Pennsylvania Real Estate & Relocation Guide

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Population: 47,472

Located in Dauphin County

Located in the agricultural region of the Susquehanna Valley, Harrisburg offers its residents a dynamic city rife with opportunities and history. For the past 25 years, Harrisburg has continuously revitalized itself to attract businesses, residents and visitors by greatly improving economic conditions while maintaining its rich historic architecture.

One of the city¹s most major projects in the pipeline is the Southern Gateway project which, when completed, will create 8,000 new jobs, will nearly double the size of the downtown, and will generate mixed-use commercial and retail office space, adding to the retail within the City¹s downtown, thus better positioning the City as one where even more people living between the Boston to Richmond corridor will want to relocate and live.

Another major revitalization project involves the improvement of the Harrisburg School District. So far, the administration has been restructured, improved facilities created, an evaluation process instituted, technology expanded in operations and classrooms, and new academic initiatives founded. Better security in all schools has been established, full-day kindergarten was reinstated, the early childhood program for three and four years was started, and after-school programs - an extension of the school day with tutoring and mentoring have been created. The major focus on education includes the arduous and comprehensive and long-term process of improving urban public schools. It¹s a growth process with still much to be accomplished with the help of caring citizens, educators and city officials.

The Midtown Center of Harrisburg Area Community College opened last fall, which can serve up to 2,500 students who will eventually use the new center and other connected and nearby facilities---all serving as an anchor and catalyst for other development close by.

Other colleges and universities located within and around the town of Harrisburg include: Dixon University Center, Harrisburg Area Community College, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Penn State Harrisburg Eastgate Center, Temple University Harrisburg Campus and Widener University Harrisburg Campus (including its School of Law). The new Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, now in its third year of operation, is the first comprehensive university chartered in Pennsylvania in over 100 years. The new 16-story academic center, offering 371,000 square feet of classrooms, laboratories, seminar rooms, auditorium and other space, was recently dedicated and opened and has redefined the Harrisburg skyline.

All this economic and educational expansion paves the way for more housing developments in Harrisburg. The housing climate here has prospered and evolved over the last 25 years. Ranging from occasional 18th century structures to ambient 19th century historic districts and new townhouse neighborhoods to wooded, secluded settings and contemporary Center City high-rises to upgraded garden complexes and elegant apartment suites, the Harrisburg has something for everyone. In recent years, Harrisburg has seen substantial rehabilitation of older homes and a significant amount of single-family residential construction. Development of these large, new neighborhood communities and in-fill construction on previously vacant tracts in established areas, show that the value of city real estate has significantly increased. This new development includes neighborhoods in most areas of the city.

Since 1982, the city has been engaged, as the prime developer or as a co-developer or investor, in accomplishing the new construction or rehabilitation of over 6,000 residential units. This makes the city arguably the largest residential real estate developer in Central Pennsylvania. The effects have been many. A significant number of persons and families now own their own home for the first time. Many renters have become homeowners.

Areas where there once was block after block of empty structures are now teeming with new investment, homes and people. The affordability of city-based homes and their proximity to the park, restaurant and employment amenities and opportunities we have also created has spurred a back-to-the-city movement, especially among young professionals. Through rehabilitation work, many lower-income and senior citizen homeowners have been able to keep their homes and not have to abandon them.

Although Harrisburg is riddled with expansive green space of numerous parks, hiking/biking trails and golf fairways, a major attraction of the Harrisburg park system is the City Island recreational complex, located in the center of the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg. Professional baseball, soccer, and football all take place here. City Island also has family and children¹s play and rest areas and amusements attract hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors year-round.

Because Harrisburg is blessed with an extensive, rich and vibrant park system, the community is eager to help maintain it. The Harrisburg Parks Partnership teams the community with Department of Parks and Recreation management to clean and improve the urban parks, playgrounds, swimming pools and recreational areas that are available for the use and enjoyment of citizens and visitors every day. In the current era, over $80 million has been spent to improve the parks system.

The City is also environmentally friendly in some less-than-traditional ways, as well. In the City¹s Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, methane gas, one of the worst of the greenhouses gases, is captured and burned. Fueling a generator, this produces electricity and heat. The green energy is sold to our local electricity supplier. The heat is used to raise the temperature of a city-owned facility, which causes more methane gas to be produced, thus recycling methane gas that would otherwise be dispersed into the environment.

At the same plant, sludge, which is a by-product of wastewater treatments, was brought in from other communities and processed. This provides more methane gas for the co-generation of energy. Combined, these two operations have produced $14,000,000 in revenue. And by modifying an over-designed oxygen generation component, $10 million was saved in future operating costs.

Among a myriad of other environmentally friendly programs and initiatives, Harrisburg has also purchased hybrid vehicles and utilizes blended ethanol and diesel to cut foreign fuel use.

The City of Harrisburg continues to be Central Pennsylvania's leader in special events by staging quality events not just for the citizens of Harrisburg, but also for the entire region. In addition to year round community events such as street markets and festivals, the City produces two major annual festivals, the American MusicFest and the KIPONA Celebration, that attract an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 to the banks of the Susquehanna River each summer.

Downtown Harrisburg has two major performance centers. The Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, where education, science and the performing arts take place under one roof. The Forum, a 1,763-seat concert and lecture hall built in 1930-31, is located within the State Capitol Complex and has been home to the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra.

In recent years, the crime rate in Harrisburg has dropped by 76 percent and the overall crime rate has dropped by over 51 percent, thanks to the efforts of hard-working, top-notch law enforcement agencies.

For more information on Harrisburg, visit the City¹s new Web site at www.harrisburgpa.gov .