Crossing the Delaware

One of those other FTZs is in Scranton, Pa., where the 132-acre (53.4-hectare) Jessup Small Business Center and the 1,200-acre (486-hectare) Valley View Business Park will see RGDC and IDI develop up to 1 million sq. ft. (92,900 sq. m.) of distribution and light industrial facilities.
        "There's an enviable labor pool in the Scranton area and the sites have excellent highway accessibility," says Leslie E. Smith, Jr., executive vice president, development, for RGDC. "We have every expectation that the addition of FTZ status to the parks will prove to be a competitive advantage."
        The Jessup property just completed an $8.6-million environmental remediation process. Phase one at the Valley View park includes 140 acres (13 hectares) that are a Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone, exempting them from state and local taxes through 2013.
        The Lehigh Valley area continues to vault ahead on the strength of its former industrial profile. The longstanding efforts to rehabilitate the massive acreage and structures of Bethlehem Steel are finally starting to pay off in visible results. Lehigh Valley Industrial Park officially purchased 1,000 of the 1,600 acres (405 of 648 hectares) of land in early January 2004, finally launching the country's largest brownfield project. The complex, once employing some 30,000 in the service of one company, may once again see thousands of jobs. A separate tract of 550 acres (223 hectares) may be separately developed as a business park under the aegis of California-based Majestic Realty.
        One operation already on the shores of the Lehigh River is the oral fluid diagnostics manufacturing facility of homegrown OraSure, which just received final FDA approval in December 2003 for the complete transfer of operations from the company's plant in Oregon, which will gradually shut down. The move is expected to save the company some $1 million annually.
        In the neighboring community of Allentown, a $10-million, 265,535-sq.-ft. (24,668-sq.-m.) parts distribution and training center will rise for KIA Motors America, near its existing 169,000-sq.-ft. (15,700-sq.-m.) facility in Keystone Property Trust's Westpark Business Center. KIA will lease around 80 percent of the facility, with Keystone retaining ownership of the property. The project, which will include 50-ft. (15.2-m.) column spacing and 30-ft. (9.1-m.) ceilings, is expected to be complete by late 2004.
        Not far away, in the former Mack Truck plant, moulding and millwork distributor The Empire Co. has opened a 174,000-sq.-ft. (16,165-sq.-m.) distribution center, after also scouting locations in New Jersey and New York. The facility will service accounts in nine northeast states with an initial group of 30 employees that could grow to 50 within two years. The Michigan-based company also operates centers in Zeeland, Mich.; Ocala, Fla.; and Chesapeake, Va. The new Allentown facility will only occupy a small part of the 94 acres (38 hectares) formerly occupied by Mack.
        As if to illustrate the brownfield potential of the area, Allentown-based environmental services firm EWMI built its own new HQ, a 21,000-sq.-ft. (1,951-sq.-m.) plant near Northampton Borough that brought together two different operations. Even with the consolidation, the firm hopes to add 15-20 new positions to its payroll of 27 within the next few years.