REI was offered its own set of benefits for the project.
   Presley says the incentive package included "infrastructure and opportunity grants — to extend water, sewage and gas lines, as well as road improvements consistent with the area's master plan — job training and assistance such as job creation tax credits and local

REI isn't the only acronym developing new distribution facilities in the Northeast. In addition to providing "rapid egress and regress through below-grade access through the Lincoln Tunnel" adjacent to its site, this site for a forthcoming DHL facility in the Big Apple will consolidate the work now performed at two separate facilities. Photo courtesy DHL

tax abatement." The park's presence in a Keystone Opportunity Zone confers some of the benefits. With the help of the Bedford County Development Association (BCDA), the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the Governor's Action Team offered REI a $1.93-million financial package that includes a $1.25-million Infrastructure Development Program grant, a $300,000 Opportunity Grant, $150,000 in Job Training Assistance and $237,000 in Job Creation Tax Credits.
   Asked how Pennsylvania's cost of doing business and incentives compare to the operational climate in Washington, he says, "The biggest issues for REI are matters of location and service. As such, we looked at what our cost of doing business on only one coast would be to the company, considering that everything else was fairly comparable."
   There were risks in Bedford County too, where BCDA officials had taken heat for going ahead with a second business park before the county's first park was fully occupied. Bette Slaton, BCDA president and CEO, says her board took a calculated gamble.
   "We did get a number of grumbles from locals," says Slaton. "We explained it was apples and oranges. Our Achilles heel was that we did not have 20-plus acres [8 hectares] and we were turning away DC prospects. Senator [Robert] Jubelirer helped us secure a $1.5 million EDA grant, we put in our own equity [$300,000 from fundraising] and took out a loan, developed the first 50 acres [20 hectares], and went under I-99 to get water and sewer. REI was blown away, and said they could picture their facility on it."
   That picture took three visits to come to fruition. Slaton and colleague Kathy Davis echo Presley's citation of Cannondale's influence, in the form of that company's controller Bob Octavio. A Dallas developer investing $90 million in the redevelopment of the historic Bedford Springs Hotel called up REI officials. A manager from the Wal-Mart DC answered questions. Gov. Ed Rendell placed a call. BCDA board member Todd Roadman, president of Reed Wertz and Roadman Insurance, also put in his two cents' worth — in addition to being an insurance man, he doubles as a heli-skier and world-class canoeist.
   Over and above all the consultation, time was built into their visit schedule for a high-priority REI activity: hiking.
   The REI team is just beginning to assess design aspects of the new complex, so Presley says it's early to say how the new facility will replicate or improve upon the Sumner facility. But he says the team is looking at best practices "in the areas of capacity, energy efficiency and conveyor technology."
   Finally, asked if the co-op's increasing presence in the Southeast could presage a third DC, Presley says, "Our Bedford facility is being designed and built to meet our needs in the foreseeable future, and we have no plans for a third facility at this point."
   Bedford County, on the other hand, is ready for more.
   "We're going to do phase II and have another 96 acres [39 hectares]," says Slaton. "And one of the site selection consultants has indicated he will be bringing prospects for Phase II."
   Even some of the downsizers are upsizing again: JLG Industries, a maker of aerial work platforms, telehandlers and highway-speed telescopic hydraulic excavators, will reopen its Bedford County facility, closed in 2003, and create 260 new jobs there along with a $2.1-million equipment investment. The company will create a total of 575 new jobs at its other Pennsylvania facilities in McConnellsburg (Fulton Co.) and Shippensburg (Cumberland Co.).
   At the REI announcement ceremony just before Christmas, Dennis Yablonsky, secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development, summed up the quick rollercoaster ride that this hilly region has experienced, helped by some $63 million that the Commonwealth has invested in 44 Bedford projects since 2003.
   "One thousand new jobs have been created since January of 2005," he said. "And Bedford's unemployment rate has been lowered from 9 percent to 5.8 percent — that is the biggest improvement of all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. We have gone from the 46th ranked state in job creation to 7th. We are heading in the right direction."