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.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA The future’s so bright ... They all wore ‘I Pick Pottstown’ shades Thursday at the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce’s second annual Pottstown Progress Luncheon at Sunnybrook.