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 the site could hold six five-story buildings and an eight-story building, according to a statement from Blanda Nace, executive director of the redevelopment authority.
- All told, the buildings would contain roughly 300 apartments, 70,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, and 50,000 square feet of office and flex space, according to Nace.
- “We’re just excited to get started,” said Josh Juffe, a principal with Statewide who added that it was too early to discuss any details beyond those shared by Nace.
What’s next: The option gives Statewide time to conduct due diligence on the site, which is bounded to the north and west by the Codorus Creek.
- The results would indicate whether and how to proceed.
- Statewide is coming into the area after plans by another developer failed to materialize.
- Those plans came from a local entrepreneur named John McElligott, who had hoped to create a high-tech, robotics-focused campus called The York Plan 2.0 Innovation District.
The background: York officials decided last fall to look for a new developer for the site, the final portion of the larger Northwest Triangle tract.
- Earlier projects in the area include the baseball stadium now known as PeoplesBank Park, a new building for the York Academy Regional Charter School and conversion to offices of a former industrial building at 320 N. George St.
- Though mostly empty, the remaining tract is home to one completed project: The Keystone Color Works apartment building at 175 W. Gay Ave.
- In addition to local tax incentives for development, the Northwest Triangle is in a federally designated Opportunity Zone, a federal tax-incentive program.
— by Joel Berg, editor of biznewsPA
