For the second time in two years, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been honored with a Silver Shovel Award from
Area Development magazine, a site selection trade publication that annually recognizes the most economically significantly industrial development projects in the nation.
Two of the 10 Pennsylvania-based projects recognized this year are located in the state's southeastern corner.
Included in the magazine's 2014 list was the upcoming expansion of
Urban Outfitters' corporate headquarters in South Philadelphia's
Navy Yard and the direct-to-consumer fulfillment center the company is developing in the Lancaster County town of Gap.
Along with the 2,500 jobs those two projects will create -- 2,000 of them in Philadelphia -- the capital investment outlay from Urban Outfitters is expected to exceed $200,000,000.
Also recognized were two new development projects from
Axalta, a liquid and powder coatings enterprise. The company broke ground on a new manufacturing facility in Glen Mills and recently moved into a new global headquarters building in Center City. An investment of approximately $11,000,000 and 332 new jobs are the expected results of those projects.
According to Steven Kratz of the
Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Governor Corbett's office is especially pleased that a total of 11 different counties are represented in the 10 industrial and commercial development projects that led to the state's Silver Shovel Award.
"That shows that it's not just one area of Pennsylvania that's seeing growth," he says. "But really, at the end of the day, this means our economy is growing and it means new jobs are being created. And that's more significant than any award."
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Steven Kratz, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development