Has another news year already passed us by in Harrisburg?

Indeed, it’s the annual slow holiday week between Christmas and New Year’s, which can only mean one thing: TheBurg’s annual rundown of our most popular stories of the year.

These are the stories that you clicked on most often. This favors our online-only reporting, which means that our print magazine stories may be at a disadvantage. But those are the digital breaks so, without further delay, here are the stories that garnered the most page views on our website in 2025 out of nearly 1,000 stories we published over the last year.

10. Senior Spot
In Harrisburg, housing was a big topic this past year, and several of our stories on the subject cracked the most-read list in 2025. In the No. 10 spot: an online news story from July that reported that Harristown Development would begin work to convert a downtown office building into a new, 39-unit senior living complex, in conjunction with Select Capital and Garden Spot Communities. When complete, the building, at 112 Market St., will be Harrisburg’s first market-rate building for ages 55-plus, in a city touted as one of the best places for retirement in the country.

9. Where There’s Hope
The struggles of downtown Harrisburg continued unabated in 2025 and, arguably, got worse, as more small businesses closed. As is often the case, we wanted to emphasize possible solutions, not just problems. So, in May, we published a lengthy magazine feature about folks who are remaining in, and even investing in, the downtown. The story featured restaurant owners, arts groups and nightlife impresarios who look at downtown and see a bright future ahead, albeit one with considerable challenges. As a common thread, they seemed ready to move into a future far less reliant on what has long driven the city’s economy—the huge state workforce that now largely works remotely.

8. Gee Whiz!
Every year, one story makes the top 10 list that comes as a total surprise to me. In 2025, that story was a May magazine feature on the reopening of the Cheesesteak Guy, a small eatery that moved to Lemoyne from the Broad Street Market. Restaurant stories are a staple of TheBurg, and they often do well eyeball-wise. This story, though, proved especially appetizing, likely due to the highly rated food and the local renown of the owners, who also understand how to use social media. So, hit the link and discover their secret sauce, or, better yet, pay them a visit and chomp down on one of the best cheesesteaks in central Pa.

7. Principal Problem
The Harrisburg School District is one of our core beats but rarely does a school story rank among the most read. In 2025, one did just that, as we reported in October that Harrisburg High Principal Christopher Sattele would resign after just a year on the job. In recent years, the position has been something of a revolving door. Sattele replaced Laquan Magruder, who similarly lasted just over a year. The school board then appointed long-time district official Roma Benjamin to replace Sattele on an interim basis until a new full-time principal could be recruited in 2026. In my view, there was little compelling about this short, online news story to cause it to climb up the charts, other than the continuing drama surrounding this vital, if volatile, position.

6. Housing Hits
In recent years, affordable housing projects have popped up in several Harrisburg neighborhoods. Sycamore Homes is one, as developer George Fernandez and local officials cut the ribbon on the 23-unit building in late April. Later in the year, Fernandez broke ground on another affordable housing project, the 48-unit Woodward Lofts project for seniors. Fernandez has been quite active in Harrisburg, and his projects always get plenty of attention. So, I expect big web traffic with the eventual ribbon-cutting, likely in 2027, for that ground-up development.

5. Home Fronts
In Harrisburg, all kinds of new housing are needed: market rate, affordable and transitional. In October, we ran a magazine feature detailing how several groups are offering solutions for the unhoused, often in innovative ways. These new developments range widely, from a better organized tent community to tiny house developments to a large apartment building, all in south Harrisburg. Together, these projects promise more humane living conditions than the jumble of makeshift structures from “tent city,” often with vital social services embedded into the plan.

4. Building Boom
Another day, another affordable housing project in Harrisburg. This time, former NFL player LeSean McCoy and his company, Vice Capital, cut the ribbon in June on JMB Gardens, a 41-unit development in the Uptown neighborhood. Much like fellow developer George Fernandez, McCoy has even bigger plans ahead. Vice Capital also expects to build “The Savoy 48,” a 48-unit development on the 1500-block of N. 6th Street. That project will be a mix of affordable and market-rate units, offering Harrisburg two types of housing that it desperately needs. In Harrisburg, new housing—plus a hometown hero—equals big clicks.

3. Zero’d Out
I begin writing this annual column in early December, and it seems that, every year, some late-breaking story tosses my list into the air. That tradition continued in 2025, as Zeroday Brewing Co. announced it would close its flagship taproom at the end of the year. The story rocketed up the list, the latest bad news in a very bad year for the Harrisburg small business community. Throughout the year, TheBurg wrote numerous other stories and columns about the fallout from a largely absent state and office workforce, a years-long trend that has slammed shops and restaurants in the city, especially downtown.

2. Sound Space
Every year, a local business opening makes the top 10 list, often near the top. For instance, just last year, the debut of Karma was our No. 1 story. This year, the April announcement of another nightlife venue, Capital City Music Hall, nearly replicated the feat, placing second. The story explained how local businessman and impresario Justin Browning and a partner planned to renovate the former Federal Taphouse and transform it into a music space. The story also offered some hope for downtown Harrisburg, which has suffered immensely without the presence of the state workforce. A subsequent magazine feature offered further details about the venue, which opened its doors in September.

1. It’s a Miracle
This August story, about the opening of “A Miracle Community” in south Harrisburg, was our most-read story of the year, by a lot, which came as no surprise to this editor. It had it all. It was a well-written, well-reported, online-only breaking news feature about a subject that folks really care about—a new encampment for the unhoused. This project offered some hope following the years-long saga of the chaotic “tent city” encampment and what would happen after its closure.

For a different take on 2025, I will have my annual list of top local news stories in the January magazine, which drops on Dec. 30. Does my subjective list differ from that of our readers, who voted with their clicks? Return on Tuesday to find out!

Lawrance Binda is publisher/editor of TheBurg.

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