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Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
HUD officials tour highlights of revitalized Pottsville
POTTSVILLE — U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officials toured the city on Wednesday, getting a firsthand perspective on important projects backed by numerous local organizations to revitalize downtown. Joseph J. DeFelice, HUD's assistant deputy secretary in the Office of Field Policy & Management, Regional Administrator Senior Advisor Elvis Solivan and Regional Administrator Special Assistant Adam Kelly joined local business leaders on a tour of downtown Pottsville, transported by an old-fashioned city trolley. The tour showcased the progress being made with the help of organizations such as the Pottsville Area Development Corp., Barefield Development Corp. and local state legislators. The delegation met at the newly opened Discovery Park at 3rd and Market streets, then went to the former Miners National Bank, which will become The Rosalia hotel and event space. Bill Metzinger, owner of Metz Properties in Orwigsburg, which is developing the building, presented plans for The Rosalia. The tour then moved to the Schuylkill Trust Co. building at 101 N. Centre St., which is being developed into market-rate apartments. Savas Logothetides, executive director of PADCO, pointed out the other 'white whale' of downtown apartment development, the historic Thompson Building across the street. The city seeks conservatorship of that long-vacant building, which is owned by an out-of-town landlord, Logothetides said. * U.S. Housing and Urban Development Assistant Deputy Secretary Joseph DeFelice learns about the Miners National Bank becoming a hotel and event space during a tour of Pottsville, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR) * U.S. Housing and Urban Development Assistant Deputy Secretary Joseph DeFelice, left, talks with Bill Metzinger inside the Miners National Bank during a tour of Pottsville, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR) * U.S. Housing and Urban Development Assistant Deputy Secretary Joseph DeFelice takes a tour of Alvernia University – Pottsville CollegeTowne during a tour of Pottsville, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR) * U.S. Housing and Urban Development Assistant Deputy Secretary Joseph DeFelice discusses his tour of Pottsville, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR) Show Caption 1 of 4 U.S. Housing and Urban Development Assistant Deputy Secretary Joseph DeFelice learns about the Miners National Bank becoming a hotel and event space during a tour of Pottsville, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR) Expand The tour ended at Alvernia University-Pottsville CollegeTowne, the local campus of the Reading-based university which opened at the former Giant store at 500 Progress Ave. DeFelice, who started his day with a similar tour in Tamaqua, remarked on the power of collaboration between local organizations to spur economic development. He had previously visited Pottsville in 2019, and was impressed with the progress made since then. 'What I was most impressed with was the collaboration across multiple sectors, whether it's housing, hospitality, health, education,' DeFelice said. 'They seem to have kind of everything they need here now.' DeFelice believes the one missing piece is affordable housing, which he acknowledged HUD will continue to address with its public and private partners locally. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Assistant Deputy Secretary Joseph DeFelice takes a tour of Alvernia University – Pottsville CollegeTowne during a tour of Pottsville, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR) He noted that many communities, even in rural areas, have urban centers that need vital attention in regard to housing and accessibility. 'The president and (HUD Secretary Scott Turner) have made a strong commitment to rural communities,' he said. Pottsville appears to have 'all the amenities that they need,' he said, 'but the rents need to be right.' 'With the price of housing skyrocketing, people need the urban center (in Pottsville) … and that's all here,' DeFelice said. 'It's just a matter of making it affordable for people to live here.' Dave Young, executive director of Schuylkill Community Action, stressed better collaboration between local municipal governments. 'I wish there was a way to bring them all together … to really, collectively find solutions,' he said. 'I think that would be the biggest piece here, getting some of the municipal entities involved in that.' Others who attended the tour included State Sen. David G. Argall, members of the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce, and staff assistants for Argall and U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
HUD Executives Tour Champion® Homes Manufacturing Facility as HUD Spotlights Manufactured Homes as a Key Solution to the U.S. Housing Shortage
TROY, Mich., June 02, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE: SKY) ("Champion Homes") today announced that U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Assistant Deputy Secretary (ADS)/Region 3 Regional Administrator (RA) Joseph DeFelice, and HUD Office of Housing Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) Frank Cassidy toured their Leola, Pennsylvania manufacturing facility and retail center last month. "We are honored to have welcomed HUD executives, including Joseph DeFelice and Frank Cassidy, to tour our homes—and even more excited that they experienced firsthand the efficiency and quality of our construction process during their visit to our Leola, Pa., facility," said Champion Homes President and CEO Tim Larson. "These visits reflect HUD's growing support in addressing the nation's affordable housing shortage with offsite construction." On May 8, ADS/RA DeFelice and PDAS Cassidy visited Champion Homes's Leola, Pa., manufacturing facility and its accompanying Champion Homes Center retail store where he toured two of Champion's newer single-family manufactured home models, the Embrace Sunlight and the Embrace Calm. HUD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Frank Cassidy and several other HUD representatives accompanied him on the tour. Michael Moglia, Chief, Housing & Buildings Standards Division at PA DCED and Kirby Smith, Director at PCFS were also on site. The tour in Leola occurred only two days after HUD Secretary Scott Turner visited three of Champion's homes at the Manufactured Housing Institute Congress & Expo in Orlando, Fla. "The excitement around our housing solution was evident as the group toured the facility and walked through our homes," said Champion Homes Regional Vice President David Reed During the tour, attendees were provided with an in-depth look at the factory where the homes are built, showcasing the streamlined, highly efficient process that addresses traditional onsite construction challenges. Conventional home building often encounters delays and inconsistencies because multiple work crews manage different phases of the build, whereas the factory-built model streamlines the entire process under one roof with a coordinated workforce. This allows for greater quality control, consistency, and speed, with each step seamlessly integrated from start to finish. Streamlining and coordinating the workforce in a centralized location also helps to address increasing labor cost and shortage trends in the construction industry, while providing skilled labor a year-round workplace that's sheltered from the elements. "For all of this to work, all of the different factions have to come together—the manufacturer, the state, the federal government and the third-party inspectors focused on the same goal," said Rich Olenhouse, General Manager of Champion Homes's Leola, Pa., manufacturing facility. About Champion Homes, Inc. Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE: SKY) is a leading producer of factory-built housing in North America and employs more than 9,000 people. With more than 70 years of homebuilding experience and 46 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and western Canada, Champion Homes is well positioned with an innovative portfolio of manufactured and modular homes, ADUs, park-models and modular buildings for the single-family, multi-family and hospitality sectors. In addition to its core home building business, Champion Homes provides construction services to install and set-up factory-built homes, operates a factory-direct retail business with 72 retail locations across the United States and operates Star Fleet Trucking, providing transportation services to the manufactured housing and other industries from several dispatch locations across the United States. Manufactured and Modular Park Model Star Fleet View source version on Contacts InvestorsName: Jason Blair, Investor Relations ManagerEmail: jablair@ Phone: (248) 614-8211 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
