{"id":252512,"date":"2026-07-26T19:20:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T19:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/252512\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T19:20:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T19:20:39","slug":"a-berks-county-district-temporarily-froze-a-major-renovation-amid-loss-of-600k-to-ice-warehouse-sale-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/252512\/","title":{"rendered":"A Berks County district temporarily froze a major renovation amid loss of $600K to ICE warehouse sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was produced by\u00a0the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA<\/a>, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for Good Day, Berks, a daily dose of essential local stories at\u00a0spotlightpa.org\/newsletters\/gooddayberks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UPPER BERN \u2014 A Berks County school district temporarily paused planning for a multimillion-dollar high school renovation after ICE purchased a local warehouse to convert into a detention center.<\/p>\n

The January sale to the federal government means the warehouse is no longer subject to property taxes paid to the Hamburg Area School District and Upper Bern Township government.<\/p>\n

And while district officials say the financial impact is limited, the pause does demonstrate the uncertainty that ICE\u2019s warehouse purchase \u2014 which is\u00a0not moving forward as an immigration facility<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 is creating locally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to be strategic as far as our long-term planning with this new kind of circumstance that we\u2019ve been presented with,\u201d Superintendent Christopher Beissel told Spotlight PA. \u201cSo there\u2019s just uncertainty, but we\u2019re trying to navigate that in a thoughtful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the sale, the school district was set to receive nearly $600,000 sometime between July and the end of the year. Instead, on March 3, it received just over $437,000 in transfer taxes from the sale in a one-time payment.<\/p>\n

Like districts across Pennsylvania, Hamburg\u2019s budget is largely funded by local taxes; about $32 million is collected annually in property and other taxes, which is more than half of the district\u2019s $58 million budget. About $18.6 million in revenue comes from state sources, and roughly $530,000 comes from federal sources.<\/p>\n

District Business Manager Michele Zimmerman told Spotlight PA that transfer tax revenues supplement Hamburg\u2019s annual budget, and any surplus funds are designated for capital improvement projects like the high school renovation.<\/p>\n

But large transfer tax payments, like the one from the sale of 3501 Mountain Road, are \u201cextremely difficult to budget for due to the timing and amounts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Between February and May, the district worked with architects on a high school renovation design that would \u201clower the cost\u201d and still update the learning environments, Zimmerman said in an email to financial advisors working with the school on the project.<\/p>\n

Spotlight PA obtained emails, school board meeting minutes, and other documents from the district about the planned renovations through a Right-to-Know request.<\/p>\n

While the district is moving forward with construction plans, Beissel said administrators are aware of multiple scenarios that could play out since federal authorities haven\u2019t said what the plans are for the Upper Bern warehouse.<\/p>\n

ICE told the Shapiro administration in July that it does not intend to convert warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill Counties into detention centers. The confirmation followed reporting that the Department of Homeland Security intends to sell or give away seven of the 11 warehouses purchased over the past year as part of a sweeping $38.3 billion\u00a0plan to expand immigrant detention capacity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the agency has not said whether it plans to sell the Pennsylvania warehouses, which would put them back on the tax rolls, or use them for some other government purpose.<\/p>\n

\u2018We did slow-walk it for a bit of time\u2019<\/p>\n

DHS and ICE purchased the Mountain Road facility in January, removing $597,000 in property tax revenue from the rural district\u2019s rolls.<\/p>\n

It is one of eight warehouses within the district\u2019s boundaries that have been built since 2018, according to Zimmerman.<\/p>\n

Beissel said the sale \u201cdidn\u2019t necessarily have the substantial impact that you would maybe think it would.\u201d Still, the district paused the planning stage of the high school renovations to thoroughly assess the situation: \u201cWe did slow-walk it for a bit of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Efforts were paused for about two months. Beissel said administrators and school board members wanted to make sure the sale wouldn\u2019t impact long-term financing or the scope of the renovations.<\/p>\n

The agreement with AEM Architects estimates the construction project could cost anywhere from $48 million to $105 million, but the Hamburg district\u2019s board of directors has yet to make a final decision on the scope of the high school renovations. Officials continue to work with contractors on the design and amenities that will dictate construction costs.<\/p>\n

An email exchange between architects and school administrators indicated that officials hope to finalize the renovation plans in September.<\/p>\n

The recent news that\u00a0DHS no longer plans to turn several of the warehouses<\/a>\u00a0it purchased earlier this year into mass detention centers has put Hamburg administrators and the Berks County community more at ease. But everyone remains cautious given the uncertainty that lies ahead.<\/p>\n

Neither federal, state, nor local officials contacted by Spotlight PA in early July \u2014 before the Shapiro administration released letters from ICE confirming the warehouses won\u2019t be used as detention centers \u2014 provided new information about 3501 Mountain Road in Upper Bern or the ICE-owned warehouse in Schuylkill County. A DHS spokesperson provided the\u00a0same quote from June<\/a>\u00a0when news about the warehouses broke, and did not answer specific questions about those in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cDHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners,\u201d an agency spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Kevin Barnhardt, Berks County\u2019s chief operations officer, said commissioners had a brief conversation with U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.) at a recent event, and the representative indicated DHS still plans to sell the warehouses, but \u201chas nothing in writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Board of Commissioners has had no direct communication with DHS,\u201d Barnhardt added in an emailed response to Spotlight PA.<\/p>\n

Meuser\u2019s office did not respond to Spotlight PA\u2019s request for information about DHS intentions for the future of the warehouse.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, following news that ICE has confirmed it won\u2019t use the warehouses as detention centers, Berks County Commissioner Dante Santoni Jr. said he\u2019s ecstatic about the federal government\u2019s decision to abort plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy that the federal government made that decision. Hopefully, it was because of some of the things that our people talked about, and some of the rallies that we had against the opening of those facilities,\u201d he told Spotlight PA after a regular county commissioners meeting in Reading. \u201cWe want to make sure that they get back on the tax rolls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upper Bern Township received the same amount in transfer taxes from the sale as the school district, but officials have declined to say how the federal government\u2019s purchase has impacted municipal operations and budgeting. The township previously collected $31,229 in property taxes from the vacant warehouse on Mountain Road.<\/p>\n

With the Upper Bern warehouse potentially going back on the real estate market, residents are now concerned that the site could turn into a data center. Communities across the state, including Upper Bern, have been\u00a0developing ordinances<\/a>\u00a0to regulate the industry as some\u00a0Pennsylvania municipalities weigh data center<\/a>\u00a0proposals. Even\u00a0state legislators<\/a>\u00a0have considered regulations.<\/p>\n

Upper Bern board supervisors\u00a0proposed a data center ordinance<\/a>\u00a0during the township\u2019s July 9 meeting. Officials encouraged residents to read it over and provide comments and suggestions in the coming weeks as the proposal is reviewed.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Planning Commission<\/a>, which will review the proposal, meets at 7 p.m. on July 28. The next Board of Supervisors meeting will be held at 9 a.m. on Aug. 13.<\/p>\n

BEFORE YOU GO\u2026\u00a0If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at\u00a0spotlightpa.org\/donate<\/a>. Spotlight PA is funded by\u00a0foundations and readers like you<\/a>\u00a0who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.<\/p>\n

About Author<\/p>\n

\"Avatar\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Amanda Fries<\/a><\/p>\n

A Pennsylvania native, Amanda Fries began her journalism career in upstate New York, covering environment, agriculture, and local government for the Utica Observer-Dispatch and later state government and the Capitol for the Albany Times-Union. Fries joined the Delaware News-Journal in 2021, producing award-winning investigative coverage of botched school drinking water testing for lead. Her reporting prompted a statewide retesting of school drinking water sources and, for the first time, state funding for childhood lead poisoning prevention.<\/p>\n

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