Shapiro administration to announce new investments in downtown Harrisburg

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) — Pennsylvania leaders plan to announce their new plan to help revitalize downtown Harrisburg on Monday.

City leaders are pushing to strengthen downtown as a “economic, cultural and residential hub,” according to the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC).

There have been efforts in the past to improve quality of life and tourism in the area, but local leaders say they have more support — and grant money — than before.

“We have a good group of stakeholders involved. It’s a large group. I haven’t, in the past, seen a stakeholder group this size,” Harrisburg business administrator Antonio Megna said in April. “On top of that, we have buy-in from the city side. We have buy-in from the county. We have a buy-in from state. And then right now we have buy-ins from a lot of the businesses and a lot of the residents right now.”

READ MORE | $400K pledged to plan revitalization of downtown Harrisburg: How will the money be used?

Over the past few months, the CREDC and Harrisburg Regional Chamber have interviewed stakeholders, surveyed locals and held workshops and focus groups to understand the community’s concerns and refine their strategy.

Now, the CREDC plans to unveil its downtown revitalization strategy, according to the timeline on its website.

“COVID has completely changed how we frequent our downtowns, and really what downtown Harrisburg history has been about, which has been predominantly an office worker-based economy, has changed,” said Ryan Unger, president and CEO of CREDC, said in April. “So it’s been a significant shock to our downtown. So it’s going to require some significant planning to address that.”