Tag Archives: harrisburg

Support Structure: Bailey House offers a home away from home for loved ones of hospital patients.

March 31, 2016 | by Priscilla Morales

Catherine Moussa, Bailey House coordinator.

Coming from Wilkes-Barre, it didn’t make sense for Tiffany Piech to travel an hour and 40 minutes to and from Harrisburg when visiting her sick friend at Harrisburg Hospital.

So, Piech stayed two blocks away at Bailey House, a Washington Street residence that houses friends and family of seriously ill patients. It was a perfect solution for Piech, who could visit with her friend, hospitalized with pneumonia, every day without burning out her car.

“The nurses told me about the Bailey House,” said Piech. “I found it to be clean and beautiful.”

PinnacleHealth established Baily House in 1987 and, since then, more than 9,300 people have stayed there. It’s named after Mrs. Charles L. Bailey, who was the first president of the Harrisburg Hospital Auxiliary.

Upon her arrival, Piech said that Catherine Moussa, Bailey House coordinator, warmly welcomed her.

“Catherine’s a sweetheart,” Piech said. “She was polite and friendly while preparing coffee and breakfast every morning. [The experience] was better than expected. The Bailey House has all the necessities, so I can just sleep and shower, while having less to think about. It helps keep the stress off.”

Bailey House actually consists of two adjoining buildings, which together can house up to seven families. The facility underwent extensive renovations last year. The living space was made cozier and more inviting, a bathroom was added, a kitchen upgraded and the interior design was refreshed. Guests stay free of charge, including all amenities like Internet, television and puzzles and games.

Baily House is run by a nonprofit board, which assists in seeing that the facility operates smoothly and guests are able to relax and take care of themselves between hospital visits, especially young mothers visiting their newborns in the NICU.

Because it doesn’t charge, Bailey House seeks help from volunteers, donations and fundraisers. In fact, most of the furniture brought in during the recent renovation was donated. Events like annual holiday tributes and fashion shows provide other means of support. Brochures and a Web presence help spread the word.

Opening Up

Families of patients who live at least 25 miles away are eligible to stay from one night to a few months at a time, on a first-come, first-served basis. Because the walk to the hospital is so short, guests typically don’t have parking or security concerns

Between hospital visits, guests can take time to rest and collect themselves before returning to see their loved ones. Moussa said that, while staying at Bailey House, families often open up to her and to each other, sharing their experiences. Bonding in this way has transformed these individual families into one, she said.

“I provide emotional support,” said Moussa. “I’m someone who they can let go of their day with.”

Although the families often are experiencing tough times, Moussa tries to turn difficult situations into less trying ones. In some cases, families have kept connected over the years after their stay.

Piech, for one, says she now feels part of the extended Bailey House family.

“I want to make a donation,” she said, expressing appreciation for her home away from home. “[Bailey House] is something I highly recommend. It’s a very nice facility.”

For more information on Bailey House and participation in fundraisers and volunteer opportunities, please visit www.pinnaclehealth.org.

In Good Spirits: Midstate Distillery brings local, handcrafted to Harrisburg.

February 29, 2016 | by M. Diane McCormick

Walk in the door at Midstate Distillery, and the sweet smell hits you first.

It’s molasses, says Dan Healy. He guides you to the line of 250-gallon tubs in frosted plastic lining the wall. All are filled with a dark liquid. Some are warm from the addition of hot water.

“This one’s been fermenting—Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday—five days, so it’s almost done,” says Healy. “Truly, I could probably start distilling this. It’s maybe 8 percent alcohol at the moment. I may let it go a little bit higher.”

Craft distilling has come to Dauphin County in the appropriately named Midstate Distillery. Established in a former paint manufacturing building near the Farm Show Complex, the venture aims to educate a public that increasingly craves authentic tastes—not mass produced by faceless corporations but crafted by neighbors.

Just why does a world saturated with craft breweries and family wineries now need craft distilleries?

“Need?” says Healy. “Does anyone need more alcohol?”

I would say yes, but he continues. It’s like rooting for the home team and showing the world what the hometown can do.

“There’s always an interest for something new, something handmade, something handcrafted, something made locally,” he says. “People really want to see what somebody in their neighborhood can produce.”

Lots to Learn

Healy and his brother-in-law, Brian Myers, launched Midstate after leaving a cabinetry business where they had worked together. The craft brewing market seemed saturated, but craft distilling was “a very, very young industry.”

Like other craft distillers, Healy and Myers are learning as they go. They have read books and taken courses in Colorado. They have learned to deal with the bureaucracy of liquor. They have learned the science behind turning raw materials into liquor.

“I feel like I’ve learned massive amounts, but there’s huge, huge amounts to learn and incorporate into production,” says Healy during a tour of the space, which got a top-to-bottom makeover, mostly from the elbow grease of Healy, Myers and an army of friends. Dawn Healy, Healy’s sister and Myers’ wife, takes care of the books.

Décor-wise, the bar was meticulously handmade by woodworker Joe Costa from local timber and beams salvaged from the basement. A see-through divider of vintage windows gives visitors a view of the distilling equipment. Barrels, some for aging rum, are used bourbon barrels from Kentucky’s Old Forester distillery.

Upon opening in January, Midstate offered Shakey Jake’s rum, named after Myers’ grandfather, and the hilariously named Pennsyltucky Moonshine, a corn-based whiskey. Iron and Ice vodka, with a label depicting the Walnut Street Bridge, will be released this month.

Learning on the fly extends to potential customers, who have grown up with mass-market products often distilled using an efficient, flavor-stripping process, says Healy. Remember when craft beers tasted funny? Same thing, he says. The distiller’s job is educating consumers to value hand-crafted spirits.

For instance, Midstate has an aged rum, nice and drinkable, which captures “the right aspects from the wood, the vanillas, the caramels. You can even get a cinnamon taste.”

“I’m not saying there aren’t a lot of good products out there, but we’re trying to do one that captures a lot of that flavor that comes from the raw ingredients,’’ says Healy.

Homegrown Tastes

By mid-2016, Midstate hopes to have its products on state liquor store shelves under a program started in 2015 that lets licensed limited distilleries put up to 10 products in 10 stores, to start.

When the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board created a limited license in 2012 for small distilleries, it issued seven licenses. In 2014, it issued 31. As of October 2015, 74 products from Pennsylvania distilleries were on state store shelves.

Let your imagination soar when thinking of the homegrown tastes available. Sure, Pennsylvania distilleries produce gin, whiskey and rye, but they also concoct absinthe, tequila, eggnog and strawberry liqueur. Over just a few years, PLCB sales of these products have jumped from $3.7 million annually to $4.5 million, a 21 percent increase.

“Spirits have always been distilled in Pennsylvania,” notes PLCB Marketing and Merchandising Director Dale Horst. “There were distilleries going all the way back to the Revolutionary War.”

Oh, that’s right. The Whiskey Rebellion—our homegrown revolt against the young federal government’s first sin tax. The state’s distillery-revival show that “customers have been responding in a very positive way,” says Horst.

“Just as there’s been an increase in limited wineries and an increase in craft beer and microbreweries, the limited distillers have found that people want to buy local, and they can compete with the national brands if their product is of good quality and they market it right,” he says.

At Midstate Distillery, tastings reveal the subtlety in flavors that tongues have missed over the years. Tours show off the Double Diamond copper still and the rest of the process that is, “at its core, vaporization and recondensation,” which separates and refines the alcohol created in fermented liquid, says Healy.

The major distillers, having seen the surprised look on big brewing’s face when craft brews cut into their business, could be a bit on the offensive. More and more, Healy sees commercials “for products that appear to be more craft-focused.” He’s fine with that. After all, it will “also help turn people on to craft distilling.”

“I’m hoping our products evolve and, as time goes by, we just continue to innovate and release better and newer products as we go,” he says.

Midstate Distillery is located at 1817 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.midstatedistillery.com or call 717-745-5040.

A Place for Second Chances: Ex-offenders find a comfy home, respect at Kera’s House.

February 29, 2016 | by Gina Napoli

Most ex-offenders find themselves in dormitory-style halfway houses or shelters after incarceration.

Many have bad credit or cannot return to their previous living arrangements. They tend to live in unsavory places with slumlords who don’t maintain their houses. To make matters worse, most people don’t want to associate with ex-offenders, much less employ them, said Linda Dean, founder of Kera’s House.

Dean is on a mission to help people who have served prison time. She and her late husband opened Kera’s House to assist former inmates who want to become self-sufficient and productive members of society.

“I show them respect when they come through the door,” said Dean, who coined “Kera” from the initials of her children’s names. “I address them as Mr. Brown or Mr. Smith. They call me ‘Mrs. Dean.’ They reciprocate that respect to me and my house.”

Kera’s House helps these men feel like they’re truly at home. The house is clean and mulberry-scented. The shiny hardwood floors reflect light. A 7-foot couch sits in front of an antique woodstove fireplace. The men share a kitchen and common living areas, taking care of the house together, but each has his own bedroom. The house is accessible to shopping, a laundromat and public transportation.

“I provide these men a home I would live in myself,” Dean said. “When they’re surrounded with a safe, positive living environment, they feel motivated about their prospects. They have incentive to live well, because they see it’s possible. I believe it inspires them to make life changes.”

Second Chances

Dean chooses her residents based on their potential for success—people she can invest in.

“They must want to help themselves take advantage of a second chance,” she said.

She requires residents to be working, looking for work, in school earning a degree or learning a trade. She looks for focused men who have a life plan.

Along the way, she helps them find their passion and formulate their plans. Some need a push because they place limitations on themselves. They need someone to believe they can reach their goals so they can believe in themselves. Dean also urges volunteering because “you meet people from all walks who can open doors for you.”

On the housing application is a critical question: “Do you want assistance with your personal goals?”

Dean works closely with probation officers and various community and referral agencies to connect residents with health care, educational, employment and life skill services. She also leverages a partnership with Christian Recovery Aftercare Ministry, Inc., which provides pre-release and re-entry services.

That First Step

Thirteen house rules make up part of an ex-offender’s probationary plan at Kera’s House. These include chores, a curfew, a ban on foul language and no sagging pants below the waist. Dean provides her residents with stern mothering to enforce the rules.

“When they go out on their own, they need to learn to keep a responsible routine,” she said. “Rules make the house run smoothly.”

Three strikes, and they’re evicted. One strike if the offense is drugs.

“They wonder why I’m so tough on them. I don’t stand for whining. I push them to do better,” Dean said. “Some just don’t know how to take that first step.”

Some of the rules, such as “no guests,” may seem harsh.

“There’s no growth when they have drama,” Dean said. “Kera’s House is a place for them to get themselves together. That isn’t going to happen if they let the world in. They stay focused if they keep the outside out.”

When residents’ life plans don’t follow the happy path, Dean encourages them to bring her their problems. Sometimes, their hours get cut at work. They get behind on rent. She helps them find solutions.

“Pride makes it hard for them to reach out sometimes,” she said.

Indeed, many have become hardened through a life of tough times.

“They’ve lived in the gutter, in the street, house-to-house,” she said. “They’re still standing.”

Dean dearly misses her husband’s side-by-side passion for their mission. She admits it’s sometimes hard for her to generate enough money to cover all the expenses to maintain the self-funded house.

“More often than not, I’ve had to dip into the savings that my husband left me,” she said.

Seeing her residents succeed energizes Dean with passion for her work. A recent success story was a young man who focused himself until he reached his goals. He graduated last spring from HACC’s culinary school, working while in school. Then he took a job offer in Pittsburgh. Dean gushed when she said, “People like him fill your heart up.”

Seeing so much homelessness fuels her to continue Kera’s House.

“When you’re disenfranchised, you’re beaten,” she said. “When you have a nice place to live, you have incentive to do better. You start planning to do something with your life. You work hard and carry out your goals.”

Despite the struggle, Dean plans to do everything she can to keep Kera’s House open.

“I hope Kera’s House will continue to provide quality housing,” she said. “I always tell the men, ‘As long as you’re willing to help yourself, we’re willing to help you. Kera’s House is more than just a place to stay.’”

Linda Dean can be contacted at:

Kera’s House, Inc.
c/o Linda Dean
101 S. 2nd Street #804
Harrisburg, PA 17101

A Home, Reborn

February 29, 2016 | by Lawrance Binda

For many years, Marc Kurowski dreamed of living along the Susquehanna River, and, one day, while walking his dog, spied a duplex for sale on Front Street.

Like many once-grand riverfront homes, the house long ago had been converted to institutional use, owned for years by Teen Challenge, a faith-based residential rehabilitation program. It then was bought for a condo conversion, but, after some demo work, the new owners changed their minds and decided to sell it. In late 2013, by the time Kurowski got his hands on it, the house was a dilapidated, half-destroyed shell, but he saw tremendous potential for a grand home on a magnificent river.

A principal with K&W Engineers, Kurowski knocked down the wall that separated the two sides of the duplex, adjoining the spaces. It then was a matter of redesigning and rebuilding the interior of the circa-1890s structure.

There were many bumps along the way, including construction delays that turned the renovation into a 20-month slog. But, in the end, Kurowski took a building, abused and damaged for so long, and transformed it into a spacious, stunning, single-family home, topped off by a roof deck with breathtaking views of Riverfront Park and the Susquehanna River.

Photos by Elena Jasic.

February News Digest

February 29, 2016 | by Lawrance Binda

Budget Passed Again

For a second time, Harrisburg has passed a 2016 budget, which was largely unchanged from the version approved last year.

By a 6-1 vote, City Council last month OK’d a $60.4 million spending plan that adds 36 new positions, most in a newly created Neighborhood Services division. Councilwoman Shamaine Daniels was the sole member to vote no, stating that she believed the budget total was too high.

Council passed a budget in December, but reopened it a month later after three new council members took their seats. The new version is almost identical to the original, but it does give raises to a handful of city workers pending a study of pay equity in city hall.

The budget factors in about $3 million from a planned tripling of the local services tax (LST) to $156 per year for each person who works in Harrisburg and earns more than $24,418 annually. At press time, council still needed to approve the LST increase.

Commonwealth Court Judge Bonnie Leadbetter, who must approve changes to the city’s financial recovery plan, already has signed off on the tax hike.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse regards the LST increase as a way for commuters to contribute more to the city’s financial stability and to fund improved services, particularly for sanitation and road maintenance.

Stolen Firearms

Three antique guns were stolen from the National Civil War Museum in Reservoir Park last month, taken from an NRA-sponsored exhibit there.

A pair of Colt revolvers, dating to 1860 and 1861, was owned by the city, while an engraved Henry rifle from 1861 was on loan from a private donor, according to museum CEO Wayne Motts.

All three firearms were claimed to have once belonged to Simon Cameron, a Harrisburg native who served as President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of war at the beginning of the Civil War. They were on display together as part of a “Guns & Lace” exhibit that was sponsored by a $25,000 grant from the National Rifle Association.

Police Capt. Gabriel Olivera confirmed that the thief made entry by breaking through a window and then breaking into the display case to remove the guns. The theft was not detected until hours later due to an apparent failure in the museum’s alarm system. Olivera added that the precise nature of the security lapse was not yet clear.

Olivera said surveillance footage captured images of a male thief, but that the images are not clear and that police are not yet releasing them because they “would not be of any use.” Police have not ruled out the possibility of an inside job, Olivera said.

The city released the following information identifying the weapons:

A .44 caliber M1860 Colt Army Revolver with serial number 11708.
A .36 caliber Colt M1861 Navy Revolver with serial number 1825.
An M1860 Henry Repeating Rifle with serial number 115, manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company and engraved with the word “Cameron” on the receiver.

Council Rethinks Pot Penalties

Harrisburg’s marijuana laws may soon change as City Council last month introduced a bill to reduce penalties for possession of the drug.

The city administration’s proposal would change possession from a misdemeanor to a less-serious summary offense and ease penalties to $100 for a first conviction and $200 for a second. After a third offense, possession again would be considered a misdemeanor crime.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse supports the change, saying too much city police time is occupied by low-level drug cases. He said he also doesn’t believe the change would encourage drug use, a charge leveled by some opponents.

At press time, a council committee was slated to consider the issue for further action.

Serious Crime Declines

The rate of serious crime in Harrisburg fell significantly last year, the Police Bureau said last month.

“Part 1” crimes declined by 17 percent in 2015 compared to 2014, the police said. These crimes include murder, rape, assault, burglary, theft and arson.

Of these, robbery fell from 283 to 228 reported incidents; assault decreased from 1,328 to 1,233 reported incidents; and theft dropped from 1,235 to 875 incidents.

Harrisburg tallied 19 homicides in 2015, the same as in 2014. However, three of those murders were categorized as self-defense, meaning that criminal homicides actually went down.

New Home for City Islanders

The Harrisburg City Islanders will make FNB Field (formerly Metro Bank Park) their home stadium for the 2016 season.

The city-based soccer team will play 10 home matches at the City Island ballpark, which also is the home stadium for the Harrisburg Senators. Another five home matches will be played at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster.

For the past two years, the Islanders have been looking to move out of the Skyline Sports complex, also on City Island, because the team considered it too small and lacking in basic amenities, such as bathrooms.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that the city, which owns the stadium, may benefit financially through increased ticket, sales and parking fees, especially if the move leads to greater attendance at Islanders’ matches.

Separately, First National Bank last month announced the stadium would be renamed FNB Field, as F.N.B. Corp. recently merged with Metro Bank’s parent company, Metro Bancorp.

Housing Sales Improve

The Harrisburg area continued to see improvements in housing sales, the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors (GHAR) reported last month.

Region-wide, sales totaled 557 units in January, compared to 501 in January 2015 and 448 in January 2014. The median price increased to $152,000, $4,000 more than in the year-ago period.

In January, Dauphin County tallied 185 sales at a median price of $134,000, compared to 177 units and a $132,000 median price in January 2015.

In Cumberland County, 201 units sold for a median price of $174,000 against 179 units at a price of $160,800 in January 2015, GHAR said. Perry County sales were also up, totaling 27 units for a median price of $147,000 versus 18 units at a price of $144,950 for the year-ago period, according to GHAR.

So Noted

Bricco, a downtown Harrisburg restaurant, plans a series of events and specials to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. These include special pricing, dining events and a new menu. For all the details, visit www.briccopa.com.

Changing Hands

Berryhill St., 1249: R. Eisner et al to E. Graves, $37,000

Berryhill St., 2116: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to M. Wijaya, $31,000

Cumberland St., 1322: E. Brinkman to D. Brotz, $114,900

Derry St., 2416: S. Moose to I. Class & Y. Aguayo, $45,000

Derry St., 2513: L. Parker to R. Tortorelli, $59,900

Edgewood Rd., 2300: B. & C. Mark to T. Paradise, $195,000

Green St., 1425: M. Araujo to J. Miller, $95,000

Green St., 1701A: R. Myers to J. & V. Wills, $180,000

Green St., 2959: D. Jamieson to D. & V. Moore, $202,900

Hoffman St., 3214: M. Angelo to J. Gantt & H. Mahmood, $109,900

Hunter St., 1609: T. Vo to D. Vo, $160,000

Kelker St., 422 & 434, 1821 Fulton St. and 1820 N. 5^th St.: Hamilton Health Center to Christian Recovery Aftercare Ministry, $250,000

N. 2^nd St., 321 & 209 South St.: B. Hattingh to VMV Smart Solutions LLC, $425,000

N. 2^nd St., 1509: J. Tang to Vortex Properties, $105,000

N. 3^rd St., 3205: Secretary of Veterans Affairs to H. Pontius, $42,000

N. 4^th St., 3211: J. Kardisco to D. Cameron, $89,000

N. 17^th St., 1001: Miracle Group Inc. to E. Price, $80,000

Parkside Lane, 2906: R. & V. Eaton to R. & K. Riley, $210,000

Penn St., 1522: S. Faridi to M. Lindsay, $133,000

Regina St., 1414 & 2139 N. 4^th St.: SNL Realty Holdings & Touch of Color to NJR Group LLC, $71,500

Rudy Rd., 1916: R. Wagner to J. Burno, $53,000

Rudy Rd., 2413: J. Boutselis to PA Deals LLC, $55,000

Rumson Dr., 2586: PA Deals LLC to J. Tucker, $80,000

S. 19^th St., 14: C. Butler to M. Martinez, $45,000

S. 25^th St., 729: R. Wylie Jr. to 729 25^th Street LLC, $170,000

S. 26^th St., 733: T. Navas to E. Lowe & S. Fuentes, $72,000

State St., 213: Douglas, Hassler & McKillop to Legion Premier Properties LLC, $247,000

Susquehanna St., 1725: M. Gojmerac & C. Roma to B. & K. Martin, $94,000

Verbeke St., 309: S. Rosso to R. Green & D. Govender, $113,000

Wyeth St., 1406: A. Van Dyke to PA Deals LLC, $82,000

Harrisburg property sales for January 2016, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

House Hunters Harrisburg: As amenities, confidence grow, so does interest in living in the city.

February 29, 2016 | by Ashleigh Pollart

A year ago, Jared Blouch packed up his belongings and did something that, until recently, would have seemed decidedly backwards.

He sold his house in Mechanicsburg and moved into Harrisburg.

He was tired of the commute and traffic into the city each day, he said. So, he found a beautiful, historic house that he also thought was very affordable and started a new way of life that included—egads—walking.

“I like that everything is so close, and I don’t have to drive far,” said Blouch, who purchased on Green Street. “I can get everything I want right there.”

Blouch became so enamored with his new neighborhood that he quickly became an activist for it, joining the board of Friends of Midtown and serving as president of the Olde Uptown Neighborhood Association.

Blouch’s introduction to Midtown Harrisburg could hardly be more different than that experienced by Ray Davis, who moved there in 1986.

“I bought my house on Green Street, and I drove my mother by and she looked at me, and she looked back at the house and said, ‘Are you serious?’” he said.

Davis, a familiar licensed real estate agent in central PA, and particularly in Harrisburg, laughed as he recalled the memory.

“She had no experience with city living,” he said. “So, she put her hand on my knee and said, ‘Is it safe?’”

In those three decades in Harrisburg, Davis has seen many changes—from the transition of the plasma center on Reily Street to the current Midtown Cinema; from rows of empty buildings to the recent surge of new businesses in Midtown.

“We didn’t have anything—anything!” he stressed. “It was so different than it is now.”

Today, Midtown residents have numerous restaurants, nightspots and even a brewery among a long list of amenities just a short stroll away. In part, that’s what may be driving new interest in living in the heart of the city, said Davis.

“Comparing 2011 to 2015, there were literally twice as many sales,” he said.

In 2011, the data (price range of $50,000 to $250,000) showed that 49 houses were sold in the 17102 zip code, which includes North Street to Maclay Street and Front Street to N. 7^th Street. In 2015, the same zip code totaled 99 units sold. Even more encouraging, the average time on the market for those 99 units was 87 days, just below the average of 90 days in the surrounding suburbs.

Faring Better

Wendell Hoover, Harrisburg’s other go-to agent, looked past the borders of the 17102 zip code to find that the dips and peaks of the average sales price over a six-year period told the same story.

Including data from downtown, Midtown and Uptown, the average sales price was $97,241 in 2010. In 2011, the average sales price dropped drastically to $85,339 then dropped further in 2013 to $75,058. The last two years have seen a reversal. The 2015 figures show a 22 percent increase since 2013 to an average price of $91,600.

The low numbers in 2011 were not unique to Harrisburg as the country experienced a bursting of the housing bubble. Harrisburg, however, was experiencing other challenges, financially and politically, over those years. Now, the opinion of the city has changed, said Hoover, who credited this improved perception as the main factor behind the current upswing.

“There were just so many negative things, and there were very few positive things before, so that’s the biggest trend—people have changed their viewpoint,” he said. “Whether they’re first-time homeowners or they’re investors, you need to have that confidence in the immediate market, and now a lot of people do.”

More Attractive

Hoover has been a realtor in central PA for six years and, during that time, he, too, has observed many of the changes in the city and optimistically foresees continued growth.

“Interest rates, although they might inch up, will remain relatively low, and the economy, although not good for everyone, has incrementally improved,” he said. “I don’t see much to stop this positive momentum, particularly as we get more things in Midtown.”

Hoover cited the opening of the Millworks and the expansion of the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center as two important recent projects that have made the neighborhood more attractive to buyers.

“There are different venues I could point to, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be restaurants,” he said. “It’s just things that people can walk to.”

The desire to live in a walkable city is something that both Davis and Hoover have noticed from clients such as young professionals, first-time homebuyers and empty-nesters looking to downsize.

“I can’t put a particular amount of weight on it, but I believe the trend going forward is people wanting a house in a walkable community, and Harrisburg is definitely that,” Hoover said. “Some areas more than others, but that’s the biggest demand, particularly in Midtown. That’s a trend that I’ve seen for several years, but I’ve seen it grow in the last year or two years.”

The city’s walkability is not only attractive to potential homebuyers, but also to renters. The rental market is another facet of Harrisburg’s housing market that’s been trending up.

“The rental market was always good and remained good,” Hoover said. “Even during the time when people didn’t have the confidence in the overall market, they were at least willing to rent. They wanted to be in Midtown, they wanted to be in Uptown, but they weren’t convinced that maybe the market wasn’t going to get worse.”

And, in fact, developers have been responding to the growth in rental demand, with many new apartment buildings—particularly high-end renovations of historic buildings—coming on the market over the past couple of years. LUX, Walnut Court and COBA are a few examples of recently renovated multi-dwelling buildings. This year, both Harristown Enterprises and WCI Partners will add significant new rental inventory to downtown and Midtown.

Some of those renters eventually turn into homeowners.

“Renters who are renting upper-end properties, if they decide to stay, or when they decide to stay here, they turn into really good buyers,” Davis said. “They’re having a good experience in the city, and they want to stay.”

Both realtors also have had a growing number of clients moving to the city from larger metropolitan areas. These buyers, or renters, are attracted to Harrisburg because of the amount of space they can get for their hard-earned money compared to the cities they came from, the realtors said.

“Folks coming from those areas really help our values because they see value where natives don’t,” Davis said. “But do I see a big trend of that? I don’t know if it’s a huge trend, but it’s happening.”

What do the next five years hold? If demand continues, perhaps developers will begin to build single-family homes. The city’s new construction market—unlike the growing multi-family segment—has seen little action for many years.

“The city isn’t like Lower Paxton Township or Silver Spring Township, where they’re building new stuff all of the time,” said Davis. “[Zip code] 17102 doesn’t really have anywhere to go other than a few townhomes up at the [Broad Street] market.”

So far, Blouch appears happy with his choice to ditch “the boonies” for city life. Not only is he within blocks of places like Little Amps Coffee Roasters, Alvaro Bakery and Zeroday Brewing Co., but he’s met “tons” of people in his first year in Harrisburg.

“This works for me because I’m very social,” he said. “I’m more of a city person. I like being around other people.”

House of Note: Harrisburg’s most famous residence celebrates a landmark year.

February 29, 2016 | by M. Diane McCormick

A million presidents have come to Harrisburg, said Dan Deibler. He immediately corrected himself.

“A lot of presidents came to Harrisburg,” he said, “and they probably came to this house.”

“This house” is that graystone between railroad bridges on S. Front Street, the Harris-Cameron Mansion. Though it’s home today to the Historical Society of Dauphin County, it has hosted a long parade of history makers since its construction in 1766.

Or 1768. Architectural historian Deibler is still working on that question. And that, say HSDC officials, is the point of the mansion’s 250^th anniversary celebration in this year of 2016. As they spotlight a house that has anchored Harrisburg history, they want to separate fact from fiction. Staff and volunteers are digging into archives, trying to weed out myths from cherished stories and, in the process, ride the resurging interest in history to capture new generations of audiences.

The celebration “makes Harrisburg more interesting,” says HSDC board member Nancy Mendes. “It happened here. It did have a place in history.”

Though thousands drive past every day on their way to I-83, many people say they never knew about the historical attraction on the left, says HSDC Executive Director Nicole McMullen Smith.

“The board and I have always discussed how rich the history is in Harrisburg and how this house influenced everything that happened here, from the settlement of this area, to the negotiations with Native Americans, to the state capital moving here,” she says. “The people that lived in this home greatly influenced our local history and our national history. This is the opportunity for us to present that in new and interesting ways.”

What’s known for sure about the house:

Completed in (or around) 1766. The society chose to stick with the timetable established by previous milestone celebrations.
Built by John Harris Jr., the city founder who named Harrisburg in honor of his father. John Harris Sr. operated a ferry and frontier trading post in the vicinity. Harris Jr. was a wealthy man, and the home, not overly large by today’s standards, was a mansion in its day.
Bought in 1863 by Simon Cameron, Pennsylvania political player and Abraham Lincoln’s first secretary of war—so irascible and enmeshed in scandal that Lincoln sent him into political exile as minister to Russia. Cameron made few changes to the exterior but lowered the first floor three feet to create fashionably high Victorian ceilings.
Deeded to the Historical Society in 1941. Previous occupants included the Pennsylvania Female College and Harrisburg Academy.

For the anniversary celebration, Mendes is designing exhibits to illuminate events inside the house and outdoors. Exterior exhibits will review the Native American life that flourished at this critical river crossing “for 10,000 years before the Europeans came,” she says. One indoor exhibit will spotlight Cameron, featuring his epaulets, hats and “some strange helmet he picked up in Russia.” Artifacts being dusted off from the society’s collection include William Penn’s original charter permitting Harris Sr. to operate a ferry.

An outdoor plaque over John Harris Sr.’s grave (look for the wrought-iron fence on the right on your rush-hour dash out of town) will explore the truth behind the oft-told tale of the slave, Hercules, who rescued Harris from a near-torching by Native Americans. A grateful Harris gave Hercules his freedom, says the story.

“Well, that’s not true,” says Mendes. “That supposedly happened around 1720. He did give Hercules his freedom—in his will.”

On the Frontier

This is history unvarnished, but not revisionist to apologize for the parts that seem unsavory to 21^st-century ears, says board member the Rev. David Biser.

As the society’s John Harris Jr. reenactor, Biser knows the city founder quite well. Harris Jr. was so prominent that he once made inter-colony news during the French and Indian War, missing and presumed dead from a Native American ambush when he was actually taking two weeks on a circuitous homeward trek to elude another assault.

Harris would also send out agents to kill Native Americans and collect their scalps. He would buy the scalps and resell them in Philadelphia.

“While he is an incredible entrepreneur, incredible businessman, savvy in Philadelphia, Reading and Lancaster, he’s caught up in what it means to be on the frontier in Pennsylvania,” says Biser.

In Harris Jr.’s time and his father’s, “you cross the river, and you’re on your own.”

For the 250^th, Biser is bringing in other reenactors to portray such historical figures as Conrad Weiser, the mediator between colonists and Native Americans who signed several treaties in the mansion or rendezvoused there with state officials before meeting tribal chiefs.

And there will also be a visit from a name and face known to every American—a guy named Benjamin Franklin. Seems the polyglot Franklin, in addition to printing, writing, studying the qualities of electricity and helping found a new nation, came to this frontier region to lay out forts in the 1740s and surveyed their construction through the 1750s. Certainly, Harris “had bumped into Franklin,” says Biser.

The revivified Franklin, Harris Jr. and Weiser are expected to attend the June 25 Founder’s Day Festival, one of the new events added to HSDC’s anniversary calendar. Founder’s Day will offer a free, family-friendly look at colonial life, with encampments, crafts, music and games.

For the anniversary year, the society wanted to expand community programs into offerings that would entice new audiences. There will still be such annual traditions as the holiday market and reenacting Harris Jr.’s reading of the Declaration of Independence from the front porch.

New on the agenda is a symposium on Cameron’s legacy, a tavern night and whiskey tasting hosted by Harris Jr. and, during the April 9 anniversary kickoff, a ticketed beer tasting of local brews. And if the beers aren’t strictly colonial-style, well, “We’re going to celebrate the local tradition, and legend has it that John Harris Sr. probably brewed his own beer,” says Smith. “He was a brewer in England.”

A redesigned website will refresh the Historical Society’s public profile for the electronic age. In March, the mansion and its Alexander Research Library—popular with genealogists and history buffs—will add Saturday hours, in the hope of attracting the region’s weekend visitors. The mansion exterior will show the effects of a recently completed $500,000 renovation. Parts of the interior will be restored to historical accuracy.

It’s all part of the society’s effort to show that, as Smith says, “The history is important. The house is important. We’re here. We’re open.”

The John Harris and Simon Cameron Mansion is located at 219 S. Front St., Harrisburg. For more information on the mansion, the Historical Society of Dauphin County and 250^th anniversary events, visit www.dauphincountyhistory.org.

Year of Celebration

Numerous special events and programs are planned this year to mark the Harris-Cameron Mansion’s 250^th anniversary, including:

April 9: 250^th Anniversary Year Opening Event, 2 to 5 p.m.

April 10: Free Admission Mansion Open House, 1 to 5 p.m.

June 25: Founder’s Day Festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Oct. 1: Tavern Night and Whiskey Tasting, 7 p.m.

Dec. 17: Gala Victorian Dinner, 7 p.m.

High-End Rug Company Plans Move into Midtown

February 24, 2016 | by Lawrance Binda

This former hardware store will be renovated to accommodate a high-end rug business, while the blighted buildings on the right are slated to become shops.

A company from the Washington, D.C., area plans to relocate their custom and designer area rug business to Harrisburg, setting up the transformation of a key commercial block in Midtown.

The principals of the company, Zachary Nitzan and Tahirih Alia, will move their headquarters to a building on the 1400-block of N. 3rd St., formerly the home of Midtown Paint & Hardware, across from the Susquehanna Art Museum.

The company plans to renovate the historic, 9,000-square-foot space to accommodate a showroom on the first floor and office and modern-industrial workspace on the second floor. The third floor will be gallery and event space, hosting local art events and showcases regularly, said Alia.

The building at 1408 N. 3^rd St. was built in 1905 as the West End Republican Club. In the 1970s, it became a hardware store, Mary Carter Paint Center, followed, in 1988, by Midtown Paint & Hardware. In 2014, GreenWorks Development bought the building, proposing to turn it into a U-GRO Learning Center, part an initiative called “Education Row,” an idea now abandoned by GreenWorks CEO Doug Neidich.

As part of their deal with Neidich, Nitzan and Alia also bought two small storefronts adjacent to the building, which they plan to restore as boutique shops. In addition, they purchased two empty lots on Susquehanna Street directly in back of the main building.

Nitzan and Alia operate two distinct businesses, ModernRugs.com and Christopher Fareed Design Studios. ModernRugs.com retails modern area rugs, curating thousands of upscale, modern furniture and area rugs, while Christopher Fareed is an exclusive design label that serves a modern boutique/luxury hospitality clientele, said Nitzan.

The principals plan to move their headquarters permanently to Harrisburg in several months, when renovations are complete.

Principals Tahirih Alia and Zachary Nitzan with sales director Tara Clugston of ModernRugs.com.

Change is coming quickly to the 1400-block of N. 3rd. Two months ago, a long-time bar, the Taproom, closed after the city denied it a 2016 business license. At the other end of the block, MX Cocina, a small Tex-Mex eatery, opened yesterday in the Campus Square building, adjacent to Brother’s Pizzeria. And, just around the corner at 263 Reily St., a new Indian restaurant received approval on Monday from the city’s Zoning Hearing Board to open in the location once occupied by the restaurants Nonna’s and Cribari’s.

Nitzan and Alia said they’ve been enamored with Harrisburg for years, ever since they came through the city after a drive through Amish country.

“We were driving through and saw the bridges and said to each other, ‘Let’s go visit,’” said Nitzan. “We came into this city, and I said, ‘I can move here. I can live here.’”

Since then, company staff has visited Harrisburg many times, eventually looking into property. They said they were “shocked” at how cheap real estate was compared to the Washington, D.C., area.

Visiting Midtown, they spied the former hardware store, which wasn’t even on the market. Their realtor, Cathy Bonitz-Eakin, contacted Neidich, and they reached a deal quickly, said Nitzan.

The multiple sales closed last week, and the team expects to begin the renovation shortly, hoping to move their business to Harrisburg in the summer. The first floor requires complete rehabilitation, as does the exterior, which years ago, was marred when a modern “skin” was bolted on to the historic brick front.

The second and third floors, however, are in relatively good shape, the lucky victim of benign neglect, as they’ve been basically untouched since the Republican Club moved up the street decades ago.

“Midtown is amazing; it’s gorgeous,” said Nitzan. “It’s like Georgetown at clearance prices.”

That description may surprise some in Harrisburg, but Nitzan points to a myriad of urban amenities to make his point, including the Millworks, Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Little Amps Coffee Roasters and the Broad Street Market—things as good as you’ll find in any city, he said.

“It’s been a long love affair with this city,” added Alia. “It’s such a beautiful place.”

Nitzan and Alia said they are eager to hire staff for their new Harrisburg headquarters. The staff will consist of a core team of Harrisburg-based employees—a mix of graphic designers, local artists and sales staff who will manage the showroom and online presence, brand promotion, product selection and customer relations. Their company culture is one that promotes collaboration, creativity and community engagement, they said.

Learn more about these businesses by visiting https://new.modernrugs.com and www.christopherfareed.com.

A Coffee Quest: What’s the secret to a great independent coffeehouse?

January 29, 2016 | by Don Helin

I love a good coffeehouse.

The smells. The bustle. The things I imagine being created behind all those laptops. Besides, everyone always seems so happy to be there.

And that made me wonder: What makes a coffeehouse great? Why do some succeed and others fail? And why do people flock to our area’s independent coffeehouses when there’s always another Starbucks up the road?

The Cornerstone Coffeehouse

When you walk through the front door of the Cornerstone Coffeehouse, you know you’re in a special place. You immediately hear the sounds of people talking and laughing. You sniff the enticing aroma of food cooking and then eyeball the wide variety of coffees and teas.

“You can choose from 12 different roasts or flavors of coffee, and about 25 different types of tea,” remarked co-owner Al Pera.

Besides the java itself, great coffeehouses often set themselves apart with the high quality of their food and their events. Cornerstone has both.

“We now have a full lunch menu with healthier options since many of our menu items are either organic or gluten free,” said Pera.

Live music fills the air on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, and you’re welcome to stroll through the art gallery, which features a different artist each month. For you foodies, the owners offer weekly cooking classes in their culinary kitchen.

The staff is another key differentiator, as veteran staffers get to know regular customers and the customers them.

“I am really proud of our staff,” said General Manager Nicole Miller. “We have people who have been here for a long time. For example, our baker, Cindy, has been with us for 12 years.”

That stands in stark contrast to the face-of-the-month at a certain coffee chain behemoth. Speaking of which, I asked Pera if it was difficult to compete with Starbucks.

“I don’t compete with Starbucks,” he said. “We’re just different. For example, we order our coffee on a Monday, they roast it and get it to us by Tuesday. We also have many fair trade and organic coffees to choose from. You can sit down and enjoy your coffee in a nice porcelain mug if you’d like.”

I had to agree with the quality of the food as I nibbled on a tuna melt and spooned down a bowl of thick and tasty split pea and ham soup for lunch. I followed it up with a refreshing glass of iced tea.

After 21 years, Cornerstone has not lost a beat, outlasting many other shops that have tried to compete.

“We at the Cornerstone care for the Camp Hill community, and the community cares for us,” said Miller.

Little Amps Coffee Roasters

Aaron Carlson describes his introduction to coffee roasting as half serendipity, half opportunity.

He’s from central PA, but spent years as a musician, traveling around the country before returning to Harrisburg.

“I fell for the style of coffee we do here while living in Oakland, Calif., a few years ago,” he said. “Blue Bottle Coffee was roasting in an alley behind my house in small batches. They’re now a $70 million company, so I thought, hey, why not give it a try?”

For about a year, Carlson roasted coffee in a warehouse, doing mail order and delivery. He opened his first shop on Green Street in Midtown Harrisburg in 2011. Things went well, so he opened a site downtown about two years later. He recently added a kiosk location inside Strawberry Square.

One of his first challenges was to communicate the value of carefully grown and lighter-roasted coffee. Back then, many of his customers wanted drinks that obscure the flavor of the coffee, made with caramel or, as he says, “that gooey pumped stuff” that chains offer.

“That’s OK when it’s cheap coffee or over-roasted,” Carlson said. “Now, my customers’ favorite drinks seem to be focused on the coffee itself and not what’s dumped into it. It’s trickier to roast, but the lighter roasting brings out a better flavor and makes it a little sweeter, so the demand for this style of coffee is expanding. I do all of my own roasting and actually sell roasted coffee beans to other coffeehouses.”

Little Amps also offers a number of events, such as live music most Fridays at the State Street location, and is starting to do more cuppings—coffee tastings—at the Green Street shop.

I asked Carlson what he sees for the future.

“Hopefully, more fun and good vibes,” he said.

Cafe Chocolate of Lititz

The main street of Lititz is a maze of small shops, restaurants and bookstores. Tucked among these places, about one-half block from the General Sutter Inn, is the quaint Cafe Chocolate.

“The Cafe Chocolate has been here almost 10 years,” said owner Janice Dull. “I bought the café about 2½ years ago. It was a fairly easy transition because I trained under the previous owner for a few weeks.”

The shop serves a wide variety of drinks—hot chocolate, espresso, cappuccino, chai latte, to name just a few. But the signature drink is the Turbo Hot Chocolate: a mug of hot chocolate with a shot of espresso to fire it up. And fire up it does.

“We don’t really see Starbucks as a competitor,” Dull said. “Our products are healthier and not loaded with sugar. We make our own whipped cream and use 65-percent dark chocolate. My customers love the many gluten-free dishes we serve, such as Portuguese chicken and rice, West African peanut chowder and even cupcakes.”

I enjoyed looking through the cafe’s menu, which includes flatbread pizza (either whole wheat or gluten free), a vegetable curry Siam with black rice risotto and, of course, “Chili con Chocolate.”

I spent a lot of time trying to decide on a dessert. The café has a dark chocolate fondue that serves four and chocolate-dipped berries. I finally decided on a frozen hot chocolate, which was excellent.

The Cafe Chocolate has a motto—“Chocolate for Life”—and it couldn’t be more appropriate

St. Thomas Roasters

Judging by the popularity and success of St. Thomas Roasters, you’d never imagine that it began 15 years ago almost as a notion.

“We had never run a business before and had no experience selling coffee,” said Geof Smith, who runs the shop with wife, Pam. “But Pam had always wanted to own a coffeehouse, different from her experience in the health care field, so when I left AMP, we made the plunge. We researched trade shows and other coffeehouses before we started.”

Learning how to roast coffee was a challenge. They started by roasting their own beans, but soon became a wholesaler, roasting coffee beans for a number of other businesses, which now include such popular spots as Char’s at Tracy Mansion, Café 1500 and Karns.

Linglestown is home to a number of upscale housing developments and is also on the commuting route to Harrisburg, so the shop has a steady flow of customers. At 10:30 on a Friday morning, when I met with Geof Smith, the place was already packed with patrons of all ages.

“Our customers have a number of favorite coffee drinks,” he said. “These include Colombian coffee, our own Linglestown blend, Almond Joy lattes, Americanos and London Fogs. They have a chance to enjoy their coffee and listen to entertainment on most weekends.”

I asked him about Starbucks.

“Starbucks is a competitor, but not a threat,” Smith said. “I must give them credit because they started the whole coffeehouse scene, enabling many of us to continue on with our own models.”

He sees business growth in roasting coffee beans and selling them on a wholesale basis to his customers. He currently roasts about 20 types of coffee beans by doing roughly 11 batches each day. He roasts between five and 30 pounds each time.

“We’re delighted we took the plunge 15 years ago,” he said. “There were many challenges along the way, but I wouldn’t change any of it.”

GOING THERE

Cafe Chocolate of Lititz
40 E. Main St., Lititz
717-626-0123
www.chocolatelititz.com

The Cornerstone Coffeehouse
2133 Market St., Camp Hill
717-737-5026
www.thecornerstonecoffeehouse.com

Little Amps Coffee Roasters
1836 Green St., 133 State St. and Strawberry Square, Harrisburg
717-695-4882
www.littleampscoffee.com

St. Thomas Roasters
5951 Linglestown Rd., Harrisbur
717-526-4171
www.stthomasroasters.com

Don Helin published his first thriller, “Thy Kingdom Come,” in 2009. His novel, “Devil’s Den,” was selected as a finalist in the 2013 Indie Book Awards. His latest thriller, “Secret Assault,” was selected as the best Suspense/Thriller at the 2015 Indie Book Awards. Contact Don at his website, www.donhelin.com.

Return Visit: A few years ago, our editor urged Harrisburg to embrace its destiny as a small, charming city. How’s that going?

January 29, 2016 | by Lawrance Binda

What do you want your city to look like?

For months, the city’s Planning Bureau, preparing a new comprehensive plan, has asked Harrisburg residents that question and has received hundreds of suggestions, from the prosaic to the fanciful.

From time to time, I’ve expressed my opinion on the topic, perhaps most directly in a 2013 column called “Right-Sizing Harrisburg,” in which I advised casting aside grand, Reed-style ambitions and focusing instead on “doing small city well.”

I continue to believe that, as Harrisburg continues to rebuild, it should play to its natural strengths as a small, Victorian-era city on a gorgeous river. This, I believe, would make the city most appealing to both new residents and visitors.

So, how are we doing? Actually, not bad, I’m happy to report.

Almost three years have passed since I wrote that column and progress, while uneven and always too slow for my taste, is noticeable.

Many of the city’s most significant historic buildings, blighted and largely abandoned until recently, have been restored and reoccupied. Rehabilitation of structures like the Barto Building (now LUX), the Millworks, the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center and the Moose Lodge Temple show that people want to live, work in and visit gracious historic structures in Harrisburg, just like they do everywhere else.

Their survival stands in stark contrast to decades of misguided “urban renewal,” whose philosophy seemed to be that Harrisburg could only save itself by destroying itself, that it had to replace elegant rows of brick, stone and mortar with cold blocks of steel, glass and concrete. Or that it had to more closely resemble the suburbs. Unfortunately, much of downtown was lost to the “raze it and they will come” mindset, but some of the charm of the historic center remains.

So, a few developers finally woke up to the benefits (aesthetic and financial) of preservation, but what about governments?

Well, the state finally seems to be on board, reversing decades of ruinous policies that destroyed entire historic neighborhoods around the Capitol and turned much of Harrisburg into one big traffic island. The recent redevelopment of Front Street and support for the city’s plan to return much of N. 2^nd Street to two-way traffic are both pro-community and pro-small city, making two of Harrisburg’s main thoroughfares less forbidding and better integrated with the city.

The Papenfuse administration seems to get it, too. It has focused on infrastructure and quality-of-life issues, long neglected at the expense of dubious, imposing projects like museums, colleges, art centers, parking garages and big office buildings—often publicly funded via mountains of debt and destructive to the existing, 19^th-century cityscape. Despite the city’s tight budget, the administration has found creative ways to finance the installation of new LED lights, to begin years of long-ignored street paving and to improve sanitation services.

So, that’s the good news. What about the bad?

To be attractive to outsiders, a small city must look good, and, in that regard, Harrisburg still needs work.

As I just said, some developers are doing their part, but others aren’t. This city has too many dilapidated structures and empty lots owned by people who have the means to fix and improve them. Also, much of Harrisburg’s building stock remains stuck in the hands of slumlords and negligent commercial property owners who seem intent on sucking the last penny out their buildings before they crumble to the ground.

Then there are the problem businesses.

Lately, the city has been trying to shut down several bars that it deems troubled, which it believes act as magnets for crimes both major (shootings, drugs, assaults) and minor (vagrancy, loitering, panhandling).

No business—whether a bar, a convenience store, or heck, an ice cream parlor—has the right to be a destructive force on a neighborhood. Businesses should add to the quality of life where they’re located, or at least not damage it.

Personally, I don’t care what happens to these businesses as long as they stop contributing to the city’s blight and retarding its progress. There are tons of bars in Harrisburg, most responsibly run, and only a few seem to have constant problems.

Making Harrisburg into a more livable, attractive and enjoyable small city—one where people want to live and visit—is hardly rocket science.

Developers need to develop, respecting the historical context of the city around them; building and business owners need to act responsibly, understanding that they exist not in isolation but within a community of people; the municipal government needs to focus on the basics, such as infrastructure and quality of life.

I’m impressed with the progress this city has made in just a few years. The difference between then and now is real and substantial. Nonetheless, much more needs to be done for Harrisburg to achieve its destiny as a lovely, vibrant small city perfectly located on a wide, gorgeous river

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.

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