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Giant in deal to buy Bedford County grocery stores

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 […]

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Armstrong World snaps up specialty fabricator

Building products manufacturer Armstrong World Industries Inc. said yesterday that it acquired a Chicago-based company called Eventscape Inc., which specializes in designing, making and installing complex architectural features. Terms of the transaction — which continues a multiyear string of deals for Armstrong — were not disclosed. Based in Toronto and New York City, Eventscape employs 150 […]

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Foundation leader steps up as grantmaking capacity swells

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 […]

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Harrisburg Young Professionals

Cody Goss has been named executive director of Harrisburg Young Professionals, a professional networking and city improvement group known as HYP. He succeeds Meghan Bachmore, who led the organization since 2022. A graduate of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Goss joined HYP as an intern and became communications coordinator in 2024. He is expected […]

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Capital-area farmland sold. Data centers could follow.

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 […]

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Penn State Health

Joe Wysock has been named vice president of facilities at Penn State Health, a regional health system based in Dauphin County. He had been filling the role on an interim basis while also working in his previous role as facilities director for the West Shore region of Penn State Health. The region includes Hampden Medical […]

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Community Progress Council

York-based nonprofit Community Progress Council has hired a development director and a controller. Tom O’Connor is the new development director, succeeding Emily Seitz, who took a fundraising role at the United Way of York County. He worked most recently as executive director of the Pennsylvania Ag Discovery Center, a startup nonprofit in Gettysburg. Before that, he was director […]

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Tax dispute shutters Harrisburg music venue

A dispute over taxes has forced the closure of Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, a music and event venue in the capital city. Known as HMAC, the venue at 1110 N. 3rd St. owes more than $300,000 in entertainment taxes, according to city solicitor Neil Grover, who said the taxes are similar to sales taxes collected […]

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Carlisle-area warehouse fetches nearly $142M

One of the biggest warehouses in Cumberland County has changed hands. An arm of California-based investment firm PCCP LLC paid $141.6 million for a 1.2 million-square-foot building at 3419 Ritner Road off Interstate 81 in West Pennsboro Township, according to real estate firm JLL, which represented the seller, an affiliate of Radnor-based Exeter Property Group. Exeter paid $85 million for […]

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West Shore Home launches in New England

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 […]

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Recycling biz expands York-area operations

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 […]

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Cultivate Lancaster

Catherine Bonser has been named executive director of Cultivate Lancaster. The position had been vacant, according to a spokesperson for the nonprofit. A former Kodak and Dentsply Sirona executive, Bonser has spent the last seven years as a volunteer for the Lancaster-Lebanon chapter of SCORE, a nonprofit that provides experienced mentors to small businesses. Under her leadership, Cultivate Lancaster is […]

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Appeals court tosses ruling in zoning case

A lawsuit over Lancaster County farmland that was rezoned for industrial use is heading back down the legal ladder. In a ruling this week, Commonwealth Court struck down a county court decision upholding the rezoning, which was requested by a warehouse operator in West Hempfield Township. The ruling sends the matter back to the county […]

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Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health

Michael Barber has been named CEO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health after working as interim leader since June. He succeeds John Herman, who left to become CEO of Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Barber came to LG Health in 2023 as COO following a 27-year career at Penn Medicine’s Chester County hospital, where he oversaw projects such as […]

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Lancaster cookie startup plans bankruptcy filing

Lancaster-based cookie startup Taylor Chip said this week that it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after an unsuccessful bid to generate retail sales in Philadelphia. Due to the slow pace of permitting in the city, it took nearly 18 months longer than expected to open the stores, and they did not earn enough […]

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Steel fabricator leases Red Lion space

SWF Industrial, a metal fabricator based in Wrightsville, is adding a third production location, a 39,200-square foot industrial space at 100 Redco Ave. in Red Lion. The company, which employs about 175 people, already operates two production facilities totaling a combined 106,000 square feet in eastern York County. SWF has been getting close to its […]

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Harrisburg U stops bond payments while in talks to restructure debt

Harrisburg University of Science and Technology is pausing bond payments as it looks to restructure debt tied to a real estate investment that has yet to pan out. That would be the $100 million in bonds the university floated to pay for an 11-story health sciences building at 222 Chestnut St. The university said yesterday that […]

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Rutter’s

York-based convenience store chain Rutter’s has hired two category managers. Michael Jackson is overseeing multiple areas, including packaged beverages and grocery. He worked most recenty at High’s of Baltimore, a 52-store convenience chain, where he was a senior category manager responsible for packaged beverages and all center store categories. Before that, he spent 11 years […]

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Health Care

Legal

Court sides with solar firm in zoning battle

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 […]

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Developer loses appeal over denial of mixed-use project

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 […]

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Defamation claim raised in suit over fraud loss

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 […]

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Court OKs settlement in data breach

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, […]

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October sale sought for beleaguered Harrisburg apartments

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. […]

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Lawsuit puts cannabis testing rule on hold

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 […]

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Suit aims to stop Centric merger

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 […]

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Court ruling could prompt millions in corporate tax refunds

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 […]

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Court rules local stormwater fee is a tax

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 […]

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York law firms link up

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 […]

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Online retailers win sales-tax fight

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 […]

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State ends appeal in medical cannabis recall

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 […]

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Banks seek more time, info on Welkowitz deal

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 […]

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Ollie’s hit with overtime lawsuits

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 […]

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Court rejects expanded view of prevailing-wage law

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 […]

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Lawsuit settled over York fiber company

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 […]

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Facing insolvency, Welkowitz estate floats deal to settle debts

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 […]

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Harrisburg law firm opens HR consulting firm

McNees Wallace & Nurick has launched HR Influenced, a subsidiary that will offer HR consulting services under the umbrella of the Harrisburg-based law firm, which also houses a labor and employment legal practice. The new venture is headed by Kristen Evans, an experienced HR executive.Her career includes stints at York-based PACE Resources, Cintas, Harrisburg-based developer […]

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Marketing

Real Estate

Auction slated for York County hotel

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.

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Giant, Harrisburg U team up on new ag research center

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.

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The region’s top real estate deals of 2021

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.

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Firm snaps up West Shore warehouse

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 […]

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