PHILIPSBURG — The 35th annual awards dinner of the Moshannon Valley Economic Development Partnership took place on Thursday, April 24, where the Philipsburg Borough received recognition for outstanding community revitalization.
“The MVEDP’s annual awards event provides the board of directors and staff with an opportunity to recognize area people and organizations that are doing great work for the area,” Karen Blair, Ph.D.., President of the MVEDP board of directors, said.
“The event is a great networking opportunity for business leaders, government officials and for all of those in attendance,” she said.
More than 100 people were in attendance at the annual awards. The Philipsburg Borough was recognized after using eminent domain on 15 properties in the borough, eight residential and seven commercial, clearing them of unsafe structures.
The award read: “To recognize Philipsburg Borough for your outstanding community revitalization work that involved the acquisition of dilapidated properties and the removal of blighted commercial and residential structures throughout the Borough.”
Of the properties cleared, the firmer Sixth Street School building was sold to the Central Intermediate Unit 10, which will build an administrative building at the site.
In the areas around lower Presqueisle and Water Streets, four commercial structures were cleared and sold to Lee Industries for $270,000. The amount equaled that of what the Philipsburg Borough had spent to demolish the buildings and clear the sites.
According to MVEDP, local taxpayers were paid back in full for what it took to revitalize the sites. The nonprofit worked with both the Philipsburg Borough and Lee Industries to aid the transaction.
MVEDP is a lead economic and community development organization serving the Moshannon Valley region.
The Philipsburg Borough contributed around $700,000 for the revitalization of the 15 sites in total, which MVEDP remarked that those funds have been returned to the borough.
The Philipsburg Borough was also recognized for its contributions of $230,000 in financial assistance to local nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual dinner also featured Don Heaney, Ph.D., president and co-founder of Advanced Powder Products Inc., as a guest speaker at the dinner. APP is a manufacturing company located within MVEDP’s Moshannon Valley Regional Business Park.
“Mr. Heaney is a world-known technical and entrepreneurial leader in Metal Injection Molding (MIM). He has unusual skill in metallurgical application engineering,” Stan LaFuria, the executive director of MVEDP, said.
“He was able to successfully commercialize the use of MIM, 3D metal printing, unique alloy sintering, MIM furnace design and MIM process automation/quality for mass production. The company has patents in MIM and precision casting and Mr. Heaney was the editor and author of the book ‘Handbook of Metal Injection Molding,’” he said.
At the event, Heaney discussed the capabilities and history of APP. Opening in Phillipsburg 25 years ago, the business has grown with more than 190 employees and 20 more positions open.
“It was in 2002 that APP purchased a lot in the Moshannon Valley Regional Business Park and then built a 5,000 square foot manufacturing facility, which has since been expanded to over 60,000 square feet, with an additional 30,000 square feet, currently under construction,” MVEDP said in a statement.
