When more than a dozen national site selectors met in New York City this month to explore locations for future developments, Northeast Pennsylvania had a seat at the table.
Pittston-based Penn’s Northeast partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for a site selector round table on Nov. 6, hosting a networking event with 15 national site selectors, brokers and developers to market Northeast Pennsylvania by highlighting the benefits of locating their companies in the region. Penn’s Northeast is a collective aiming to promote new investments, jobs and business opportunities by promoting Northeast Pennsylvania.
The mission was to engage stakeholders, site selectors, brokers, academic institutions and government agencies to pave the way for collaborative initiatives that drive economic competitiveness, according to Penn’s Northeast.
(From left to right) Mike O’Rourke, managing director, business retention and expansion, BusinessPA; John L. Aug.ine III, president and CEO of Penn’s Northeast; Rick Siger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; and Aaron Pitts, chief commercial officer at the DCED, pose for a photo at a site selector round table in New York City on Nov. 6, 2025. (COURTESY OF JOHN AUGUSTINE)
The roundtable sought to highlight what Pennsylvania has to offer new businesses looking to grow in the United States’ Northeast region, and for Penn’s Northeast, that means promoting the nine counties it represents across Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Schuylkill, Wayne and Wyoming counties.
“I’m giving a 20-second elevator pitch to say, ‘If you have a company that you’re looking to locate, this is why you should look in Northeastern PA,’ ” said John Augustine, president and CEO of Penn’s Northeast.
Although Northeast Pennsylvania has a strong warehousing and distribution industry, Augustine said he doesn’t pitch that — those developers seek it out on their own. Instead, Penn’s Northeast promotes the area to attract industries like manufacturing, advanced manufacturing and agribusiness, he said.
Penn’s Northeast has partnered with the DCED for about nine years, participating in tours and site selector events like last week’s New York City roundtable for the past five years, Augustine said.
Because the DCED prefers regional groups — and because it couldn’t feasibly invite every chamber of commerce from across Pennsylvania — it instead brought in half a dozen regional economic development groups representing different regions of the state, including Penn’s Northeast, he said. His organization normally deals with site selectors, brokers and consultants that companies hire when they’re looking to expand, Augustine said. Convincing 15 Manhattan-based site selectors to drive to Northeast Pennsylvania isn’t going to happen, so instead, it’s easier to bring the information to the selectors, he said.
On Nov. 6, state officials made their own pitch before turning it over to regional economic development groups, who represented markets like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie and NEPA, Augustine said.
Since then, 13 of the 15 site selectors who attended already signed up for Penn’s Northeast’s monthly newsletter to stay apprised of local developments, joining about 5,000 other selectors, brokers and realtors who receive the marketing materials, he said.
To market Northeast Pennsylvania, Augustine points to the area’s higher education institutions with 19 colleges and universities, totaling 40,000 students. He also touted that along the Interstate 81 corridor, plus parts of Interstates 84 and 380, Northeast Pennsylvania has 60 million square feet of industrial space planned, much of which is built on speculation, which means developers are constructing the locations without a tenant lined up. The area also positions companies to be within a day’s drive of one third of the entire U.S. population and half of Canada’s, and land is affordable, averaging $3 to $6 per square foot cheaper, from a building standpoint, than the Lehigh Valley, he said.
“When the company comes calling, they want something that’s ready to move into,” Augustine said. “We then get to say, ‘Hey, for the past five years, in all of Pennsylvania, we’ve been … listed in the top 10 for economic development projects. This is what makes us stand out.’ “
The number one marketing detail companies look for when selecting a site, however, is wanting to know who else has located here, Augustine said, explaining they want to know why brands with household names have moved into Northeast Pennsylvania. Answering that question, Augustine pointed to the area’s workforce of 500,000-plus people with a reputation for a strong work ethic, the strategic location, and the local colleges and universities.
“It’s a great way for us to basically take PA, and from our standpoint, Northeastern PA, on a road show to say, ‘This is why you should be talking to us, and not New Jersey, not New York, not Maryland, not Delaware — PA — and in my case, Northeastern PA,’ ” Augustine said.