A new office building is expected to rise following demolition of the dilapidated former Coronet restaurant building.
Downtown Harrisburg may soon get its first new office building in many years, as Harristown plans to clear and develop a narrow space off of Market Square.
Asbestos remediation work will begin this week on 21 S. 2nd Street, a small, three-story, dilapidated brick building that once housed the Coronet restaurant on the ground floor, said Brad Jones, president and CEO of Harristown Enterprises. Demolition will follow, he said.
“This building was beyond repair,” Jones said. “Rehabilitation is always our preference when working on an old building, but unfortunately this former restaurant had severe water damage and asbestos and couldn’t be saved.”
Harristown hopes to construct a new, six-story office building next year, with retail or restaurant space on the first floor, once demolition is completed in February 2018. It expects to combine the space with a renovation of the historic SkarlotosZonarich building next door.
Above: Artist’s rendering of a new office building planned by Harristown.
“If combined with a renovation of the adjacent law firm building, there is great potential to create a wonderful, new, mixed-use office complex with a blend of new construction and renovations,” Jones said.
A.P. Williams, based in Susquehanna Township, will conduct the remediation and demolition.
Harristown purchased the building last month for $150,000 from real estate investor Dusan Bratic, who had owned it about nine years, during which it mostly sat empty.
