employees, Lissa Taylor, the agency’s COO and creative director.
A second effort to find a developer interested in buying and building on a former Lancaster County airfield has come
A Lititz-based real estate partnership has added to its portfolio of retail properties in Central Pennsylvania. S&S Singh Partners, headed by cousins Paul and Randy Sohal, paid $4.1 million for a retail plaza across from Park City Center. The two-building, 12,823-square-foot center had been owned since 2015 by an affiliate of AEI Capital Corp., a Minnesota-based […]
A regional real estate investor has scooped up a York-area strip mall that has had one owner since it was built in the 1970s. Partnerships headed by investor Drew Bobincheck of Cumberland County paid nearly $12.7 million for the mall, known as North West Plaza. The seller was a widow of the plaza’s original developer, […]
One of the York area’s original retail power centers has changed hands. Tennessee-based CBL Properties, in partnership with Lancaster-based High Real Estate Group, sold the York Town Center at 2845 Concord Road in Springettsbury Township for $50.65 million, according to county deed records. The buyer is a partnership affiliated with U & Me Group LLC, based in East Norwich, New York. […]
A Chicago-area firm is expanding its holdings in Central Pennsylvania. Rosemont, Illinois-based Industrial Outdoor Ventures paid nearly $14.6 million for a portfolio of three properties leased to FleetPride truck service centers in Cumberland, Dauphin and York counties. The sites were previously owned by HRC Holding LP, a holding company headed by Rod Coupal. Coupal is the former owner of Harrisburg-based Triple […]
Palmyra-based specialty distributor DAS Companies Inc. has sold an Elizabethtown-area warehouse where it laid off workers at the end of 2024. A real estate partnership linked to Chicago-based investment firm Industrial Outdoor Ventures paid $15.1 million for the 86,000-square-foot warehouse on a 17.5-acre tract at 48 Industrial Road in West Donegal Township, Lancaster County, according to county deed records. […]
Soon after Penn State announced last year that it would close seven branch campuses across Pennsylvania, questions swirled about what was next
A pair of former bank buildings on Carlisle Street in downtown Hanover were sold in separate transactions expected to bring new life to both. According to county deed records, the Hanover Area Historical Society paid $550,000 for the building at 25 Carlisle St. The classical early 20th-century building was a branch for the former Bank of Hanover, which […]
Machines will soon be dispensing coffee instead of cash at a former Fulton Bank branch in eastern York County. A Dunkin’ franchisee paid $975,000 for the shuttered Fulton branch at 599 W. Market St. in Hellam Township, York County, according to county deed records. The franchisee, GN Realty Hallam LLC, plans to convert the branch into a Dunkin’ donut shop […]
A York-area scrapyard at the center of an environmental dispute is under new ownership. An affiliate of York-based developer Inch & Co. has acquired the property of J&K Salvage, a metal recycling operation shut down by a state order in March following a fire. The affiliate, Codorus Creek Renewal LLC, paid $2.7 million for J&K parcels at 1099 and […]
King’s AgriSeeds, a seed distributor based in East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, is moving to new quarters after a real estate affiliate of the company paid $10 million for a nearly 100,000-square-foot warehouse in Upper Leacock Township. Scott Bradbury, senior vice president of Lancaster-based brokerage U.S. Commercial Realty, facilitated the sale. The warehouse is at 43 Graybill […]
Should licensed real estate agents in Pennsylvania be required to keep a physical office? A lawsuit from Kevin Gaughen, a real estate agent based in Lemoyne, argues that they should not. Backed by a Virginia-based public interest law firm called the Institute for Justice, Gaughen filed a lawsuit this week in Commonwealth Court in hopes of […]
The Dauphin County General Authority has tweaked the agreement governing the pending $45.6 million sale of the Dauphin Highlands Golf Course to Dallas-based data center developer Provident Realty Advisors. In a vote yesterday, the authority — which owns the 228-acre course in Swatara Township and Steelton — amended the agreement to allow the sale to close earlier than the original date […]
A warehouse used by a prominent York-based building products supplier is on the market. Formerly emblazoned with the name of Wolf Distributing Co., the nearly 340,000-square-foot building at 3400 W. Market St. in West Manchester Township is listed for sale or lease by real estate firm CBRE. No prices or rates are listed. But a brochure indicates the potential […]
A Harrisburg-area hotel is heading for a sheriff’s sale in June after allegedly defaulting on its debt. The owners of Holiday Inn Harrisburg East in Swatara Township, Dauphin County, a New Jersey-based partnership called Shri Sai Middletown LLC, owe nearly $11.3 million, according to a foreclosure notice filed last fall by its lender, Oregon-based Standard Insurance Co., […]
After months of research and community engagement, the York County Economic Alliance is narrowing the list of options for reusing the campus of Penn State York after its scheduled closure in May 2027. The three leading contenders include a healthcare/higher education hub, a conference/hospitality hub and a vo-tech/workforce development hub, YCEA chief strategy officer Silas […]
For nearly six decades, McNees Wallace & Nurick has occupied a prime piece of Harrisburg real estate — a nine-story office building overlooking the Susquehanna River. But sometime in 2027, the law firm expects to cross the river into somewhat smaller digs in East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County. McNees has inked a 20-year lease for a roughly […]
Warehouses in Cumberland and Franklin counties are changing hands as part of a larger $575 million deal involving a string of 25 warehouses stretching from Connecticut to Florida. The buyer is Radnor-based EQT Real Estate, an active player in the regional market for warehouse space. The seller is Mapletree Investments, a Singapore-based real estate investment firm managing […]
Retail establishment Moon Bird Distilling opened this month in a restored building at 133 S. Hanover St. in Carlisle following a 12-year, $1 million-plus rehab project led by the husband-and-wife ownership team of Eric Storms and Kathleen Calvert. They transformed the once-dilapidated building, known as The McLellan Place, into a small-batch craft distillery, brick-oven pizzeria, […]
One of Central Pennsylvania’s oldest independent coffee shops is handing over the keys to two of its locations. Lancaster-based Prince Street Cafe is transferring ownership of its shops in York and Columbia to Denim Coffee, a growing chain based in Chambersburg. Terms of the transaction, which takes effect Sept. 16, were not disclosed. The deal will bring the total […]
One of the York area’s original retail power centers has changed hands. Tennessee-based CBL Properties, in partnership with Lancaster-based High Real Estate
Copper Crust, a popular bakery and eatery adjacent to York College of Pennsylvania, has closed, at least temporarily. The college has been the landlord for the business since 2022 and had filed a lawsuit in May seeking back rent and other costs. Efforts to reach the owners, Sean and Nicole Austin, were not successful on […]
A New York-based investor has been unloading shopping centers in Central Pennsylvania as part of a 16-property deal with affiliates of a real estate firm based in Cyprus. The seller is Vastgood Properties, based in Port Washington, New York. “It’s a good time to sell, and the properties are doing well,” said Vastgood founder Leo Ullman, […]
Machines will soon be dispensing coffee instead of cash at a former Fulton Bank branch in eastern York County. A Dunkin’ franchisee paid $975,000
Hueter’s Greenhouses LLC and Springettsbury Township, York County are locked in litigation over events held at the garden center, which is at 3465 Deininger Road near Rocky Ridge Park. Since at least 2023, Hueter’s has been hosting spring and fall festivals featuring vendors, food trucks and live music, as well as events for holidays like Mother’s […]
So-called surveillance pricing is drawing scrutiny in Pennsylvania and around the U.S. State lawmakers have introduced bills to ban the practice, and a New Jersey Congressman is demanding answers about it from 25 retailers, including Carlisle-based grocery chain The Giant Co. What is it: Surveillance pricing refers to the use of personal customer data to set […]
Business in York County has been growing for Lancaster County-based L.H. Brubaker Appliances & Water Treatment. The company is now planning its first retail branch there. L.H. Brubaker expects to open this fall in leased space at the West Manchester Town Center in West Manchester Township, according to company owner and president Donnie Frank. “There’s not […]
Cumberland Farms, a regional convenience store chain that shares a corporate parent with Turkey Hill Minit Markets, has agreed to acquire Coen Markets, one of the oldest convenience store chains in the Pittsburgh area. Terms of the transaction, expected to close this year, were not disclosed. Founded in 1923 and based in Canonsburg, Coen operates 54 stores […]
Grocery chain Weis Markets shaved millions of dollars off its profits over the last several years due to an inventory error that the company attributed to “misconduct” by a former non-executive employee The Sunbury-based company did not disclose the nature of the misconduct or whether it would lead to any legal action. But in its annual report […]
Walmart has reached a $100 million settlement in a multistate complaint over compensation for delivery drivers in its eight-year-old Spark Driver Program. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday was part of a bipartisan group of attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission that pressed the complaint, according to a press release. The settlement, filed on Feb 26, resolved allegations […]
In a regulatory filing, Weis Markets disclosed that it overstated some of its inventory and plans to restate its financials going back to 2022. As a result of the accounting miscue, the Sunbury-based grocery chain said investors could no longer rely on its financial reports covering fiscal years 2022, 2023, 2024 and the first three quarters of […]
Carlisle-based The Giant Co. said yesterday it agreed to buy Everett Foodliner and Saxton Market, a pair of Bedford County grocery stores owned by brothers Bob and Joe Appleby. Giant is buying the real estate and related grocery and fuel business assets for what will become its first stores in the county. Terms of the transaction, expected to close […]
Carlisle-based grocery chain The Giant Co. is closing ecommerce fulfillment centers in Lancaster and four other places in Pennsylvania as it changes its approach to delivering groceries ordered online, a service known as Giant Direct. Giant is dropping its centralized model in favor of a store-based approach, according to company spokesperson Ashley Flower. Giant employees […]
Life could be returning to Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant locations in Hershey and Lancaster following the regional chain’s sudden bankruptcy in October. Chicago-based Ciao Hospitality Group is taking over leases at the two locations and plans to reopen them within a few months, according to Ciao CEO Jeff Crivello. What to name the venues is still up in […]
Renewal by Andersen of Central PA, an independently owned retail affiliate of Minnesota-based door and window manufacturer Andersen Corp., has been acquired by another Andersen affiliate, St. Louis-based The Birner Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Central PA Andersen affiliate was owned by Joe Zisman, who is retiring after five decades in the industry, […]
Weis Markets has won court approval to take over prescriptions for customers at 11 Rite Aid stores in Pennsylvania and New York, according to a spokesperson for the Sunbury-based grocery chain. The stores include Rite Aid locations in Dover and Hanover, as well as Altoona, Brodheadsville, Fogelsville, Honesdale, Montoursville, Mountain Top, Wellsboro and Williamsport, Weis spokesperson […]
In a speech last week in Pittsburgh, Gov. Josh Shapiro tried to stake out a middle ground in the raging
After raising $15 million, a startup venture capital fund based in York has made its first investment. Keystone Innovation Fund
As leadership coach Chad Harvey came to grips with the potential for AI to change everything, he started learning as
As more organizations explore the practical implementation of machine learning and artificial intelligence models to solve real-world business problems, law firms are taking note. Phil Saunders, the CEO of Relativity, a legal data intelligence company, noted in an interview with Law360 that, “AI has become a defining part of how legal tasks get done.” Regional […]
A company that develops data centers is doubling down on the Harrisburg area. Last summer, Dallas-based Provident Realty Advisors agreed to pay $45.6 million for the Dauphin Highlands Golf Course, a 228-acre property west of Route 283 in Swatara Township and Steelton where Provident is expected to build data centers. In late January, the company paid $50 million […]
State regulators are crafting guidelines designed to address one of the chief risks of the data center construction boom — that Pennsylvania residents and businesses get stuck with a hefty tab for building out the substations and power lines that feed electricity to the centers. The guidelines, proposed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, are currently […]
A data breach struck a Lancaster law firm this fall, exposing personal information on about 2,200 people, according to a notice filed with the Maine Attorney General’s office. Law firm BCGL LLC discovered the breach in October after identifying suspicious activity in its network, according to the notice, which the firm filed this month. The firm said it […]
At a press conference yesterday, Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace unveiled an agreement between the city and Chirisa Technology Parks, the Virginia-based company spearheading development of data centers on the site of former printing plants in the city. The 32-page community benefits agreement requires Chirisa to meet standards in areas such as noise, power and water usage for […]
Advocates embrace data centers as engines of economic opportunity and a symbol of Pennsylvania’s appeal to high-tech industries, drawn, in part, by abundant supplies of energy. Critics are fighting back, citing the centers’ potential harm to the environment and quality of life in the communities where they are being proposed. Team Pennsylvania is hoping to […]
A suburban Harrisburg golf course is preparing to swap drivers for data. The Dauphin County General Authority voted yesterday to sell the Dauphin Highlands Golf Course for $45.6 million to a Texas company planning a data center on the 228-acre property in Swatara Township and Steelton. But there’s time for a few more rounds of golf. The […]
At a meeting last night, developers shared more details on their plans for a $15 billion data center complex near Carlisle. Residents shared a barrage of doubts. Over two hours, they questioned how much water and electricity the centers would use. They questioned how the developers picked the 700-acre tract of farmland in Middlesex Township where […]
In 2022, Pennsylvania waived sales taxes for computer equipment purchased for use in data centers, provided the centers met certain requirements. Following a slew of announcements about new data center projects around the state, the price tag for that exemption may be going up. The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue is revisiting its forecasts on the […]
A few years ago, the phrase “industrial real estate” likely conjured an image of massive warehouses spreading across the open fields of Central Pennsylvania. Now, the phrase might just as easily bring up images of data centers — buildings packed with computer servers composing your emails and delivering answers to your ChatGPT queries. The announcement of more […]
One of the companies behind a $6 billion data center project in Lancaster is filling in some of the blanks surrounding the project. Early reports indicated data centers would be constructed at two former printing plants, at 216 Greenfield Road and 1375 Harrisburg Pike. The developers are Virginia-based Chirisa Technology Parks and New York-based Machine Investment Group, […]
It’s been a week since New Jersey-based investment firm Energy Capital Partners announced it was planning a $5 billion data center in southern York County. But the precise location remains unknown, even to the manager of Peach Bottom Township, where the data center is widely expected to be built. “Your guess is as good as mine,” township […]
The dust is still settling on the flurry of announcements for massive data and energy projects proposed this week for Pennsylvania. Actual dust could soon start flying on one of those projects — a $6 billion data center investment in Lancaster. The city has issued demolition permits for the first phase of the project, according […]
Major tech companies yesterday disclosed billions of dollars in new investment in Central Pennsylvania, though some key details remain to be filled in. Data center giant CoreWeave said it plans to sink $6 billion into developing a data center in Lancaster in partnership with a company that recently acquired two former printing plants in the city. A […]
The data center boom made a big bang yesterday in Pennsylvania. Tech giant Amazon said it plans to invest at least $20 billion to build data centers in Pennsylvania, starting with a pair of locations in eastern Pennsylvania. The Shapiro administration described the company’s move as the largest private-sector investment in state history. “This is not just […]
The Conrad Company, an industrial services holding company based in Springettsbury Township, York County, sold a majority stake to Incline
Inside a 22-story building that once housed hundreds of state workers, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced millions of dollars in state
Penn State Health has named Dr. Marthe Haverkamp as vice president of transformation and Matthew Kemmann as vice president of
Column by Martin Fedorko Pennsylvania builds companies in places that don’t look like startup towns. A bakery on Market Street
The company building data center campuses in Lancaster is locked in another battle over zoning. Affiliates of Virginia-based developer Chirisa Technology Parks are asking a Lancaster County court to quash an appeal by a group of more than two dozen city residents challenging what they see as a zoning decision for the company’s data center campus […]
Peter Wertz has been elected to membership at McNees Wallace & Nurick, effective Jan. 1, 2027. Wertz practices in the Harrisburg-based law firm’s real estate group, advising businesses and individuals in land use and transactional matters. His work includes representing clients in litigation involving municipal zoning, land development and title actions. “We’re excited to welcome […]
On a sunny Friday afternoon, regional developer Jordan Ilyes showed off the fruits of a $3 million conversion project that
Gary Herman has been named director of consumer engagement at NRA Group, a Harrisburg-based collections company also known as National Recovery Agency. In what is a newly created role for the company, Herman will focus on the evolution of NRA Group’s omnichannel digital messaging efforts, analyzing and enhancing the company’s messaging platforms and strategies including […]
Harrisburg-based CJ Pony Parts has acquired auto restoration-focused brands from Holley Performance Products, including the Scott Drake and Brothers Trucks brands. The transaction expands CJ Pony Parts’ product portfolio in the classic vehicle aftermarket and further establishes it in the multi-brand restoration platform, the company says in a news release. CJ Pony Parts will integrate […]
Over the last six years, Utz Brands has shed factories, streamlined production and expanded into new markets. The moves, however, failed to impress investors. Utz stock soared to nearly $30 per share in the year after it went public in August 2020. But shares fell just as quickly and never regained their upward momentum. Nearly six years […]
Column by Brandon Rogers The longer someone leads, the less impressed they become with raw talent alone. Experience has a
Beth Siegfried has been named executive director of Dauphin County CASA, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit that provides volunteer advocates for children in foster care. She succeeds Kim St.Clair, who had been acting executive director and continues as program supervisor. Siegfried has more than two decades of experience in communications, advocacy and nonprofit leadership. She worked most […]
For nearly six decades, McNees Wallace & Nurick has occupied a prime piece of Harrisburg real estate — a nine-story office building
Jake Lewis has been named vice president, government programs and strategy, for Harrisburg-based dental insurer United Concordia Dental. In this new role, he will oversee the strategic direction and execution of the company’s government relations and contracting efforts. Lewis worked most recently as the acting deputy assistant administrator for acquisition and business services at the […]
Column by Jayamohan Ecosystems aren’t designed. They emerge. We learn this early in biology (thanks to my son who is
In fall 2024, Doug and Sara Taylor traveled to Philadelphia to open the first of two stores in the city
Over the last three years, Robin Stauffer has overseen a dramatic growth in resources at one of Lancaster’s County’s largest charities. Effective Jan. 1, she has a new role to match. Stauffer, the longtime executive director of the High Foundation, has been named its president and CEO. “For more than two decades, Robin has led High […]
Camp Hill-based LinkBancorp opened in 2018 following a round of consolidation that took out several banks in Central Pennsylvania. Now, with bank