Construction of Strawberry Square, 1977
In mid-2022, Ashley Crist got a sneak preview of the Menaker Apartments while Harristown Development Corp. was renovating them. When she saw the top-floor unit with the 180-degree views of Market Square, she immediately claimed it as her own.
“Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful,” Crist said. “Now, I host New Year’s Eve every year because we’re right there by the strawberry drop. I entertain all the time. I’m on the Candlelight House Tour with Historic Harrisburg and let people walk through and get the views. It’s fantastic.”
In 1974, Harristown was created to help restore a city gutted and unrecognizable from its Bedford Falls heyday. This year, it celebrates 50 years of evolving with the times and, once again, helping lead Harrisburg’s recovery from the upheaval of the global pandemic.
“Together, we’re making this an interesting downtown that’s a place people can access and enjoy for work, recreation, leisure and residential,” said Brad Jones, Harristown’s president and CEO. “Harristown has brought half-a-billion dollars’ worth of assets to this downtown in the last 50 years, and each project continues to help that get a little bit better.”
Founded in Crisis
Carol Cocheres came to Harrisburg in 1975, a young lawyer working for the then-Department of Community Affairs.
“There was nothing going on in Harrisburg in 1975,” said Cocheres, a bond attorney and Harristown board member. “The stores were closing. There was no hotel. It was sort of a dump at that point.”
Downtown Harrisburg of the 1950s and ‘60s buzzed with activity. Department stores. Boutiques. Movies. But by the late ‘60s, racial protests fueled white flight. The steelmaking and railroads that powered the economy were faltering. In 1972, the floodwaters of Hurricane Agnes made buildings uninhabitable.
In 1974, civic leaders created an independent, nonprofit organization to renew roughly 50 acres from Chestnut Street to Locust Street. Inspired by the New Town Movement of the era, they named it Harristown Development Corp.
“The first thing I saw in improvements was Strawberry Square,” said Cocheres. “It was full of shops and the food court. There was even a night club.”
After building and buying parking garages, Harristown built Strawberry Square in 1980. First-floor retail was designed to lure customers away from suburban shopping malls. Forty-year leases with the Shapp administration to house state workers generated cash flow.
As Cocheres notes, the lease agreement helped the state compensate Harrisburg for the tax-exempt properties that deprived the struggling city of much-needed revenue. The creation of Harristown “was essential to the commonwealth helping Harrisburg after the difficult times the city was having in the late ‘60s and ‘70s,” she said.
Projects that followed included:
- City Island cleanup. The rundown ballpark where legends Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson once played became the home of the Harrisburg Senators.
- Strawberry Square Phase II, a complex puzzle that enclosed alleys and restored streetside retail. “That was a very cutting-edge project,” said Historic Harrisburg Association Executive Director David Morrison. “That was part of the saving of Strawberry Square, giving it a historic feature.”
- Facilitating construction projects that changed the face of downtown Harrisburg, including Penn National Insurance, Whitaker Center, Harrisburg University and the UPMC Health Sciences Tower at HU.
- Construction of a long-envisioned grand hotel in Market Square—the Hilton Harrisburg, completed in 1990. By forging a financing deal with the city and stepping in to manage, Harristown kept the hotel from succumbing to early struggles.
Of course, there were controversies and lawsuits, as well. State lawmakers and officials questioned the 40-year lease. Competing developers claimed Harristown monopolized downtown redevelopment. The Patriot-News forced compliance with state right-to-know and public meeting laws. Harrisburg City Council members balked at handing over control and bond issues to an entity outside their oversight.
“The city should have been the dog and Harristown the tail,” said early opponent and City Council member Herbert C. Goldstein.
But Harristown was learning. Frosty relations with city officials thawed and, Jones said, remain positive. Partnerships—a key to initial success—gained importance. In the last decade, private sector investors have seen steady returns on their money and “have a sincere interest in helping the city,” said Harristown board Chair David Black. The thoughtful leadership from 1999 to 2014 of President Russell Ford, a professionally trained planner, laid the groundwork for the visionary style of Jones and prepared Harristown for the COVID pandemic that cratered American downtowns, he said.
“Office occupancy still isn’t back to where it was, but without the residential downtown, it would be a much different place today post-pandemic than it is,” Black said.
Here Comes Housing
“Eds, meds and beds.” That’s the focus of today’s Harristown, said Jones, meaning education, health care and residential. In contrast, retail, once a mainstay of Strawberry Square, has ebbed, a trend that started over a decade ago and accelerated following the pandemic.
“Nobody’s building new card stores, right?” Jones said.
Now, anchors include Harrisburg University’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, the Capital Area School for the Arts, Best Friends Day Care, and one of downtown Harrisburg’s only doctor’s offices.
And on the floors above, those former state offices now house 22 units of The Flats at Strawberry Square. Today, Harristown has developed, owns and manages about 250 apartments carved out of former office, restaurant and retail spaces.
In hindsight, early Harristown can’t be faulted for the “somewhat regrettable” demolition of historic buildings in the name of urban renewal, said Historic Harrisburg’s Morrison.
“They evolved rather promptly in the direction of revitalizing and repurposing historic buildings and taking advantage of the existing building stock that surrounds Strawberry Square,” he said. “They began to see it as an asset rather than a liability in center city.”
Facing dire need, Harristown was meant to “rebuild faith in the private sector in doing business in downtown Harrisburg,” said Black.
He was on the board for the “monumental moment” when the Hilton flipped to private ownership in 2012. Harristown’s “what next?” conversations led to apartments opening six years before the pandemic made work-from-home a truth universally acknowledged.
“People from all walks of life are living downtown,” Black said.
Here in 2024, office tenants are downsizing as employees “are waking up and staying in their pajamas and working on their laptops from home,” Jones said. Harristown can’t convert every vacant office to residences, but “our city, like so many cities, is going to need a reimagining of the use of buildings,” he said.
“That will take a lot of capital. It will take partners. It’ll take creativity. In the end, I think it’ll be good for the downtown,” he said.
Adding residential units spreads a ripple effect of growth and development throughout the city, including affordable housing and tax-credit projects, said Crystal Brown, board member since 2018 and former director of Brethren Housing Association.
“While its footprint is restricted, its impact isn’t,” she said. “If there are more businesses and people moving into the city, that helps increase the tax base that allows the city to do more things. It absolutely is a win-win, and Harristown serves a great role and a great purpose in helping others do more of what they do.”
Future Focused
Jones has been in the top post at Harristown for nearly a decade now. He’s nearing retirement age, but has no immediate plans to do so. Why? There’s too much “unfinished business.”
“There are a lot of big projects in pre-development that I would like to help move this company to achieve,” he said.
The SoMa project revitalizing the blocks of 3rd Street south of Market Street is nearly complete. On Market Street, watch for new uses of the former CVS and Rite Aid stores. “And, hopefully, we’ll be announcing another big new project that will have everyone on the edge of their seats,” he said.
Harristown plans a 50th anniversary celebration on May 16—in Strawberry Square, of course. Other anniversary events include SoMa block parties from May through October.
Through awareness of opportunities, Harristown will evolve as the city’s needs evolve, said Black.
“You don’t always know what’s ahead, but it’s good to keep your eyes forward, and that’s what Brad and the team do,” he said.
Ashley Crist counts her Menaker Building apartment, the one she rented on the spot, as “by far my favorite” of her city apartments. She crosses the river to walk the City Island loop. She enjoys 3rd in the Burg craft beer tastings in SoMa.
“Harristown has done so much,” she said. “I feel like every time I turn around and I’m at a cool new spot or something new to check out in Harrisburg, it’s Harristown that’s doing it. They have their hands in a lot of really great things with the city.”
For more information on Harristown Development Corp., visit www.harristown.net.
On April 13, starting at 10 a.m., Historic Harrisburg Association will hold a walking tour of Center City Harrisburg, including a look at Harristown’s 50 years of impact. For more information, visit www.historicharrisburg.org.
Plants + Pints
In the 1970s, many cities built enclosed malls to try to compete with suburban shopping centers, most long gone.
In downtown Harrisburg, Strawberry Square has survived through constant adaptation and renewal, including as an events space. In fact, Harristown Enterprises recently completed the “Clock Box,” a colorful, modern-style meeting and lounge space that juts over the atrium.
This month, Strawberry Square will host one of its largest annual events, Plants + Pints Harrisburg, a family-friendly event highlighting local vegetarian and vegan vendors, craft beverages, wellness and other plant-based products in the community.
Proceeds benefit Downtown Daily Bread, which helps to feed Harrisburg’s unhoused population. The event is presented by Members 1st Credit Union and produced in partnership with Harristown and Sara Bozich Events.
“We so appreciate the Plants + Pints event,” said Corrie Lingenfelter, executive director at Downtown Daily Bread. “With Sara’s efforts, this fun event will bring much needed funds and support to our hungry and homeless populations through Downtown Daily Bread.”
Guests will be able to sample and purchase food and drink from local restaurants, food purveyors and breweries, and shop from vendors who promote locally made and plant-based products.
“We’re excited to return Plants + Pints to Strawberry Square,” said Brad Jones, president and CEO of Harristown. “We’ve seen how interest in a healthy or plant-based lifestyle has grown, and the Harrisburg area has so much to offer.”
Plants + Pints Harrisburg will take place on April 14, 1 to 5 p.m., at Strawberry Square in downtown Harrisburg. Tickets are $20 (adults) and $10 (under 21; kids under 12 are free) at www.sarabozich.ticketleap.com/plants–pints-2024. A full list of vendors can be found at www.sarabozich.com/event/plants-pints-2024.
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