Chamber highlights Pottstown’s progress
POTTSTOWN » Sometimes you have to “stand and deliver” but sometimes its the other way around.
So as Peggy Lee-Clark delivered the good news about the progress of development projects in the borough, and the assets that create an attractive atmosphere for development, she asked all of those who believe such assets make Pottstown a good place to do business to please stand.
With a scrape of chairs, all of the roughly 160 business, government and education leaders in the Sunnybrook Ballroom for the Tri-County Area Chamber of Commerce’s Second Annual Pottstown Progress Luncheon were on their feet.
Lee-Clark is the executive director of Pottstown Area Industrial Development, known to many by its acronym PAID, and she was the keynote speaker and presenting sponsor for the event.
In her remarks, Lee-Clark recited a familiar list of recent accomplishments and new businesses opening in Pottstown made no less significant in its repetition due to the need to combat the persistent, and incorrect perception, that the borough is on a downward trend, she said.
She pointed to Cedarville Engineering Group, which moved to Pottstown from Chester County and cleaned up and took over the top floors of the BB&T Bank building at High and Hanover streets — a business that will soon expand to employ 50 people.
Lee-Clark outlined the big picture for the project to encourage development along 255 acres in Pottstown and West Pottsgrove between High Street and the Schuylkill River — which hinges on the extension of Keystone Boulevard to Grosstown Road and its new Route 422 interchange.
She mentioned the new ice cream parlor at 250 E. High St. and the new Pottstown United Brewing Co. pub across the street.
Diane and Phil Moss, the owners of Unfinished Athletics, are both Pottstown natives who returned to open a business in the former Giant shopping center “because they wanted to return to Pottstown to live and open a business here,” she said.
Lee-Clark pointed to the new Pottstown Wood Wurks shop at 217 High St. and noted how business often makes more business. “I was walking down High Street with an investor and he pointed to that shop and said ‘I’m going to use this business to re-finish the doors on my building.’”
There’s Scavenger Cycles, located in 5,000 square feet of space in the former Nipple Works building on Laurel Street in Pottstown, which will either find or manufacture any motorcycle part you need and ship it to anywhere in the world — except Guatemala, due apparently, to faulty postal service there.
The list went on — Weitzenkorn’s Men’s Clothing
using the Internet to make sales; the Eastwood Co., American Keg, Sly Fox brewery and lesser known gems like Precision Polymer.
“There are a lot of really good businesses in Pottstown that have been going on for many years,” Lee Clark said.
One of those long-time businesses is Traffic Planning and Design in Lower Pottsgrove.
Greg Richardson, executive vice president of the
firm, which was one of the sponsors for Thursday’s event, said he believes the Tri-County Area Chamber of Commerce is “a great organization” partly because of events like Thursday’s luncheon.
“We get some work out of it, sure, but we also like to contribute to the business community, and find out about other businesses in the area,” said Richardson.
“We get a lot of our business through wordof-mouth,
and events the chamber holds like business card exchanges allow us to network and you can almost see it like a flow chart,” said Richardson who, you might have guessed, is an engineer.
Richardson chatted briefly Thursday with Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr., vice chairman of the Montgomery County Commissioners.
Lawrence told the crowd that last year’s luncheon was his “first-ever event in Pottstown and when we pulled up and I realized Sunnybrook is where I had my senior prom. I went to North Penn and I guess back then, this was the only place big enough in Montgomery County to hold a prom. Coming to Pottstown was like coming to another country.”
Now, Lawrence said, he is pleased to see Pottstown making a comeback.
“I’m really bullish on Pottstown,” Lawrence said. “It’s great to see the community starting to thrive again because ultimately, as goes Pottstown so goes Montgomery County.”
Eileen Dautrich, executive director of the TriCounty Chamber of Commerce, said she was pleased with the turnout for Thursday’s event.
“We had a few less than last year, but that’s because everyone comes to the first one to see what it’s all about,” she said.
“I appreciate PAID’s tireless efforts on behalf of Pottstown and I’m pleased with all the people who turned out to show their support and help us tell our story,” Dautrich said. “I look forward to year three.”