LAUNCHING POINT ‘Corner’ could boost small business revitalization in New Kensington
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Leslie Wolfe, an adjunct professor of business administration at Penn State University’s New Kensington campus, earlier this week took her students on a stroll along Fifth Avenue — the main drag in downtown New Kensington pockmarked with empty storefronts that during the city’s heyday held shops, restaurants, theaters and offices.
Inside one space, Penn State and community leaders are trying to revive the entrepreneurial spirit that once made New Kensington a thriving industrial hub.
The Corner, a combination business incubator and shared working space, is part of the university’s Invent Penn State initiative that seeks to spur economic development and job creation in communities across the state.
Through the university’s Launchbox programming, it will provide assistance to students and entrepreneurs who aim to grow ideas into stand-alone commercial enterprises.
“This could be a catalyst for so much … to generate small business and ideas to solve problems,” said Ms. Wolfe, who runs a business consulting firm in Kittanning and who is among the Penn State faculty members set to offer training and education at The Corner.
The incubator is among 17 active Penn State Launchboxes, said Penn State president Eric Barron, who attended the official opening Wednesday. Four more are planned, including one slated for Beaver County, where Penn State also has a campus.
The university funds the centers with $150,000 seed grants and locates them just off its campuses “so that if students start a company, they have to walk into town,” Mr. Barron said.
Part of the idea is to keep Penn State students living and working in local communities once they
finish their degrees, he said.
Each Launchbox is eligible for university matching funds if community partners invest. Ultimately, Mr. Barron would like each Launchbox to grow its endowment to $2 million for long-term sustainability.
Inspiring other Rust Belt towns
After Penn State New Kensington received its $150,000 seed grant two years ago, campus chancellor Kevin Snider approached local government officials and others in the community to partner on the project that had a total cost of about $1 million.
The 4,725-square-foot space at 701 Fifth Ave. is being leased from the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp., which spent $100,000 to buy the building and $285,000 for renovations, said Jason Rigone, executive directorof the WCIDC.
Other funding included $225,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission, $200,000 from the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland, and about $300,000 in loans and a grant from the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund.
The Beauty Shoppe, an East Liberty co-working space,will manage the space.
“In some ways, this is an experiment to attract something back to New Kensington,” said Matt Ciccone, cofounder of the firm which recently announced plans to expand its co-working concept to other neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
“In these kinds of towns, I think the challenges are when industry slows down and people move out,” Mr. Ciccone said.
The space, which will be accessible to members 24-7, features clean white walls, lots of windows, and various configurations of workstations and tables. There is a kitchen and event space that can accommodate 50. Members have access to mailing, printing and copying services.
Rates range from $150 a month for an individual to $1,200 a month for a four-person private office.
Mr. Snider envisions a tenant mix that will include small startups, as well as people who work from home and want a shared office to interact with others, graduate students and established businesses who want low overhead costs.
He hopes it will be a model that other Rust Belt towns can use. “The model is scalable and sustainable with the university as the stimulus,” Mr. Snider said.
A spot to be together
New Kensington was founded as an industrial center 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in the 1890s. Its growth paralleled the expansion of Alcoa, the Pittsburgh aluminum maker that in 1891 located its first largescale production facility in the city along the Allegheny River.
Population swelled to 26,000 before that plant closed in 1971.
As smaller businesses closed or moved away, the community has struggled with population decline, job loss and crime. The median household income is just over $38,000.
Now the city’s population totals about 13,000, said New Kensington Mayor Thomas Guzzo, and its largest employers are the grocer Giant Eagle, the New KensingtonArnold School District and UniFirst, an industrial cleaningand uniforms business.
Alcoa moved its research center to nearby Upper Burrell in 1965. The original research center, which sat vacant for years, is being redeveloped by a private developer as AK Research Park.
Arconic, the aluminum fabrication business that resulted when Alcoa split its operations into two separate companies in 2016, now occupies much of the research center in Upper Burrell and is providing volunteer support to The Corner.
The company also is involved in efforts to revitalize a five-block stretch along Fifth Avenue that local officials have dubbed The Corridor of Innovation. The socalled corridor is anchored on either end by The Corner incubator and Westmoreland County Community College’s New Kensington Education Center.
Recent upgrades include facade improvements, bike racks, benches and a parklet featuring a gazebo.
One business that’s already made a bet on New Kensington is the Knead Cafe, a nonprofit, pay-whatyou-can breakfast and lunch spot on Barnes Street.
Kevin Bode, a financial adviser with Northwestern Mutual, and his wife, Mary, bought the building — part of which was formerly a movie theater — and renovated the space. Mr. Bode relocated his business from downtown Pittsburgh to the upper floor.
On a cold and rainy Saturday in November — the day after rookie police Officer Brian Shaw was shot and killed during a traffic stop in town — Mr. Bode didn’t expect any customers for breakfast. But the cafe filled up. “People were here to cry and grieve,” he said. “They wanted a spot to be together downtown.”
He and the mayor agreed the city isn’t likely to boom the way it did when Alcoa employed thousands of New Kensington’s residents. But there are signs of revitalization, Mr. Guzzo said.
Fourteen small businesses have opened as a result of a local Better Block initiative launched in 2015, he said, including coffee shops, a pet store and a shop that sells handmade soaps.
“The community is ready to move forward,” he said. “The Corner can energize the momentum.”