A Pennsylvania Foundry Makes Good on Its Name
by Jamie Nesbitt

Phoenixville, Pennsylvania is a town poised for a comeback. Twenty years ago, the western Philadelphia suburb was just another casualty of the waning manufacturing industry. A village built on a foundation of sweat and steel had rapidly transformed into a ghost town once the steel mill closed its doors. Businesses disappeared and families who had grown dependent on mill wages to survive were forced to look for opportunities elsewhere.

Today, housing developments are sprouting on the outskirts of French Creek, while new boutiques and restaurants continue to populate downtown Bridge Street. And the town’s cornerstone—a steel foundry that employed generations of area residents—is in the midst of an extreme makeover.

“The area is quickly becoming a desirable address and a ‘hot’ place to live in the western Philadelphia suburbs,” says Gerry Kirkpatrick, a principal geoscientist with Environmental Standards, a Valley Forge, Pa., consulting firm that has played a pivotal role in the remediation of the old foundry. “It made sense to us that if done properly, the building could be an important part of the borough’s comeback.”

It was the location and historical significance of the building, now called the Phoenixville Foundry, that attracted Kirkpatrick to the project. Many company employees drive past it every day, as the foundry is practically in their backyard. It was a handsome building that was falling apart.

Hired two years ago by the developers, the Hankin Group, Environmental Standards has conducted several assessments of the foundry site, including an analysis of the groundwater. The investigation turned up low traces of inorganic lead and several fuel-related constituents, which Kirkpatrick believes may be related to surface water run-off from nearby road systems. They were able to demonstrate that the lead was immobile and unlikely to affect a nearby creek. The detections to date have been random, transient, and highly suspect, he says.

“Under Pennsylvania’s brownfields program (Act 2) we were also able to demonstrate that the aquifer in the area was not used in the future, as everyone is using public water,” says Kirkpatrick.

“And we placed a deed restriction requiring future property occupants to use public water to further manage potential groundwater down the road.” So far, remediation costs have been small. Kirkpatrick estimates that the final amount may be under $150,000. Once the site was investigated and evaluated, it was determined that the actual environmental conditions weren’t in such bad shape. That, he says, makes the adaptive reuse one of the smaller line items for the development. Pennsylvania’s utilization of engineering and institutional controls and the site’s non-residential designation makes the environmental work on both the property and the building pretty straightforward, adds Kirkpatrick.

Though one phase of the project is still in progress (Environmental Standards must demonstrate that the groundwater is compliant with Pennsylvania EPA cleanup standards), Kirkpatrick says that they continue to gain “tremendous support” from local and state agencies.

“The project is such a centerpiece in the community that all stakeholders have worked, and continue to work, very hard to make reuse of the foundry a reality,” he says.

Joe Tomasso of the Hankin Group agrees. Currently the facility director of the foundry, Tomasso praises the town for rallying around the project.

“There has been an outpouring of support from the community at large, and a cooperative effort is evident within the township management and the Main Street Community Development Corporation of Phoenixville,” he says.

Built in the late 1800s, the Phoenixville Foundry was initially part of the Phoenix Iron Works, which in its years of existence produced everything from nails to Civil War canons. After the war, it continued producing iron and steel for nearly a century before shutting down for good in 1987, when the Phoenix Pipe and Tube Company filed for bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy was finalized in 1994 and, two years later, the foundry was added to the list of the state’s most endangered buildings by Preservation PA. In 1998, the Phoenixville Area Economic Development Corporation (PAEDCO) acquired the facility with the help of a grant from Chester County. After raising an additional $5 million, PAEDCO began restoring the shell of the building with the intention of returning it to marketable condition.

“The goal was to attract qualified buyers to study the site and present their ideas for best use of the property as it related to the revitalization of Phoenixville,” says Tomasso. Last December, PAEDCO sold the property to the Hankin Group in a deal facilitated by the Chester County Industrial Development Authority.

A number of development plans had been considered over the years, including one for a physical fitness and health center. But it was the Hankin Group’s proposal that PAEDCO’s board of directors would eventually choose.

The 14,000-square-foot space will be transformed into a multi-use facility; construction of a grand ballroom and performing arts venue are currently underway, and the Schuylkill River Heritage Center—created to highlight the town’s industrial past—is set to open at the end of September 2007. Restoration of other sections of the building may also be completed by December.

Tomasso says that an early 2008 opening is possible, and community celebrations will be announced once a date is established.

“The overall objective of the Foundry building will be to serve the Phoenixville and Chester County community as one of the largest, flexible, special event facilities for formal weddings, corporate conferences, live performances, and exhibit space,” he says.