Coatesville's revitalization gets physical with Carlson demolition

Coatesville's revitalization jumped from the drawing board to the construction site Friday with a ceremony marking the start of razing the G. O. Carlson plant to make room for a series of condominium towers that will front on the Brandywine Creek.

"This is an exciting day. A day we mark the start of the physical revitalization of the city," said City Manager Paul Janssen, standing near a concrete abutment which once supported a crane. Further back stand five vacant metal buildings, their floors littered with abandoned machinery parts.

For Coatesville the ceremony was significant. For decades city residents have received only empty promises regarding the rebirth of their downtown. "Over the years there hs been a lot of rhetoric about revitalization. Now it is happening. It won't happen over night . . . but it is happening," said John Pawlowski, a lifelong city resident and now member of the city's redevelopment authority.

Until Friday, signs of $700 million in private investment have been sporadic at best. The million dollar restaurant Developer Bart Blatstein of Tower Investments promised for the old Record building has been stalled for several months now.

And before the Carlson plant is to be developed, the city must convince the financially troubled Coatesville school district that it is in its best interest to redirect future tax revenues generated from property improvements in a Tax Incentive Financing (TIF) zone back to the city.

The city bought the 17 acre Carlson site for $1.7 million. Those funds are to be paid back to the city by Blatstein once he is prepared to start construction.

Gracie Corp. has 90 days to bring the Carlson buildings down to ground level. The demolition will not cost city taxpayers; the Philadelphia wrecking firm is paying the city's $1,001 in exchange for salvage rights to any remaining steel. However, the city has agreed to make certain the 17 acres is environmentally safe before reselling it to Blatstein. Janssen said a $1 million grant has been secured through the county Economic Development Council. The actual cleanup, he said, is expected to cost less than $800,000. The city has already used $200,000 to pay for environmental reports which he termed promising.

Pawlowski recalled that when his father emigrated to Coatesville from Poland in 1905 he got a job at the mill, then owned and operated by Bethlehem Steel. "I used to bring him lunch in a brown-paper bag every day," he said.

Janssen said the demolition symbolized a shift away from the city's industrial history to a new era where 1,000 of construction jobs will be created. "Years ago this plant housed hundred of jobs . . . thousands of new jobs will be created," he said.

When the city drafted its revitalization plans, G. O. Carlson was still producing stainless steel. However, in March the plan was closed in favor of a more efficient plant the company owned in Erie. In October, the city took possession of the plant after negotiating a $1.7 million purchase price.

Janssen said the property now located in the city's economic development zone is now assessed at $10 million. When development is completed, he estimated the assessed value would be slightly lower than $700 million.

You can write to Allen Davis at allen@chestercountyreporter.com