Blue in the Blood: Commissioner’s son joins Harrisburg Police Bureau.

January 10, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

Public safety commissioner Thomas Carter and son Carlin Carter.

Carlin Carter isn’t the only police officer for whom law enforcement is a family tradition, but his new job with the Harrisburg Police Bureau hits particularly close to home.

He’s the son of Harrisburg Police Commissioner Thomas Carter, who commands some 140 police officers as the city’s top public safety official.

Twenty-seven-year-old Carlin was sworn in to the bureau this morning along with six other new hires. They’ll complete six months of police academy training and almost a year of in-house orientation before hitting the streets as uniformed patrol officers.

A graduate of Susquehanna Township High School, Carlin Carter attended the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown before enrolling at Millersburg University and Harrisburg Area Community College.

He currently serves as a sergeant in the Pennsylvania National Guard, where he’s participated in more than 1,700 military funerals. He’ll leave active duty as an honor guardsman to enter the police academy.

He said the police commissioner was an “amazing” dad and that he’s not nervous at all to serve under his command.

“He made sure I always knew the law,” Carter said with a laugh.

Since he took the helm of the police bureau in 2014, Commissioner Carter has drawn numerous local and regional accolades for his leadership, including honors from the NAACP and Dauphin County Crime Stoppers. He’s also won the “Peacemaker in Our Midst” award from the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg, and the Harrisburg Hero Award.

The commissioner has served on the Harrisburg force for his son’s whole life. He said it’s an honor to have Carlin join him, even if his decision to do so came as a surprise.

“I didn’t think he’d want to become a police officer, but the military opened him up to serving people,” Carter said. “He wanted to continue that by serving with the Harrisburg police.”

Carter said that young police officers face a slew of challenges today that are different from the ones he encountered on his first job.

Crime today seems to be more sophisticated, Carter said, with offenses like cybercrimes redefining the demands of police work.

And while “violent crime is still violent crime,” he said, it seems that perpetrators in Harrisburg are getting younger with each passing year.

“These guys are policing in a different age,” Carter said of the new recruits. “They’re dealing with today’s problems, today’s crimes, and what it means to be a police officer is changing.”

Harrisburg Police Bureau welcomes new officers, hopes for more growth outside of Act 47.

January 10, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

Seven new officers were sworn in to the Harrisburg Police Bureau at a ceremony this morning at the State Museum of Pennsylvania.

The Harrisburg Police Bureau swore in seven new hires and promoted two officers in a ceremony at the State Museum this morning, welcoming its last class of new recruits before the city exits financial recovery.

The seven rookies bring the bureau’s officer complement up to 145, Capt. Gabriel Olivera said. Police leaders hope to recruit another class of eight to 10 officers in July.

The incoming officers will complete six months of police academy training and almost a year of in-house training before they hit the streets with platoon assignments.

The class includes one National Guard veteran, a professional EMT, and one former deputy sheriff. While the bureau said in December that it hopes to bolster its ranks of minority and women candidates, six of the new recruits are white men.

If trends from recent years continue, most of the officers sworn in today may not remain with the department for more than five years.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse revealed in December that 41 of the 71 officers hired by the bureau since 2014 have left the force, resulting in a “staggering” 58-percent attrition rate.

Today, Police Commissioner Thomas Carter said that the bureau has provided the mayor and city council with a list of recommendations to improve retention in the department.

He declined to say what those recommendations were until the city enters a new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police union.

He did say that the city has struggled to maintain a full complement of officers since it entered Act 47, a state financial recovery program for distressed cities.

Under Act 47, Harrisburg had to cap police salaries and cut perks, including longevity pay and inflation-based pay raises, Carter said today.

Harrisburg entered Act 47 in 2011 and will petition the state to exit the program this spring. Local leaders will adopt a new five-year financial recovery plan for the city with the help of a newly created financial oversight board.

Carter hopes that plan will increase police salaries cap and restore raises, making it easier to recruit and retain officers.

At $40,000, Harrisburg’s starting salary for police is half of that in neighboring townships, Deputy Chief Derric Moody said in December.

Moody said most young officers who join the force are eager to learn valuable policing skills in an urban setting. But they also know they can command higher earnings in a different department.

Beyond just retaining its existing officers, Harrisburg must compete with neighboring townships to attract new recruits.

Harrisburg selects all of its officers from the Dauphin County Consortium, which administers a written exam and physical agility test to candidates.

The consortium publishes a list of qualified police candidates and sends it to more than a dozen municipalities. Police departments then screen candidates with their own in-house hiring processes.

About 250 officers applied to the Dauphin County Consortium to enter this month’s class of recruits, and 200 moved on to the next round of screening, Olivera said.

After a shortlist of candidates passed background checks and another round of written and physical tests, Harrisburg made eight job offers to candidates it selected from the consortium. Only one declined.

This year holds a number of staffing and operational changes for the Harrisburg Police Bureau. The city hopes to equip all uniformed officers with body-worn cameras by this summer and also will open a new substation in South Allison Hill.

The derelict Public Safety Building will also get a new roof this year. Olivera hopes the $TK project will boost morale among officers and civilian support staff.

Surrounded by friends, Elementary Coffee founder announces new location, new home.

January 10, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

The future home of Elementary Coffee Co., currently under (re)construction.

Andrea Grove stood amidst piles of boards, debris and other signs of an active construction site.

She also stood among friends.

Last night, Grove invited a small group to an in-progress storefront on North Street in Harrisburg to announce the first standalone location for Elementary Coffee Co., her 4-plus-year-old, Harrisburg-based roaster.

As candles flickered, a cork was popped and champagne poured. There was no electricity or heat in the icy room, but that didn’t mar the celebration.

“I can’t believe it took us this long,” Grove said, as a circle of supporters raised their glasses. “But I’m glad it did because now we’re all here.”

This spring, Grove will open a 1,040-square-foot roaster and retail location at the corner of North and Susquehanna streets. She had just signed a lease to move into the ground floor of a building whose last occupant departed nearly three decades ago.

Since the early ‘90s, when a French restaurant called The Coventry closed, the twin buildings at 254 and 256 North St. had done nothing but deteriorate. Boarded up, with their roofs collapsing and bricks popping out, they were marked for demolition—a fate that seemed all but certain.

Then, last spring, attorney Matt Krupp, who lives across the street, bought them from the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority.

At first, Krupp wasn’t exactly sure what the buildings would become. But he and his business partner eventually settled on a plan for two apartments upstairs and retail space on the first floor. Since then, a total renovation—more like a reconstruction—has been bringing back the small, mid-19th century brick-and-clapboard structures that had been given up for dead.

For her part, Grove had been seeking a location separate from her stand at the Broad Street Market where, on most Saturdays, a long, friendly, if chaotic, line forms to grab cups of her single-origin coffees and specialty drinks. She plans to retain the market stand, but will move her roaster from the market to the new space.

One thing she loves about her future shop, she said, is the location, as it sits at the seam of downtown and Midtown, just steps from the Capitol Complex.

“This area really is a merger of downtown and neighborhood,” she said. “It’s not either or—it’s both.”

Last night, amid the dim candlelight, Grove gestured to this and that—where the tables will be, where the roaster will sit. She pointed to an area that can be cleared out easily for musicians and even dancing, especially on weekends and during 3^rd in the Burg nights.

In good weather, there also will be outdoor seating, she said, both on the wide sidewalk out front and on the rooftop deck.

Grove said that she isn’t planning any major changes compared to her market stand—just more. More coffee availability, more simple food options, such as bagels and baked goods, and, of course, far more seating.

She’s also happy that she’ll be able to extend employment to her staff, who now work for her just three days a week due to the limited market hours.

Décor-wise, Grove described her future interior as “industrial contemporary”—faux leather, wood, raw materials. The interior is being framed out, so, with a little imagination, one can even imagine the tables, the counter, the people.

“We want to make this a space where everyone will be comfortable,” she said. “We want everyone to feel welcome.”

For more information about Elementary Coffee Co., visit www.elementarycoffee.co.

Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

January 10, 2019 | by Sara Bozich

Happy Weekend!

Farm Show is in full swing – have you gone? Tonight is our GK Visual team dinner, so that will be fun to hang with the crew. Saturday looks a lot like eat-an-entire-baguette (formerly eat-an-entire-baguette-by-yourself, now share-a-baguette-with-your-kid) day, and on Sunday, it’s Bo+me day so maybe a trip to the State Museum or just kidding we prob won’t leave his room all day.

What are you doing this weekend?

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Council overrides mayoral veto on AutoZone.

January 9, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

AutoZone will purchase the vacant lot at 645 Maclay Street from Harrisburg-area developer The Vartan Group, pending approval of its proposals by the city.

Harrisburg City Council tonight firmly rejected the wishes of the city’s mayor, unanimously overturning a veto that will allow an auto parts store to proceed with plans to locate in Harrisburg.

By a vote of 7-0, council affirmed its December vote to let AutoZone, a Memphis-based car parts store, advance in the city planning process as it seeks to build at store at N. 7th and Maclay streets.

Their vote vacates several unused “paper streets” on the lot owned by Susquehanna Township-based Vartan Group, which wants to sell the property to AutoZone.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse vetoed council’s vote last month.

He argued that the city could use its discretion in approving street vacations to ask developers to enter voluntary agreements with the city saying they would abide by community standards, including the creation of affordable housing and job opportunities for minority and women laborers.

For example, council could withhold approval for a street vacation until a developer agrees to set aside affordable units in a housing project or employ local laborers – particularly minorities – on job sites.

“I think there is an opportunity for City Council to establish a review criteria for street vacations linked to the land development process that will help the city achieve some of its goals with regard to contracting and affordable housing,” Papenfuse said on Tuesday. “Historically, I don’t think there has been a clear process, but now we’re going to see renewed development… I would argue they should put a process in place.”

Tonight, council members bristled at what they said was the mayor’s new rationale for strong-arming a development project.

“I’m tired of mayor using people of color when it to [advance] his interests,” councilwoman Shamaine Daniels said. “The mayor has not sent down any legislation to address affordable housing or [minority business] participation… so I really I find this administration’s position just to be really artifice and not anything of much substance.”

Council vice president [Ben Allatt] said that the new argument the mayor raised was “suspect,” since it was not consistent with his previous objections over the project’s design.

Papenfuse usually attends council meetings, but was absent tonight to appear at a zoning board meeting in Susquehanna Township, where Harrisburg is building a new compost facility.

He was represented by business administrator Marc Woolley, who said that the mayor shared council’s goals for community-minded economic development.

“While this appears to be focused on just one transaction, for me it’s not — it’s a more global view,” Wooley said. “This corridor is on the cusp of additional development, and a program can be in place to achieve goals shared by city council and the administration. This presents a unique moment in time we can do that with this project and these projects going forward.”

City Council has discretion in approving street vacations, but that doesn’t mean it can arbitrarily deny them, deputy city solicitor Tiffanie Baldock said tonight.

Harrisburg’s planning bureau recommended this fall that council vacate the streets. With that endorsement on the record, it’s unlikely that council could justify denying the request, she said.

Baldock said that neither council nor the mayor’s office requested a legal opinion on the matter.

Mayor vetoes city council planning provision for AutoZone.

January 8, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

AutoZone will purchase the vacant lot at 645 Maclay St. from Harrisburg-area developer The Vartan Group, pending approval of its proposals by the city.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse has issued the third veto of his administration, this time against a City Council action that paves the way for a new car parts store in Uptown Harrisburg.

Papenfuse overturned council’s December vote to void unused alleys on a lot at 7th and Maclay streets, which is currently owned by a Vartan Group subsidiary.

The street vacation would wipe so-called “paper streets” off of city planning maps, allowing Vartan to consolidate two tax parcels and sell the property to AutoZone, a Memphis-based auto parts retailer.

AutoZone hopes to build a full-service retail location on the property. The 1-acre lot is currently vacant, save for decorative shrubs spelling out the Vartan logo.

Voiding the paper streets is just the first step in the project’s development process.

Once it purchases the property, AutoZone must submit land use development plans to Harrisburg’s planning commission and city council.

Papenfuse made clear his opposition to the project this fall. He said the site would be better served by dense, mixed-use development than a single-use retail structure.

He urged council in November to withhold the street vacation until AutoZone submitted satisfactory design plans. But council voted 7-0 to grant the vacation request.

Today, Papenfuse said that vetoing that action will give council a second chance to exert pressure on an out-of-town corporation and establish review criteria for similar requests in the future.

Amid an uptick in development projects in recent months, council members have called on developers to make meaningful investments in the local economy, whether by employing local laborers on their job sites or by including affordable units in housing projects.

Papenfuse thinks that council can use street vacations as a valuable bargaining chip with developers. Any leverage council has now will disappear when the project advances as a land use proposal, he said.

Under Pennsylvania’s municipal code, a city cannot deny a property owner’s land use proposal if it conforms with zoning codes. Doing so arbitrarily would open the door to costly legal appeals.

But since the municipal code does not dictate standards for voiding paper streets, city council can use its approval power to coerce terms from developers, Papenfuse said.

For instance, council could ask developers to abide by certain labor conditions or to include a certain number of affordable units in their development plans in exchange for a street vacation, Papenfuse said. But any process council adopts “would need to be clear and fair to all.”

“I think there is an opportunity for city council to establish a review criteria for street vacations linked to the land development process that will help the city achieve some of its goals with regard to contracting and affordable housing,” Papenfuse said. “Historically, I don’t think there has been a clear process, but now we’re going to see renewed development… I would argue they should put a process in place.”

City solicitor Neil Grover declined to comment on the mayor’s legal argument.

The Maclay Street lot is six blocks from the site of a new federal courthouse and state Archives building — two long-awaited projects that are hoped to spur development along the blighted 6th and 7th street corridors.

In November, Vartan Group CEO Ralph Vartan said the AutoZone store would be Harrisburg’s first, market-rate construction project by a national retailer in decades, other than a dollar store in Allison Hill.

The city’s planning bureau endorsed Vartan’s request to vacate the alleys bisecting the lot. Since no property owner can obstruct public streets, even unused ones, it’s unlikely the AutoZone project can proceed until the streets are void.

City council has scheduled a vote to overturn the mayor’s veto at a legislative session tomorrow.

South Allison Hill businesses restore old storefronts with local grants.

January 7, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

A former bank building at 1300 Market Street will receive thousands of dollars in improvements this year thanks to a facade improvement grant from Tri-County Community Action.

Four historic storefronts in South Allison Hill are due to get facelifts in 2019, thanks to $60,000 worth of grants from a neighborhood nonprofit.

Tri-County Community Action is launching the third year of the South Allison Hill business façade improvement program, a historic preservation and business development effort that helps commercial property owners boost their building’s curb appeal.

Property owners can apply for up to $15,000 to make improvements to the exterior of their retail or office space. The project is part of an ongoing effort to bolster retail corridors on Derry and Market streets, according to TCCA neighborhood revitalization manager Julie Walter.

Walter said that most entrepreneurs in South Allison Hill have low or moderate incomes, and many are immigrants. The façade improvement grants offer a much-needed cash infusion that helps them maintain expensive historic properties.

“This is all about keeping buildings up to code, making sure they last, and supporting small businesses and bringing people into the neighborhood,” Walter said.

Derry and Market streets were among Harrisburg’s busiest commercial corridors in the first half of the 20^th century. But discriminatory lending practices and the “white flight” to the suburbs decimated urban retail starting in the 1950s.

As middle-class white residents left urban areas, retail businesses followed, leading to a rise in suburban shopping centers and a decline in downtown storefront retail.

Harrisburg’s first suburban-style shopping plaza, Kline Village, was constructed in 1951. (It recently sold to a New York-based owner who hopes to fill its many vacant storefronts.)

The lull in retail activity led to some deterioration in South Allison Hill’s commercial property stock. Some historical storefronts languished from decades of neglect; others were altered by sloppy renovations.

Today, many of the storefronts along Derry and Market streets house cafés, grocery stores, bodegas and hair and nail salons. Some have been converted into office space, such as the site of the Latino Hispanic American Community Center at 1317 Derry St.

One of the aims of TCCA’s facade improvement program is to restore the historic properties to their original condition.

In the 1930s, the current LHACC office space housed Ellis Confectionary, a family-owned business offering homemade candy and ice cream. Thanks to a TCCA grant, the property recently got new doorbells, lighting fixtures and windows thanks to match details shown in archival images.

TCCA also helped renovate a property at 1325 Derry St., the old site of Kitzmiller’s Pharmacy that later housed Tacos La Barca taqueria. A TCCA grant allowed the property owners to paint the façade and remove patches of vinyl siding.

Another grant funded a dramatic renovation of a bodega at 1422 Derry Street, which is currently being renovated to become a new restaurant. The facade improvements included a fresh coat of paint and new lighting and windows.

1422 Derry Street before (left) and after (right) it was renovated using funds from the facade improvement program.

Grantees must follow TCCA’s design guide when making changes to their properties. Walter also researches historic images of properties to guide renovations.

TCCA launched the façade improvement program in 2016 with funds from the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, which allowed them to update two buildings. They awarded two grants in 2017 and 2018, using money from Impact Harrisburg and the Neighborhood Assistance Program, an initiative under the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

The grant capacity will double in 2019 when TCCA gives four awards to neighborhood businesses.

TCCA has already given one award to the owners of 1300 Market St., a historic bank building that houses Capital Area Head Start. The funds will allow the owner to clean the building’s stone façade and repoint some discolored masonry.

Façade improvement grants require a simple, one-page application and a low match amount, Walter said. Recipients only have to invest $1,000 in branding to receive up to $15,000 in capital investments.

TCCA staff travel door-to-door on Market and Derry streets to invite business owners to participate in the program. Entrepreneurs who do not own their storefronts must provide a letter from their landlord sanctioning the improvements.

One challenge facing the program is getting out-of-town landlords to sign off on renovations, according to TCCA outreach coordinator Jarvis Brown. But he said most landlords welcome an offer of easy money to increase their property value.

To learn more about Tri-County Community Action’s façade improvement program, visit their website or review the grant application.

Year-long apartment project set to begin in downtown Harrisburg

January 7, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harristown soon will begin an apartment conversion at these two Pine Street buildings.

Work is set to start on one of Harrisburg’s largest residential projects in recent years–the conversion of two downtown office buildings to rental housing.

Brad Jones, CEO of Harristown Enterprises, said his company, in the coming weeks, will begin demolition and construction work at 116 and 124 Pine St., two mid-century office buildings that, together, will have 74 new apartments.

“This is a big project, so we’re happy to get it started,” Jones said.

He expects construction to take all year, with completion in February 2020.

Harrisburg-based Harristown bought the bank-owned building at 116 Pine St. last year for $1.2 million. It will feature 49 one- and two-bedroom units in 54,600 square feet of aggregate space.

The company purchased 124 Pine St. last year from Keystone Human Services, which is relocating, for $1 million. The 30,000-square foot building will feature 25 one- and two-bedroom units with retail space on the ground floor.

Harristown expects to invest some $12 million into the project, along with partners Select Capital Commercial Properties and Don Mowery, Jones said. The architect is Camp Hill-based By Design Consultants, the general contractor is Mechanicsburg-based R.S. Mowery, and the lender is Mid Penn Bank.

Jones estimates that the project will create 125 construction jobs and that, ultimately, the buildings will house more than 100 residents downtown.

Jones said that he expects rents to average about $1,150 per month for one-bedroom units and $1,450 for two-bedroom units. The project includes 19 off-street parking spaces, which will be leased separately.

Harristown also has begun work on the historic Fox Hotel, a 112-year-old building on the corner of S. 2^nd and Washington streets in Shipoke, converting it to an eight-unit apartment building.

Plans there call for a mix of one- and two-bedroom units in the 7,000-square-foot structure originally built by hotelier Otto Fox and that long housed Santanna’s Seafood House on the ground floor.

Last year, Harristown acquired the property, which had been empty for decades, from UPMC Pinnacle.

Harrisburg Police offer new timeline for body camera deployment.

January 4, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

Cpl. Josh Hammer demonstrates body camera equipment at a Sept. 2017 press conference. Police officials say that body cameras won’t hit the streets in Harrisburg until 2019.

The Harrisburg Police Bureau is eyeing a late spring launch for its department-wide body camera program, according to city hall documents released this week.

The police bureau issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to potential vendors on Wednesday, inviting them to submit cost estimates and specifications for 100 body-worn police cameras and a video storage system.

Bidders must provide detailed descriptions of their camera equipment and IT services, as well as a budget narrative that includes a unit price for cameras and accessories, a price for cloud-based video storage, and a fixed yearly rate for maintenance and support.

The RFP does not state a budget for the new program. The bureau was given $150,000 in Harrisburg’s 2019 budget to purchase body camera equipment, a figure that included $80,000 in unspent funds from 2018.

City officials announced in September 2017 that they would equip the city’s uniformed patrol officers with body cameras the following year.

The program was delayed, however, as police officials tried to determine which specifications they needed in recording and video storage equipment.

Eight officers spent two months in 2017 and 2018 testing prototype equipment in a short-term pilot phase. Police Capt. Gabriel Olivera said in September that no single model suited all the department’s needs.

As a result, Olivera said, it took longer than anticipated to draft an RFP describing equipment specifications.

The resulting RFP outlines dozens of technical characteristics the police will use to evaluate potential equipment—from camera size, weight and portability to options for storage and video playback.

According to the bidding documents, city officials are seeking a storage system that will index footage by officer name, date and time of recording, and type of crime. The cameras must also have built-in audio and video redaction capabilities.

The RFP has already been shared on the city website and be posted in the legal notice section of local newspapers next week, mayor Eric Papenfuse said. Bids are due on Feb. 8.

Proposals will be evaluated by a panel of city representatives, who will select a “short list” of qualified vendors to be invited to city hall for an in-person interview and equipment demonstration.

The panel will evaluate equipment based on ease of use, cost and the vendor’s ability to provide training and technical support.

Vendors that meet the evaluation criteria will be invited to participate in a 30-day testing period starting on Feb. 18.

The city intends to approve a final vendor on March 22 and award a full contract by May 10.

Most public contracts are guaranteed to the lowest responsible bidder, or the reliable vendor who can perform the service on the lowest budget. That won’t be the case for this contract, Papenfuse said.

Legal language in the RFP will allow the city to award contract to the firm of their choice, regardless of cost.

Before the city can deploy the equipment, however, it must hammer out a deal with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) that codifies its standards for using cameras and releasing footage.

Papenfuse said that Harrisburg has not formally entered negotiations with FOP but has engaged the union in informal conversations. Those talks will continue as the city develops a new five-year financial plan with its Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, a five-member oversight board that will be populated this year.

Any agreement with FOP must comply with Act 22, a statute passed by the state legislature in 2017 dictating the times when officers must activate and deactivate their cameras.

Act 22 allows police to record conversations in private residences – something civilians can’t do under the state wiretap law. However, footage recorded under Act 22 is not subject to Right to Know laws.

Police departments have final say over what camera footage will be made public.

New York realty company buys Kline Plaza, hopes to revitalize shopping center.

January 3, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Kline Plaza in Harrisburg

Harrisburg’s Kline Plaza sold last month to a New York-based realty company, which hopes to bring new life to the aging shopping center.

Nassimi Realty LLC, based in Manhattan, bought the mid-20th century, low-slung retail and office complex for $8.7 million on Dec. 24, according to Dauphin County property records.

Kevin Nassimi, vice president of leasing, said that the family-run company was interested in the property because “this is what we do.”

“The agent for the seller brought us the opportunity, and it made sense for us,” he said.

The company specializes in multi-unit retail and currently owns 25 million square feet of shopping center space in the eastern United States, including four other properties in Pennsylvania, Nassimi said.

Kline Village, located on S. 25th Street near the city line with Penbrook, is anchored by Giant Food, which recently signed a 10-year lease extension, and includes a Fine Wine and Good Spirits store, a Rent-a-Center and a Family Dollar, in addition to several other stores, a gas station and a state Department of Health walk-in location.

Nassimi purchased the property for about half the price of the last sale. According to Dauphin County, KOP Kline Plaza LLC, another New York-based realty investment group, bought the complex for $17.3 million in 2004.

Kevin Nassimi attributed the much lower sales price to 10 current vacancies in the 240,000-square-foot complex, including two office tenants that recently left.

“That’s a big hit financially,” he said. “That’s a tall task.”

Many Kline Plaza storefronts are empty.

He said that a top priority would be finding tenants for the empty space. To that end, the company will focus on signing “discount-oriented retailers” that can offer goods and services to people who live in the area, he said.

He said the company would consider a wide variety of tenants for the empty office space, which most recently was occupied by government agencies.

Kline Plaza was built in 1950 as the Harrisburg area’s first suburban-style shopping center.

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