Lancaster will receive a low-interest $1.5 million-plus loan from Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority to help fund excavation and infrastructure work on a 47-acre section of the former Armstrong World Industries complex in the northwest section of the city.
The project is a partnership that includes Armstrong, Franklin & Marshall College, Economic Development Co. of Lancaster County and Lancaster General Hospital. The group intends to transform the site into a mix of residential, office, commercial, athletic and medical facilities.
The $1.5 million PennVest loan will go toward a clean up project estimated to cost $33.5 million. Project backers raised about $24 million and the Pennsylvania Business in Our Sights Program kicked in $10 million in March.
That money, divided into a $5 million grant and a $5 million loan, will pay the cost of demolishing about 200 buildings on the site and pay the tab for environmental remediation there.
Lancaster County also has pledged $1 million for the project, which will expand F&M's campus by 26 acres and create a four-block area of mixed-use development on acreage belonging to LGH.
Developers estimate the project could take more than 10 years to complete. The buildings now there will be demolished, and 407,000 tons of debris removed before redevelopment can start. New construction is expected to begin in late 2008.
The former Armstrong floor plant is bounded by Manheim Pike, Dillerville Road, Harrisburg Avenue and Prince Street.
The PennVest loan will fund the construction of a combined sewer overflow and separation bypass at Lancaster's wastewater treatment plant and pay for demolition of existing combined sewers at the Armstrong site.
The enterprise, which could require a $150 million investment from the four partners, will create up to 2,000 jobs and provide up to $3 million in additional local tax revenue each year, according to the project's partners.
The $1.5 million PennVest loan given to Lancaster is part of a $52 million allotment doled out last week by the Rendell administration.
Some $48.6 million is in low-interest loans, and $3.7 million is in grants. They will fund 25 clean-water projects in 17 counties across the state.
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