Getting ‘Stuff’ Done in Pennsylvania

As Momentum Builds, Pennsylvania Goes Big on Investments in Site Development and Speed to Market

When Governor Josh Shapiro announced the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s first Ten Year Economic Development Strategy in nearly two decades – which can be found on PAGetsItDone.com – in January 2024, he emphasized that it was not going to be a report that sat on a shelf. Instead, it was designed to be a blueprint for action. The strategy laid out five main goals: investing in economic growth to strengthen Pennsylvania’s competitive position, making government work at the speed of business, opening doors of opportunity for all Pennsylvanians, innovating to win, and building vibrant and resilient regions.

Accelerating Site Development

2024 saw great progress here in Pennsylvania. Governor Shapiro worked with the bipartisan Pennsylvania legislature to secure a transformational influx of $400 million for the PA SITES program, a successful pilot program from the previous year designed to grow the Commonwealth’s inventory of pad-ready sites. PA SITES helps bring sites to market faster by funding better transportation access, utility connections, and other site preparation activities. In doing so, the program is enabling Pennsylvania to compete for even more medium and large-scale economic development projects while also supporting the growth of existing Pennsylvania businesses. Speed to market is one of the most critical considerations for business expansion and location decisions. By doubling down on investing in site development, Pennsylvania is ensuring that more sites are ready to go for businesses that are looking to act quickly.

In May 2025, Governor Josh Shapiro and Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary Rick Siger announced the Commonwealth is investing $64 million in 11 projects through the first round of the PA SITES program to build shovel-ready industrial sites across the Commonwealth.

• Bedford County – $2,800,000 to Bedford County Development Association (BCDA) to develop Area 1 and 2 of a 151-acre site at Bedford County Business Park III.
• Berks County – $2,308,173 to PDC Northeast LPIV, LLC to construct new utility infrastructure at the Southern Berks Industrial Park.
• Bucks County – $2,000,000 to Crownwood Condo 4 LLC for necessary site preparation activities at the Crownwood Industrial Park.
• Cumberland County – $10,227,830 to Real Estate Collaborative Frog Switch (REC FS), LLC to redevelop the former Frog Switch & Manufacturing Company property.
• Dauphin County – $247,796 to Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority to develop a plan for the development of the Crawford Power Generation Station for potential aeronautical use.
• Fayette County – $821,524 to the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council for Phase I development of the Lemont Rail Park site in North Union Township.
• Franklin County – $4,613,046 to the Franklin County Area Development Corporation to subdivide a 20.5-acre parcel in the Wharf Road Industrial Park into three lots and provide the necessary utilities and site prep for advanced manufacturing.
• Luzerne County – $4,125,000 loan to the Greater Hazleton Community-Area New Development Organization, Inc. to develop Site 28 in the Humboldt Industrial Park North, a modern developed industrial park in Hazle Township, Luzerne County.
• Philadelphia – $30,000,000 to Ensemble/Mosaic Navy Yard, LLC to develop the Philadelphia Navy Yard Greenway District. A 54-acre section of the Navy Yard will be prepared for six lots to support 500,000 – 700,000 square feet of new advanced manufacturing/commercial space.
• Washington County – $250,000 to the Mon Valley Alliance to conduct a feasibility study for a 542-acre site along State Route 136/PA Toll 43, located above former mining operations.
• Westmoreland County – $6,984,906 to RIDC Southwestern Pennsylvania Growth Fund to rehabilitate existing buildings 37 and 38 on the New Kensington Advanced Manufacturing Park.

The PA Permit Fast Track Program

But accelerating speed to market isn’t just about getting more sites prepared for business. It’s also about being efficient and effective at processing environmental and business permits for project development. That’s why, in November 2024, Governor Shapiro launched the PA Permit Fast Track Program to speed up government, drive economic growth, and make Pennsylvania more competitive. Being the first project-based permitting fast track program in the country, it is designed specifically for complex and impactful economic development and infrastructure projects. It operates under three key principles: enhancing project coordination, supporting critical projects, and creating transparency.

Through the PA Permit Fast Track program, Pennsylvania’s Office of Transformation and Opportunity (OTO) will develop, manage, and coordinate permitting for these projects across government agencies and private partners to get project sponsors answers in a timely manner. The office will also work closely with project sponsors and oversee updates to the Fast Track dashboard, a publicly accessible online tool designed to ensure accountability for both state agencies and project sponsors.

The PA Permit Fast Track program is already working for projects in different regions of the Commonwealth including the Bellwether District, a 1,300-acre logistics and innovation campus on the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery site on the Schuylkill River. This massive development requires substantial remediation work and is projected to create 19,000 direct permanent jobs – and was therefore the exact kind of high-impact project that the PA Permit Fast Track program was intended to support. And fast tracking the permitting process will rapidly accelerate the development of the site. As Roberto Perez, CEO of HRP Group, developer for the Bellwether District, says, “transforming a site of this scale and creating thousands of new jobs requires business, government, labor, and institutions to work together—along with a little imagination and a lot of grit. I firmly believe that together, we will show that in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we can innovate and accomplish big things.”

Through the $400 million PA SITES investment and the creation of the PA Permit Fast Track program, Pennsylvania is planting a flag and showing the national and international community that it is open for business. And the renewed energy for economic development in the Commonwealth has built incredible momentum for successfully winning major business expansion projects.

A Focus on Attraction and Expansion in Life Sciences

The largest expansion in Pennsylvania in 2024 was global biopharma company GSK. GSK is no stranger to the Keystone State, with its U.S. headquarters located in Philadelphia as well as in Durham, North Carolina. But when choosing where to make its planned $800 million expansion investment, the company had options. Ultimately, Pennsylvania’s world-class life sciences ecosystem and workforce led GSK to expand its facilities in Marietta, located in Lancaster County in the central part of the state.

The project includes an expansion of the existing GSK facility in Marietta and new facilities to manufacture vaccines and medicines. Currently, one in four Americans are administered a vaccine supplied from the company’s Marietta location. This expansion will double the size and capacity of the site.

The Shapiro Administration is supporting this expansion with a $21 million investment consisting of capital improvement grants, flexible incentive grants, worker training grants, and various available tax credits based on output. The expansion will create at least 200 new, high-paying jobs, and stands as GSK’s largest ever U.S. manufacturing investment, and the largest Commonwealth-supported economic development project in the Lancaster region’s history.

Competitiveness into the Future

Governor Shapiro’s latest budget proposal focuses on competitiveness, and includes a new $10 million job creation tax credit to attract businesses, and a $5 million increase for the Commonwealth’s most flexible incentive grant program called PAFirst. The Governor is also calling for an acceleration of the reduction of Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax to 4.99 percent, currently slated to reach that level in 2031. And the budget proposal also includes a $50 million investment into life sciences and technology and several new investments and programs to help grow Pennsylvania’s housing stock. These new initiatives will make Pennsylvania an even more attractive place for businesses across the country and world to expand.

The Commonwealth’s economic development motto is “Pennsylvania Gets It Done” – and through real action and major business expansions like GSK, that statement is proving to be so much more than just a motto. It’s a promise.