POTTSVILLE — Southern Schuylkill County soon will have a hospital, thanks in part to the expansion of public utilities in that area, the head of the authority providing much of that service said Thursday at a meeting of local business leaders.
“I think the collaborative effort is the key here,” Schuylkill County Municipal Authority Executive Director Patrick M. Caulfield said during the 90-minute Manufacturers and Employers Association Executive Roundtable session titled “The Current and Future State of Schuylkill County Economic Development” at its One Norwegian Plaza office. “Our investment was able to springboard the project.”
That project, the 80-bed hospital being built by Geisinger Health System, Danville, and St. Luke’s Health System, Bethlehem, along Route 61 in West Brunswick Township near Orwigsburg, should be ready to open this coming autumn, Caulfield said.
“This is what happens” when the public and private sectors work together, he said.
About 40 business and community leaders attended the roundtable session, which concentrated on developing businesses in the county development. Those leaders agreed with Caulfield that working together is the key to economic development, and the resulting jobs and prosperity, across the county.
“Our success is your success, and vice versa,” with local, state and federal officials working together, commissioners Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. said. “That’s how we’re getting things done.”
County Commissioner Gary J. Hess said working together is the only way to progress.
“We’ve seen some challenges and we’ve seen some great successes,” he said.
Several Schuylkill Economic Development Corp. projects served as examples of how to develop properties to accommodate business and provide good employment opportunities.
“What we’re driving for is new job creation,” SEDCO Vice President Brian Hansbury said.
Hansbury said SEDCO is constructing a spec building — one for which it does not have a tenant immediately available — at Highridge Business Park for a manufacturer that can provide approximately 100 jobs. The $5.1 million project includes local contractors, including Quandel, which is doing its largest concrete pour ever, constructing the 117,000-square-foot building, he said.
“It is very important that we all approach this as a partnership,” said Hansbury, who credited state Sen. David G. Argall, R-29, Rush Township, and state Rep. Neal P. Goodman, D-123, Mahanoy City, with helping the project get off the ground.
Tyson Foods also is building a multimillion-dollar expansion of its plant at Highridge, according to Hansbury. The expansion will be fully roboticized, but still will result in the creation of 114 jobs, he said.
“Those employees will be high-skilled,” he said. “I think this is probably the wave of the future.”
He also said NorthPoint Development, Kansas City, Missouri, is progressing on the distribution center project at the site of the former Schuylkill Mall.
“There will be two individual buildings on the site,” Hansbury said.
County Commissioner Frank J. Staudenmeier marveled at the change, saying that the willingness of a large company like NorthPoint shows the county is turning a corner and becoming a major player in economic development.
Halcovage said the county will benefit financially with increased tax revenue from the New Castle Township site at Interstate 81 and Route 61.
Caulfield emphasized that the authority, which started in 1834, has been expanding its reach, not only by acquiring other utility providers, but also by joining in more projects.
He noted that, as parts of the hospital project, which is the first of its kind in the state, Rutter’s is building a convenience store on the other side of Route 61 and Forino Co. LP is building 168 apartments in the area. Caulfield said that will appeal to millennials and other young people.
“That’s another change that has to be embraced,” he said.
A medical office building will join the one already at the site, while more townhouses and single-family homes will be built near the area, according to Caulfield.
He said the authority has acquired the Butler Township Municipal Authority, will upgrade its Gordon plant, will be buying the Morea Citizens Water Co. and plans to expand its operations in Pine Grove Township.
Caulfield said his authority also is participating in two trail projects, one between Frackville and Saint Clair along Mill Creek and the other linking the Gordon Nagle Trail in Pottsville with Llewellyn and Blackwood.
“Quality of life is very important,” he said.
Hansbury said numerous other SEDCO projects should bring jobs to the county. These include:
• Improving roads at the Delano and Tidewood Industrial Parks. The poor condition of those roads had been a barrier to development at each, Hansbury said.
• Helping Clearly Clean, Orwigsburg, acquire another building in Frackville for immediate growth of that maker of plastic food containers. He said the company also is planning to expand in Orwigsburg and hire another 120 people.
• Seeking a buyer for the former Ashland Regional Medical Center in Fountain Springs, Butler Township.
• Helping Solar Innovations, Pine Grove, expand into a third building to try to accommodate its 180 employees.
“They do not have enough space,” Hansbury said. “We’re doing everything we can.”
Contact the writer: pbortner@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6014