Selection of developer advances the multi-million-dollar initiative
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
An Amtrak aerial photo shows the area that will be affected as the Coatesville train station project advances.
Full steam ahead: That’s the status of the new Coatesville train station, according to David N. Sciocchetti of the Chester County Economic Development Council, the project’s manager.
The multi-million-dollar project has moved a step closer to fruition with the recent selection of a developer, said Sciocchetti. Pennoni Associates was tapped to take the central role in developing the station. Pennoni, a Philadelphia-based engineering and design-consulting firm, will team up with EdiS, a West Chester-based building-services company; architect Bernadon Haber Holloway; and others – a collaboration that will serve the project well by combining areas of expertise, Sciocchetti said.
Joe Viscuso, a Pennoni vice-president, said the firm was excited to be chosen. “While we are focused on designing and building a first-class train station, we are also committed to making the station a catalyst for new private investment in the city,” Viscuso said in a news release.
Classified as Transit Oriented Development (TOD), the Coatesville train station project will use public-sector investment in the train station to leverage private investment in the area of the station and in downtown Coatesville, Sciocchetti said.
At a minimum, the project will consist of the development of a new Coatesville train station and adjacent areas, the revitalization and reuse of the existing train station building, new development on the southeast corner of Third Avenue and Lincoln Highway, and streetscape improvements on Third Avenue to connect the station to downtown Coatesville, Sciocchetti said. The work is intended to generate additional private-sector interest in other properties in both the train station area and downtown Coatesville, he said.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has committed over $20 million to the project as part of its ongoing efforts to upgrade stations along the Keystone Corridor rail transit line from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. “The investment in the Keystone Corridor will pay significant dividends for years to come in both improving east-west transportation in Pennsylvania and in leveraging economic development in communities like Coatesville,” said PennDOT Deputy Secretary Toby Fauver in the release.
Chester County has added an additional $700,000 to the project through its Community Revitalization Program and has used other grant funds to provide coordination and management services for the project.
Speaking on behalf of the Board of Commissioners, Chairman Ryan Costello said, “It is exciting to see this effort move forward. Partnering the county’s Community Revitalization Program (CRP) funds with Keystone Corridor investment from PennDOT to enhance the county’s main transit corridor and help spur development in the county’s only city is exactly how our CRP-sponsored activities are supposed to work.”
The Pennoni-led team was selected as the result of a bidding process through the Coatesville Redevelopment Authority (RDA) that generated strong candidates, said Coatesville Council President David Collins. “It was certainly encouraging for me to see so many highly experienced design and development teams come together with a focus on the City of Coatesville,” said Collins. “We certainly believe that this project can be a major catalyst for additional interest and new economic development in the city.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Joseph “Zeke” DiSciullo, chairman of the Coatesville RDA. “We have been working hard with a lot of strong partners including PennDOT, Amtrak and Chester County, and have been assisted by the Chester County Economic Development Council with high quality technical support, to enable us to reach this point,” DiSciullo said, adding that “having the Pennoni team on board as the developer will mean that this project takes on an entirely new momentum.”
The Pennoni group will begin its work by identifying and market-testing specific targeted uses for the project properties and creating conceptual designs for both the public and the private improvements. The project will then move through engineering and construction with the “reasonable goal” of a new station by 2016, Sciocchetti said.
Despite the numerous local, state, federal and private entities involved in the process, Sciocchetti said it has progressed smoothly so far. “It’s nice when everyone is on the same page,” he said. “Everyone wants to see the project done.”
