Four projects in Berks County have received a total $6 million in grant funding through Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.
The grants were announced Monday. Local recipients include Alvernia University, the Reading Medical Arts building, Wyomissing borough and ByHeart.
Reading CollegeTowne
Alvernia University received a $1 million state grant for the second phase of its Reading CollegeTowne project.
CollegeTowne is the school’s foray into downtown Reading, with a new campus at Fourth and Penn streets that opened this fall.
The grant will help Alvernia develop a health and sciences program at the site and expand the school’s new engineering program. Those are two of the key pieces of the second phase of the CollegeTowne project.
Local legislators lauded the state’s investment in the project.
“It’s exciting to see a project this important to the future of downtown Reading reach its goals this quickly,” state Sen. Judy Schwank said. “We are really starting to see what Reading CollegeTowne is all about. The prospect of offering students high-quality post-secondary education in crucial fields like engineering and health sciences is a huge win for the city of Reading.”
State Rep. Mark Rozzi said Berks County is lucky to have a strong group of colleges that are making an impact on the area, including Alvernia.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have a number of terrific colleges and universities that have big plans for the future of the greater Reading area,” he said. “We’ve worked hard to advocate at the state level for these projects. It’s been great to see that the value of Reading Collegetowne is being recognized in Harrisburg.”
State Rep. Manny Guzman said CollegeTowne is a key piece to a bright future for downtown Reading.
“Reading CollegeTowne continues to be one of the many projects we can be excited about in the city of Reading,” he said. “I’m grateful to Gov. (Tom) Wolf for seeing the potential of not just this project but Reading as a whole. The funding provided by the state is giving us an opportunity to make meaningful changes in our community.”
Reading Medical Arts building
A $2.25 million grant has been awarded to help renovate the Reading Medical Arts building, as well as to build an addition.
The building, located at 226 and 230 N. Fifth St., is owned by William and Judith McMahon of Exeter Township and is being redeveloped by local developer Alan Shuman.
The state grant money will aid in the construction of a two-story addition in the adjacent vacant lot, masonry and window repair, a roof replacement, modernization of ground-floor retail space, lobby restoration, utility improvements and the addition of 35 residential apartments.
Rozzi said the building is one that has been considered as site for potential redevelopment for quite some time.
“Revamping Reading’s Medical Arts building into apartments and retail space has been a project in the works for years,” he said. “Securing this state funding will ensure that this historic building maintains its original art deco touches that make it a crucial piece of Reading’s history. Modernizing and utilizing this facility is just one example of continued efforts to redevelop and revitalize the city of Reading.
“I’m incredibly thankful for this $2 million investment and will keep working to bring more state dollars home to benefit our community.”
ByHeart’s Project Lexington
ByHeart was awarded $1.75 million in grant funding to make improvements to its Reading-based facility.
ByHeart’s Project Lexington will establish the company as one of the country’s only fully integrated baby formula manufacturers. The funding will be used to complete the construction of a canning line and dry blend area at the ByHeart facility located at 61 Vanguard Drive in Exeter Township.
These improvements will secure the last piece of the supply chain in Pennsylvania at ByHeart’s manufacturing plant, making it the fourth end-to-end infant formula manufacturer in the U.S. The funding will ensure the final canned product is released from Pennsylvania and give Pennsylvania dairy farmers access to a $70 billion global market.
The plant improvements are projected to create 50 new jobs and support countless others in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical sector as ByHeart expands production and canning.
“ByHeart’s project will have a positive impact locally by creating high-paying jobs and provide a statewide boost to Pennsylvania dairy sales,” Schwank said.
Schwank said that she and members of her staff got a chance to visit the facility this past spring and learned about ByHeart’s goals for the facility.
“This project has a lot of upsides, including creating an ecosystem for high-value dairy inputs like organic grass-fed whole milk, organic grass-fed lactose and value-added whey proteins,” she said. “For me, supporting this project’s application was a no-brainer and I’m grateful to ByHeart for seeing value in Berks County and to Gov. Wolf for funding this project.”
In a statement, ByHeart officials said that the company has chosen the commonwealth to be the hub of its production.
“We have since seen extraordinary support from both Sen. Schwank and Gov. Wolf to evolve our mission,” they said. “It is with great humility and honor that we accept the RACP grant in order to continue our work to create highly skilled manufacturing jobs and to progress the ecosystem of dairy innovation in Pennsylvania.”
Wyomissing public works and safety facility
Wyomissing was awarded a $1 million grant as part of the program to help improve its public works and safety facility.
Rep. Mark Gillen, a Robeson Township Republican, said he’s pleased to see this project get the funding needed to enhance the facility, which will allow it to better serve the community and its residents.
The project includes expanding a locker room; renovating the office area to include a large break room; enclosing a portion of the building for a conference room and storage space; and installing additional overhead doors for vehicle service bays.
Additionally, a parking garage will be built in the borough’s empty field with a possible truck-washing bay with secure police storage building attached to the garage.
Source: Berkshire mont
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