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“This is going to happen. We’re looking at breaking ground in April.”
Attorney Eric Mika, of Downtown Shenandoah, Inc. said that in response to a question from borough councilman Joe Gawrylik asking if there was a “plan B” for the revitalization group’s planned innovation center.
The group provided an update on the planned Center for Education, Business, and the Arts, to be built at the former site of Davison’s Furniture and Thunder Road, Monday night at a borough council workshop.
Mika was joined by DSI President Karen Kenderdine, Chris Gulotta, a consultant for DSI, Commissioner Gary Hess, and other DSI members. Mika and Kenderdine said that the bids have been awarded for phase one of construction and that a groundbreaking will happen in mid-April.
Gulotta, of the Gulotta Group, Easton, echoed words from prior public meetings, saying it will be a “game-changing project.” The way that you, a proud community that you are, will come back is by creating private investment,” Gulotta said. “You do that through creating jobs, through creating businesses. This project is absolutely designed to make that happen. This isn’t a pipe dream, this is a reality,” Gulotta added.
Gulotta called back to prior work he’s done in other communities which had lost their major industries.
DSI said that, of the $7.8 Million raised for phase one, 40% — $3.3 Million — of that is local private investment. “It shows the resilience of this community, the drive of this community, the leadership of the community,” Gulotta said. “When all is said and done, the question is can we afford to do this. The better question is, can we afford not to do this.” CEBA would be the first new building built in downtown Shenandoah since Rite Aid’s two iterations were built in 1988 and 2000 respectively.
Kenderdine called Shenandoah a “community of action, not words,” calling back to efforts to raise $250,000 in DSI’s formative years. Mika noted DSI’s motto of “Return to Prominence.” “Where will we be in 25 years,” Mika asked. “Do we do nothing or do we work together? We’re all residents or business owners in the county.” Kenderdine said the project would be “transformational, not just for Shenandoah, but all of northern Schuylkill and lower Luzerne.”
DSI and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center first proposed the center back in 2016. The center will be built in the 100 block of North Main Street, where Davison’s Furniture/Berks Thrift Store and Goodwill/Thunder Road stood until a massive fire destroyed the former and damaged the latter in 2006. Another fire destroyed Thunder Road for good in 2012.
The three-story building will include a small business incubator on the lower level, as well as DSI offices, a commercial kitchen, job training offices, and a Penn State classroom on the first floor.
The first floor will be level with Main Street, while the lower level will be level with Market Street.
A community event center will be on the third floor, which could be used for weddings, social functions reunions, and more.
The project is being split into two phases. The first phase, with a $7 Million price tag, will complete the shell of the building, as well as everything inside except the event center and some business incubator spaces.
Gulotta said at a previous public meeting that the Employment Advancement and Retention Network (EARN) will utilize the job training space to provide training for people “that are chronically under-employed or unemployed.” A Penn State classroom would also be included in the facility, which would be the first higher education facility in Shenandoah in many decades.
Special thanks to Kaylee Lindenmuth for attending the meeting and sharing her coverage with us.
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