The state grants are far less than the area received under Gov. Ed Rendell.
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Majestic Bethlehem Center, where Crayola is opening this new warehouse, received $5 million in state grants toward site work for the former Bethlehem Steel Corp. land's continued redevelopment.
The big checks from Harrisburg keep getting smaller.
Once totaling $4 billion under former Gov. Ed Rendell, the state’s economic development grant program has been cut to $125 million in the 2012 round announced this week under Gov. Tom Corbett.
That means Lehigh and Northampton counties — which in 2011 got a combined $72.5 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grants — are getting $11 million in this latest allocation.
Corbett called Rendell’s funding levels unsustainable and said the program had strayed considerably from its intended purpose of assisting job growth. His administration renamed the grants the Economic Growth Initiative from Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program and filled only 54 of 175 applications.
Locally, the Majestic Bethlehem Center got $5 million toward further site work in turning former Bethlehem Steel Corp. land into a new industrial park. The Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts got $3 million for a planned new school on South Side Bethlehem.
Another $2.5 million went to the Hamilton Crossings plaza in Lower Macungie Township, which is expected to house a Costco and a Target. Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown got $500,000 toward hospital renovations.
The Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts has outgrown its rental space on East Broad Street in Bethlehem and wants to open a new school near the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, said the school's executive director, Diane LaBelle.
“We need a bigger space and to be located in south Bethlehem where all the arts are going on,” she said.
The school probably needs about $20 million for a new school but the $3 million from the state is a big help, LaBelle said. The school is pursuing other fund sources, she said.
Most Lehigh Valley projects that didn’t get the state economic development grants are happening anyway.
Charles Chrin Cos. unsuccessfully requested $13.5 million toward a new Route 33 interchange in Palmer Township, but the project broke ground last month. St. Luke’s University Health Network didn’t get the $1 million it sought to expand its Bethlehem Township, Pa., hospital, but that project also is going forward.
Miller Symphony Hall, formerly Allentown Symphony Hall, had sought $300,000 for lobby renovations, but that project was successfully completed in the fall. The Allentown Economic Development Corp. didn’t get the $500,000 it was seeking to expand its Bridgeworks Enterprise Center, but the organization got a $500,000 check from the federal government last summer.
Major projects in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton — such as Bethlehem’s SteelStacks campus and Easton’s Simon Silk Mill — have been boosted by state economic development grants. Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said the city didn’t have any projects that were eligible for this round of grants, but he’s worried the city may miss out on future grant opportunities because of Corbett’s changed criteria.
Easton plans to apply for state economic development grants to help in the renovation of the Easton Armory in the West Ward and the Black Diamond mill project on South Side when they’re ready to move forward, Panto said.
“The governor has made new standards … and it is a little more difficult for urban projects, I believe, to now receive them,” Panto said. “There’s investment requirements, there’s use-type requirements that may not be conducive to a city of our size.”