CEBA to break ground early next year, DSI says
Event center could attract “regional or smaller state conferences” to borough
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Chris Gulotta, a consultant for DSI, speaks during a community meeting on Oct. 17, 2023 regarding the planned Center for Education, Business, and the Arts.
SHENANDOAH – A “game-changer” at least seven years in the making is finally coming to fruition.
Downtown Shenandoah, Inc. said Tuesday that its planned innovation center, dubbed the Center for Education, Business & Arts, or CEBA, is mere months from breaking ground.
The update came at a community meeting at the Shenandoah Valley High School, where DSI and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center first proposed the center back in 2016.
PDC described the project as “a game-changer for the anthracite region” at another community meeting in 2018, and those words were echoed Tuesday.
“This could be a game-changing project,” Chris Gulotta, a consultant for DSI, said, noting that it can lead to a variety of positive economic impacts for the town.
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.
Gulotta said 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.
That first phase, he said, is fully funded via $4 Million in state grants, $1.9 Million in federal grants, and $1.1 Million in fundraising by DSI.
DSI is “aggressively” pursuing funding opportunities to fund the second phase, which, at a $3 Million price tag, will complete the event space and remaining incubator spaces.
Bids will go out later this month for phase one, and DSI hopes to break ground in the first quarter of 2024, with construction wrapping up in mid-2025.
By that point, DSI hopes to have funding together for phase two.
“It is a very exciting time for all of us here in Shenandoah,” DSI President Karen Kenderdine said of the project nearing fruition. “This is truly a project of the community.”
Gulotta said the Employment Advancement and Retention Network (EARN) will utilize the job training space to provide training for people “that are chronically under-employed or un-employed.”
“This is huge,” Gulotta said. “We want to make sure we are providing our local employers with an adequate supply of labor and this is exactly the type of programming that can accomplish that objective.”
The community event center, Gulotta said, could be used for weddings, social functions reunions, and more.
“I think there’s a really good chance you can have some regional and smaller state conferences using this event space,” Gulotta said. “If you bring a regional or small statewide conference in to use your space, you’re seeing those dollars multiply in your community. You see people spending money in your community who are attending these conferences, going to lunch at local businesses, which is huge for the community in general.”
He also said there would be a “generous amount of community space” in the building which will be used to showcase the arts and to use as gallery space. He also said the event space can be used for art shows as well.
Regarding funding, Gulotta emphasized the fact that DSI raised $1.1 Million from the local community, which he said is indicative of the support and importance of the project.
“This is why the state and federal government have embraced the project,” Gulotta said. “When you have a relatively small community raising $1.1 Million in donations, that sends the message to the state and federal government, that this community has its act together and it’s doing its fair share to make projects like this become a reality.”
Patrick Jones, Chancellor of Penn State Schuylkill, said furthering the mission “of economic development in Shenandoah is at the core of what Penn State is.”
“What we plan for this classroom is going to be dictated by the community,” Jones said, noting that they plan to host the Schuylkill Launchbox at the center. “What we plan to do is meet the needs of the community and we don’t presume to know exactly what all those needs are.”
The Penn State classroom would be the first higher education facility in Shenandoah in many decades.
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