The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Cedarville Engineering picks Pottstown
Growing firm relocates to East High and Hanover streets
Cedarville Engineering opens new office in Pottstown after refurbishing the building.
Long-empty offices with a spectacular view of downtown are now filled with engineers, project managers and other professionals thanks to a growing company that has moved from Chester County to Pottstown.
Although the employees at Cedarville Engineering Group moved into the three top floors of the BB&T Bank building at 159 E. High St. in June, the ribbon-cutting in the building’s courtyard Wednesday morning made it official.
And in truth, calling it the BB&T building is not entirely accurate given that April M. Barkasi, Cedarville’s president and CEO, is also part owner of the building and the bank is a tenant.
In addition to moving her business to the borough, Barkasi also partnered with Brett Levine to become part owner of the building whose upper floors her company took months and months to renovate.
(As part building owner, Barkasi likes to pepper her conversations about her engineering business with frequent mentions that the building still has a floor available for lease.)
Renovations removed asbestos, broken pipes and ruined ceilings and some of the most truly eye-catching and dated wallpaper seen in many a year.
Barkasi jokes that both her family and her employees “lived with a crazy woman for the last two years.”
But Peggy Lee-Clark, executive director of Pottstown Area Industrial Development didn’t think Barkasi or her vision was crazy. She helped her develop it and develop the idea that Pottstown was the place to realize it.
“I want to be able to attract top people who want to be here and help to grow this company.”
April M. Barkasi, president & CEO of Cedarville Engineering Group
And the Montgomery County Commerce Department didn’t think she was crazy. It provided a low-interest $185,000 loan to help the move happen.
And the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority didn’t think Barkasi was crazy either, approving a $265,000 loan to remediate the building into usable office space.
“Our job is not to create the jobs, but to create the conditions for business to come into the county and create those jobs,” said Montgomery County Commissioners Chairwoman Val Arkoosh, who was joined by fellow commissioners Ken Lawrence and Joe Gale at the ribbon cutting.
“And I am so happy Cedarville Engineering picked Pottstown,” she said. “It’s accessible and a growing, thriving community.”
“As recently as five years ago, an event like this would have been a gathering of men in suits,” observed state Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24th Dist., who was among those celebrating the opening. “I think it’s wonderful and says a lot about how our society has changed and adapted that we are here to celebrate a woman-owned company. We need more of them.”
The company, which specializes in federal contracts among other municipal, state, construction and regulatory specialities, is certified by the federal government as a “woman-owned business.”
For her part, Barkasi does not shy away from that aspect of her company’s profile — most of the people she thanked before the ribbon was cut were women — nor does she let it define the company.
“We hire the best qualified people,” she said simply. “We look past their physical characteristics.”
She also looked past common perceptions of Pottstown.
With her company spread among three different office locations in North Coventry, Barkasi said she wanted a centralized location with easy access to Route 422 and amenities — restaurants, parks, trails — that her employees would enjoy, so they will stay.
“I want to be able to attract top people who want to be here and help to grow this company,” Barkasi said.
“Pottstown had all of those things in abundance, at a price point I could afford,” Barkasi said.
So she came to see LeeClark.
“It all started with PAID,” Barkasi said. “And the borough couldn’t have been more welcoming. The red carpet was rolled out.”
And if Ankita Patel’s reaction to the new space is any indication, Barkasi’s strategy is working.
A project manager with Cedarville for the past three years, Patel replied simply “I would say I am on cloud nine,” when asked how she feels about the new location.
“I love the light in here, being high up, the space. Now my team can more easily talk to each other and communicate,” said Patel. “I even love the color of the paint,” she said of the yellow and orange color scheme. “It makes me happy.”
A graduate of Villanova University and a native of Springfield Township, Delaware County, Barkasi worked as a consultant for various clients after earning her masters until starting her business in 2010.
The company, which began with four people, now employs 35 and anticipates growing to 50 within the next two years, said Barkasi.
That growth — which will focus on state and federal contracts — will occur up and down the east coast, with some of those employees working outside of Pottstown, explained Jen Weaver, the company’s marketing manager.
As the small crowd gathered in the building courtyard for the cutting of the ribbon, Barkasi also offered a tip of the hat to David DiMattio, vice president of Workforce Development and West Campus of Montgomery County Community College “for the brainstorming we did for workforce development.”
Also on her list of those to thank was the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the ribboncutting ceremony. “I love that organization. I’m all in,” she said.
The feeling is apparently mutual. Among the awards on display in one of the new conference rooms is the chamber’s 2017 “Business/ Enterprise of the Year” trophy.
The county, the borough, the chamber, the college, all were integral to the effort to remake the company’s new space in Pottstown, Barkasi said.
“I needed all the pieces to come together for this puzzle to work,” she said. “And they all did.”
“I think it’s wonderful and says a lot about how our society has changed and adapted that we are here to celebrate a woman-owned company.” Bob Mensch, State Sen., R-24th Dist.