Area Development
Construction started on Green Knight Industrial Park in Wind Gap, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

The approximately $5 million project will develop the 55-acre site, formerly used as a slate quarry and a tire dump, into a 10-lot industrial park housing small manufacturers and industrial firms employing nearly 300 workers.

The Green Knight Industrial Park is located along Route 33 near the Route 512 interchange. According to project developer Green Knight Economic Development Corporation, the new development will house a total of approximately 200,000 square feet of building space, with lots sized to meet the demand of small-to-mid sized manufacturers and industrial firms looking to locate or expand in the region.

Upon full build out, the park is estimated to create approximately 280 jobs and generate approximately $300,000 annually in additional tax revenue for the community.

“We’ve been working toward this day for several years and we couldn’t be more excited to get construction underway” stated GKEDC Board Chairman Carlton Snyder. “A project like this requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and we’ve been fortunate to have such a tremendous team of partners working with us to help bring this project to fruition.”

The project was supported with funding from the Business in Our Sites program, which the state said is a critical tool that helps the commonwealth develop pad-ready sites for future business development growth.

DCED has awarded GKEDC a $1,577,712 grant and a $2,366,572 low-interest loan through the BOS program, which provides funding to support the extremely high cost of remediating brownfield sites to prepare them for occupancy by businesses. The funding will support project costs associated with the installation of roads and streets, water and sewer infrastructure, utilities, demolition, excavation and grading, and engineering. Construction of the infrastructure is scheduled to take place throughout the rest of 2018 and finish in the spring of 2019.

“Projects like this industrial park are so important for Governor Wolf because of the business development that will result from it,” Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Deputy Secretary Carol Kilko said. “This site went from housing millions of old tires to hundreds of new jobs and that kind of development has a significant, positive impact on local workers and the community as a whole.”