Manufacturer feels forced out of capital

A coin roller and change counting-machine manufacturer in Harrisburg's South Allison Hill neighborhood wants to get out of the city.

At 1380 Howard St., N.F. String & Son Inc. is surrounded by abandoned buildings, vacant tracts, litter and crime.

But Vice President Gregory F. String, who runs the company, said blight isn't making him move the business. He said it's satisfying providing full-time jobs with full benefits to 52 employees, many of whom are from the depressed neighborhood.

String wants to move to the West Shore because in 2006 Harrisburg's Community Action Commission blocked his bid to expand on an unoccupied 4-acre former brownfield the commission owns across from N.F. String. The commission is an Allison Hill nonprofit that focuses on making families and individuals self sufficient. This includes job training, job placement, housing initiatives and life-skills training.

String said he had hoped to spend about $10 million to build a campus for his business in the neighborhood.

He said he wanted to buy the plot from the commission to develop an 80,000-square-foot building where his company would produce cardboard for its products. He said he also wanted to expand into two other buildings -- totaling 82,000 square feet -- and use the 52,000-square-foot building N.F. String is in for research and development.

But at about the same time String set his sights on the commission's tract, the commission drew up the South Allison Hill Strategic Plan using input from community surveys, said Mayor Stephen R. Reed. The plan called for a vocational school and recreation area on the property, which included basketball and tennis courts, Reed said. And that turned out to be the stumbling block, he said.

Reed said he supported N.F. String's plans because the expansion meant more jobs in the city and it would add to Harrisburg's tax base. The company paid about $18,600 in taxes to the city this year, company controller Randy Lehman said.

When String took his idea to the city, Reed was supportive, String said.

"We asked for a meeting with (Reed). We said we would add 100 jobs in two years. Then (the city) started to be very serious," he said.

The mayor promised to sell the property to String because neither he nor String knew the commission owned the land, String said. And when the mayor found out the commission owned the land, String said, Reed gave him assurances the sale to the company would happen.

"(Reed) promised it wouldn't be a problem," String said.

The mayor denied not knowing that the commission owned the land when String introduced his plans.

"Our position was and remains that (the expansion) can and should happen," Reed said. "I can't promise him that site. He has to work out the details."

The plot is empty today. And a vocational school wouldn't be viable for the site because there are several others in Harrisburg, Reed said. String's plan still would be the best use for the property, he said.

Reed said he tried to get the two sides to meet in the middle, but neither the commission nor String would budge. String said he needed the entire tract, Reed said.