The ayes have it. By a margin of roughly three to two, Pennsylvania voters retained three state Supreme Court justices yesterday, preserving the court’s Democratic five-to-two majority. Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht each garnered more than 2 million “yes” votes on the question of whether they should remain on the bench for […]
Adam Santucci has been elected vice chair of the executive committee for Harrisburg-based law firm McNees Wallace & Nurick. Santucci joins chair Brian Jackson and co-vice chair Nicole Stezar Kaylor. Santucci succeeds Robert Weishaar Jr., who decided not to seek another term after five years on the committee. Santucci co-chairs the labor and employment law group […]
Businesses and charities in Central Pennsylvania are scrambling to blunt the effects of a lapse in federal food benefits that sustain tens of thousands of local residents. Nonprofits are working to shore up alternative sources of sustenance, while grocers and other retailers navigate the impact on revenue, product purchasing and employee scheduling. Retailers also are […]
Niche Electronics, an electronics manufacturing services company, has restructured its leadership team. The new framework elevates a new vice president and creates four directors who will oversee important facets of the growing Shippensburg-based business. Yancey Strickler has been promoted the new role of vice president. He has 20 years of industry experience: 16 as a […]
EQT, a Radnor-based real estate investment firm, said it has acquired a portfolio of 11 warehouses that includes two buildings in a recently constructed industrial park north of York city. An EQT spokesperson declined to disclose the terms, and no deeds were available online as of the end of last week. The York-area warehouses are […]
Pennsylvania voters will decide tomorrow whether to retain three Supreme Court justices in what has become one of the state’s most expensive and partisan judicial races ever. Those arguing in favor of retention, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, warn that “no” votes could jeopardize abortion and voting rights. Those arguing against retention argue that the three justices in question […]
Projections suggest that rising costs will dissuade Pennsylvania residents from buying health insurance through the state’s Obamacare exchange, known as Pennie. Those forecasts will now face a real-world test. Pennie’s open enrollment period starts tomorrow, Nov. 1, for people who want coverage in place for 2026. Enrollment through Pennie has been growing over the last […]
Hanover may be the snack capital of the world. But the largest snack market in the U.S. is California, and Hanover-based Utz Brands wants to bite off a larger chunk. Utz said yesterday it acquired store delivery routes in the Golden State — and portions of the Midwest — from Colorado-based Insignia International. Terms of the transaction were not […]
David Chick has been hired as senior counsel in the appellate advocacy group of Lancaster-based law firm Saxton & Stump. He also is serving as a senior consultant with the firm’s human resources affiliate, TREW HR. Based in Harrisburg, Chick worked most recently served as deputy judicial clerk for both the Supreme Court and the […]
The state’s high court this week rejected an appeal from a State College contractor accused more than four years ago in a high-profile case of wage theft. The contractor, Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc., challenged a state agency’s authority to bar it from state contracts based on alleged violations of Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage laws. In March, a lower […]
Harrisburg-based law firm McNees Wallace & Nurick has hired lawyers for its offices in Maryland and suburban Philadelphia. Katherine Takhounts Bonato has joined the firm’s Frederick, Maryland, office as an attorney in the real estate group. Before joining McNees, Bonato worked with title companies in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Bonato has a law degree […]
A New York state business leader and philanthropist has bestowed $50 million on Penn State Health Children’s Hospital in what is being described as a “transformative” gift. But the gift, announced yesterday, is about more than just money. The 156-bed hospital in Derry Township, Dauphin County, is joining a new alliance of children’s hospitals named […]
Suzy Teter has joined Pennian Bank as an assistant vice president and relationship banker based in the bank’s Lemoyne office. Teter, who lives in Duncannon worked most recently serving as a financial center manager for Mid Penn Bank. “Suzy’s commitment to serving as a trusted resource to businesses and organizations, as well her dedication to […]
A federal court has officially named a trustee to oversee the assets of Daryl Heller, the Lancaster County business owner who declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February after the collapse of an ATM network he led. Heller also faces federal charges alleging he defrauded investors in the network, which did business as Paramount Management Group. The trustee […]
Regional accounting and professional services firm Boyer & Ritter has hired seven staff members for a variety of roles. Darren Bailey joins Boyer & Ritter’s tax department as a supervisor. He worked most recently as a senior tax accountant with a York-based firm. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with concentrations in accounting […]
Nonprofit preservation group Lancaster Conservancy paid $3.5 million for a roughly 180-acre tract of forested land in Chanceford Township, York County, according to county deed records. The seller was a partnership called Stone Fence Acres LP, linked to Jeff Koons, an internationally acclaimed artist and York County native. The purchase price reflected the land’s appraised value, […]
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 […]
Bill Fredericks and Len Bradley have been named principals of RGS Associates, a landscape architecture, land planning and civil engineering firm based in Lancaster. Fredericks, previously a client manager, has more than 15 years of experience in land development projects, including senior living communities, commercial developments and industrial sites. Bradley, previously an engineering supervisor, has […]
A state court has tossed aside regulations that would have enrolled Pennsylvania in a multistate carbon-cutting program, regulations that were a climate-change priority for the former administration of Gov. Tom Wolf. At issue was whether the heart of the program — a market in which companies must buy credits to emit carbon — represented a fee […]
Gratz borough in Dauphin County failed to properly advertise a meeting where it set stricter zoning standards for solar energy systems even as a company was seeking permission to build a 17-megawatt project there. That was the ruling last week from a three-judge panel of Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, which upheld a 2022 decision by Dauphin […]
A Lancaster County developer has lost its bid to overturn a zoning decision blocking a mixed-use development in Manheim Township. In a ruling this week, a county judge upheld the township’s denial of plans for Oregon Village, a proposed development that would bring housing, offices, shops and a hotel to a nearly 76-acre tract that […]
Mid Penn Bank is firing back at claims it did not adequately protect a nonprofit from fraud. In a legal filing this month, the Harrisburg-based bank alleges that the Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania harmed the bank’s reputation in a press release issued in February announcing a lawsuit against the bank. In the press release, the center claimed […]
A federal court has approved a settlement in a data-breach lawsuit brought against Fulton Bank. Under the agreement, the Lancaster-based bank will pay $750,000 to set up a fund to compensate victims of the breach, which hit a Fulton Bank vendor rather than the bank itself. The bank is not admitting any liability for the breach, […]
The bankrupt owners of an uptown Harrisburg apartment complex want to hire a firm that specializes in real estate liquidation to sell the property in an auction. In a motion filed in bankruptcy court, apartment owners Uptown Partners LP are seeking court approval to hire Hilco Real Estate LLC to oversee a sale of the complex, known as Governor’s Square. […]
Companies that test, grow and process medical cannabis in Pennsylvania are suing to block a rule they say could cost them millions of dollars and ultimately raise prices for patients. The rule, which had been slated to take effect this week, alters the requirements for testing cannabis before and after it is processed into medication […]
A shareholder of Centric Financial is seeking to block the Harrisburg-area bank’s planned merger into a western Pennsylvania bank. In a class-action lawsuit filed this month in Cumberland County court, shareholder Charles Reinhardt claims the $144 million deal undervalues Centric, which is based in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County. The lawsuit also takes aim at other terms of […]
Thanks to a recent court ruling, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania could be on the hook for more than $100 million in tax refunds to businesses. The ruling came in a case that arose over provisions outlining how companies can use past losses to lower their tax bills. Some corporate taxpayers have claimed, successfully, that provisions […]
West Chester University and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education do not have to pay an annual six-figure stormwater fee imposed by West Chester Borough. Why? Because Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruled yesterday that the fee is a tax — and state entities don’t have to pay taxes. In a lawsuit filed in 2018, the borough argued that the assessments […]
Three York-based law firms are becoming one in a merger slated to close Oct. 1. The firms are Blakey Yost Bupp & Rausch; Griest Himes Herrold Reynosa; and MPL Law Firm.“We all have great respect for each other and we have always worked well together even when on opposing sides,” said James Sanders, an attorney at MPL. “We decided that […]
A state court has sided with online retailers who say they are being unfairly targeted by Pennsylvania tax collectors. In a ruling Friday, Commonwealth Court blocked efforts by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue to collect state sales and personal income taxes from the retailers, which sell their products through Amazon.At issue are back taxes the state […]
State health officials have dropped a legal action seeking to reinstate their controversial recall of medical marijuana vapes. The move before the state Supreme Court doesn’t end the legal fight. It simply means the Department of Health is no longer appealing a lower-court ruling that put the recall on holdNonetheless, it was welcomed by the medical […]
Local banks are telling a Lancaster County court that they need more time and information to assess a deal that would settle debts from the estate of the late developer Richard Welkowitz. The estate has proposed selling off its stake in ventures that own more than 5,000 ATMs for $13.8 million to a Lancaster-based private equity firm, Heller […]
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet has joined a string of retailers accused of improperly denying overtime pay to people who hold management jobs in their stores. Two salaried employees in New York have filed lawsuits claiming Ollie’s should have paid them overtime since their duties were “virtually indistinguishable” from those of hourly workers. The suits, filed in a […]
A state court has reversed a decision that could have added millions of dollars in costs to construction projects financed with bonds issued by municipal authorities. The ruling last week by Commonwealth Court revolved around interpretations of the state’s prevailing-wage law, which sets a minimum wage for workers on projects funded by public money.The case arose […]
After trading legal blows for more than a year, the feuding owners of United Fiber & Data have reached a settlement. The confidential deal ends legal sparring that began in 2020 over the company, which was founded in York by members of the rock band Live and their business partner, Bill Hynes. The fight had narrowed in recent months to […]
The estate of late Lancaster County developer Richard Welkowitz is hoping to make a deal to settle its debts, according to a filing in Lancaster County court. The proposed deal would funnel money to the estate’s secured and unsecured creditors and it would allow the estate to avoid a potential tax hit, according to the […]
A developer is filling in some of the details on its plans to transform the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Harrisburg into “The Federal” — a 200-unit luxury apartment building crowned with a rooftop bar and a pair of restaurants. Developer Global Ocean Investments had already unveiled a goal of remaking the 250,000 square-foot building […]
A staple of downtown New Cumberland is poised for a makeover. New owners have taken over a group of properties that include the former Coakley’s Restaurant and Irish Pub, which closed in 2014 after going bankrupt.Plans are still taking shape. But Kara Pierce said she and her partner, engineering executive Bill Tafuto, plan to invest […]
Burkentine Builders is gearing up to finish a mixed-use project that will bring another brewery to southern York County. The Hanover-based builder held a topping-off ceremony April 25 for the roughly $5 million project, which is bringing two buildings totaling 10,000 square feet of commercial space and 20 apartments to the borough of New Freedom.Construction […]
State officials on Friday unveiled more than $50 million in grants earmarked for projects around Central Pennsylvania, including a life sciences incubator in Lancaster, a hotel renovation on the West Shore and a park along the Codorus Creek in York. Other beneficiaries include Rock Lititz and the partnership developing a mixed-use apartment building near the […]
Doceo, a York-based technology services company, plans to move its headquarters this fall to a former Ruby Tuesday restaurant in York Township.The 6,000 square-foot space is larger than the 4,300 square feet the company currently rents in a multi-tenant building at 1499 S. Queen St. in Spring Garden Township, according to spokesperson Maya Miller. It […]
A new developer is getting a crack at bringing life to a former industrial tract in York. At a meeting last week, the Redevelopment Authority of the City of York awarded a six-month option on a 4.4-acre site in the Northwest Triangle to Statewide Partners, a regional firm with offices in Harrisburg and York. Preliminary sketches from Statewide show […]
A buyer has finalized the $10.01 million purchase of the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in downtown Harrisburg. However, the buyer’s identity remains a mystery.A deed filed with Dauphin County lists the buyer as R.R.F. Building LLC,which has a tax billing address at a law firm in South Carolina. Efforts to reach the law firm, De Bruin Law, were not […]
The warehouse project is still a long way from approval. But concepts floated by Missouri-based NorthPoint Development show roughly 1.5 million to 2 million square feet of warehouse space in multiple buildings, according to Tim James, manager of Manchester Township, where the project is being considered.
Bidding is scheduled to open Jan. 31 in an auction for the 129-room Comfort Inn & Suites York, which is off Interstate 83 at 2250 N. George St. in Manchester Township.
Seeded by a $1 million donation from grocery chain The Giant Co., Harrisburg University is hoping to plant a new center for agricultural research in the capital city.
The past year in Central Pennsylvania real estate was punctuated by some high-profile deals, as well as a torrid market for warehouses and other industrial properties. Here’s a look at what transpired in 2021.
A New York investment firm paid $24.4 million for a roughly 255,000 square-foot warehouse in Hampden Township, Cumberland County, continuing a string of multimillion-dollar deals for area warehouses. The property, acquired by Brickman, is fully leased, according to real estate firm JLL Capital Markets, which marketed the building at 301 Railroad Ave.The seller was a subsidiary of a […]