HARRISBURG, PA — Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration is rolling out a sweeping series of investments in housing, infrastructure, manufacturing, and downtown redevelopment, betting billions of public and private dollars on a strategy to remake Pennsylvania’s economic landscape from Pittsburgh’s riverfronts to rural townships and small cities across the Commonwealth.
Over the course of last week, the Department of Community and Economic Development and its partners unveiled new funding packages for large-scale waterfront redevelopment in Pittsburgh, water and sewer upgrades in multiple counties, a new manufacturing plant in Lycoming County, low-interest loans for growing businesses, a key transportation project in Lancaster County, and fresh resources to expand affordable housing.
At the center of the push is The Esplanade, a high-profile, mixed-use development on Pittsburgh’s North Side, where Shapiro, Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, and DCED Secretary Rick Siger joined local leaders Monday to break ground on a project projected to support 9,300 construction jobs, create 4,500 permanent jobs, and generate $1.5 billion in economic output when fully built…