Online Retailer Zulily To Open Hub In Bethlehem That Employs 1,200

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Online retailer zulily plans to establish a distribution center in Bethlehem that will create 1,200 full-time jobs over the next three years, Gov. Tom Corbett announced today.

The hub is targeted for 10 Emery St., an 800,000-square-foot warehouse owned by Liberty Property Trust in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII — former Bethlehem Steel Corp. land off Route 412.

Corbett said in a news release that the building will serve as zulily’s Northeast fulfillment center and the company is making a multimillion-dollar investment there.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2014/09/online_retailer_zulily_to_open.html

Lower Macungie Approves 3 Million Square Feet Of Warehouses

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lower Macungie Township officials signed off tonight on plans to construct just under 3 million square feet of warehouses.

The plans by developer Liberty Property Trust call for the buildings to be developed on 225 acres in the western part of the township, near Spring Creek and Mertztown roads.

The project includes three warehouses which are 1.2 million, 1.1 million and 650,000 square feet in size, as well as a 10,000-square-foot office building, township planning director Sara Pandl said.

Township commissioners voted 5-0 tonight to approve the project. Construction is expected to begin as early as this year and could conclude by 2015, according to Bill Bumber, Liberty Property Trust’s vice president of development.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh-county/index.ssf/2014/07/lower_macungie_approves_3_mill.html

N.J. Company Seeks Philly Headquarters (Update)

(Is Hill leaving to avoid getting squeezed out? See Update below) Hill International, the multinational construction consulting company, is seeking a new headquarters location in Center City Philadelphia, David Richter, the 4,000-person company’s president and chief operating officer, tells me. “It’s easier to hire people, and there are better buildings and a better labor pool” downtown, compared to the company’s longtime base in Marlton, N.J., he added.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/NJ-company-seeks-Philly-headquarters.html#mZfkhdzqLY2rAgYU.99

Wal-Mart Plans ‘Largest Ever’ Warehouse In Pennsylvania

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pennsylvania, once the Workshop of the World, where big factories made big stuff, is now America’s Warehouse, where shippers import goods through Eastern ports and send them out via free Interstate highways to points South and West.

Wal-Mart says it will open “its largest ever” warehouse in Bethlehem, Pa., in the Spring, and hire 350 workers to ship electronics, toys, guns and other popular items.  Liberty Property Trust says it has leased to Wal-Mart the newly-completed 1.2 million square foot facility at 2785 Commerce Center Blvd.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Wal-Mart-Amazon-boost-Pa-warehouse-hiring.html#hUKUwkOltyZx2aZu.99

Buzz Builds On Another Comcast Tower

English: Comcast Tower, tallest building in Philadelphia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Comcast Corp., which runs its growing media empire from Philadelphia’s tallest skyscraper, is considering building at least one new tower in Center City and is working with the prominent British architect Norman Foster, according to sources in the city’s real estate community.

Details about Comcast’s expansion plans are being kept under tight wraps, but the company appears to be focusing on constructing the first of several towers on a long, skinny, 1.5-acre site at 18th and Arch Streets, a block west of the Comcast Center. That building could eventually be part of a vertical campus including towers at 19th Street and Arch, and 18th and John F. Kennedy Boulevard.

All three sites are controlled by Liberty Property Trust, which completed Comcast’s sleek, 975-foot headquarters just six years ago.

Since then, Comcast has grown enormously.  With its acquisition of NBCUniversal and its move into new digital products, Comcast has filled virtually all 1.2 million square feet in its glass obelisk and needs more office space for its expanding workforce.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20130913_Buzz_builds_on_another_Comcast_tower.html#gAFItxjofzd2oxPB.99

DeMedici II Will Buy Former GlaxoSmithKline Building For New String Theory School

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A new performing arts charter high school says it has sealed a deal to open in the fall at GlaxoSmithKline‘s former North American headquarters at 16th and Vine Streets.

Under terms that will be announced Thursday, a nonprofit associated with the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School has agreed to buy the curving, eight-story building for $29 million for the String Theory High School for the Arts and Sciences.  It will be the first charter high school in the city focused on the performing arts.

The nonprofit, DeMedici Corporation II, expects to finance the property with tax-exempt bonds from the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID), according to Mary D’Anella, spokeswoman for String Theory Schools, which manages the charter.

“It’s the most exciting high school this city has opened in a generation,” said Angela Corosanite, chief executive officer of the nonprofit String Theory, and founder of it and the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School.

Read more:  http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130328_DeMedici_II_will_buy_former_GlaxoSmithKline_building_for_new_String_Theory_School.html

Bethlehem Mayor Announces $56 Million In Development At Former Bethlehem Steel Site

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan on Wednesday announced $56 million of economic development for two projects at the former Bethlehem Steel plant — two buildings that could be used for warehousing or light assembly.

Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII is negotiating for a 175,000-square-foot facility along Route 412.

Liberty Property Trust has filed plans for an 800,000-square-foot speculative building, one that would be built without a formal commitment from whoever ends up using it.

While Callahan didn’t have any job estimates on that building, he noted that a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse under way is expected to bring as many as 500 jobs once a tenant is signed.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-bethlehem-state-of-city-callahan-20120314,0,5953407.story