Simon Silk Mill – Easton, PA
The Redevelopment Authority of Easton, PA acquired the former Simon Silk Mill, a complex of 19 buildings comprising approximately 330,000 square feet of existing space, with the intention of facilitating its redevelopment. While at Taggart Associates, Chad Helmer worked with the Redevelopment Authority to manage the revitalization project, including the oversight of environmental site work, assembly of the infrastructure financing package, and coordination of community stakeholders to reach a consensus on the use of the property. The property underwent extensive environmental remediation under Pennsylvania’s Act 2 program. Along the way, Chad leveraged and/or administered over $6 million in public grants and low-interest loans to support the project. The property is currently being redeveloped by VM Development Group as a mix of market rate office, retail, commercial, and residential uses.
Green Knight Industrial Park – Wind Gap, PA
Chad Helmer is serving as project manager/owner’s rep for the Green Knight Economic Development Corporation’s (GKEDC) development of the Green Knight Industrial Park at the former JH Beers quarry and tire dump outside Wind Gap, PA. Once the home of the state’s 3rd largest tire dump, this 56-acre property is being developed into an industrial park targeted toward small to mid-sized manufacturers.
The project has significant design and permitting challenges including its overall topography (quarry holes and slate piles), the need to cap an existing tire-filled quarry at the site, Act 2-related soil issues, and a history of illegal dumping at the site. Chad has been managing the project from its inception; from land acquisition, through design, permitting and construction bidding.
Karl Stirner Arts Trail – Easton, PA
The Karl Stirner Arts Trail is a scenic 2+ mile path that runs along the Bushkill Creek and connects downtown Easton to the ongoing mixed use redevelopment project at the Simon Silk Mill along N. 13th Street. Chad Helmer served as the project manager for the planning and development of the trail with the City of Easton. He worked with the City and the public to plan the trail, coordinated the City’s acquisition of various required parcels of land, oversaw the design, permitting and approvals processes, and coordinated bidding of construction work. After a groundbreaking in the spring of 2011, the Trail opened for public use in the fall of 2012. Today the trail hosts pieces by regional and/or nationally-renowned artists Willie Cole, Patricia Meyerowitz, Patrick Strzelec, Loren Madsen, and David Kimball Anderson, as well as Easton’s own (and trail namesake) Karl Stirner. Chad continues to work with the Karl Stirner Arts Trail, Inc., a 501c3 not-for-profit organization established to oversee the trail. In his role with the organization, he provides organizational planning and project management, fundraising support, and he helps to administer the Board and its various committees.
Catasauqua Iron Works – Catasauqua, PA
Chad Helmer is working with the Borough of Catasauqua to manage the redevelopment of the former Crane Iron Works property along Front Street in Catasauqua, PA. The Borough acquired the property via a series of transactions beginning in 2013 with the goals of cleaning it up, spurring the creation of jobs, encouraging private investment to the community, boosting the local/regional tax base, revitalizing a critical section of the downtown, and improving public services via a new Borough office, fire and police station. The Borough is in the process of establishing a public-private-partnership in which the Borough will complete certain environmental cleanup work and infrastructure construction, and after which a private development partner will develop the property as a mixed use development project. In addition to coordinating the redevelopment planning process, Chad also developed the Borough’s application for a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant which brought $1.5 million to the project.
William C. Buck Hall @ Lafayette College – Easton, PA
During his time at Taggart Associates, Chad Helmer served as project manager for Lafayette College’s William C. Buck Hall, a new theater building at the edge of downtown Easton. The project included the demolition of the former Case’s Tire building and construction of a new building housing a state-of-the-art black box theater, 180-seat cinema, set and costume shops, and associated back-of-house support spaces. This project is a critical piece of Lafayette’s larger initiative to develop the Williams Arts Campus along N. 3rd Street in Easton.
The project had significant design and permitting challenges related to its location within the floodplain of the adjacent Bushkill Creek, required compliance with the City of Easton’s Downtown Historic District regulations, and environmental considerations from being located on the site of a former automotive repair shop. Chad worked with the College to manage the project from its inception; from design, through permitting and approvals, bidding, and construction. The building opened in 2016.