Harrisburg area may see boon Under Rendell's wing

Realtor Greg Rothman predicted that when Ed Rendell became governor of Pennsylvania, it would be a boon for the state's capital city.

Rothman, president and chief executive officer of RSR Realtors in East Pennsboro Township, is happy to report his prediction is proving true. "It's already happening,

Many of those who work for Rendell seem to favor city living, just like their boss does. "They're renting anything that's available within the city," Rothman said. "They're not discriminating."

More than half of the members of Rendell's cabinet have rented apartments in the city from Rothman's firm while they look for homes to buy. Rendell's chief of staff, Flavia Colgan, also has bought a house in Harrisburg.

Other Harrisburg businesses are seeing a positive effect from the change of administration.

Restaurants are chief among them.

Steve Weinstock, owner of Stock's on 2nd, which is a block away from the Capitol, hasn't seen Rendell, a Democrat, since he won office in November. However, Rendell not only ate at Stock's during his campaign, but he also mentioned the restaurant by name during a campaign speech. As a result, the restaurant and its famous crab cakes were mentioned in news broadcasts and in several newspaper articles, including ones in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Weinstock said he believes all the attention has been good for his upscale, eclectic restaurant. In fact, he said, quite a few people have mentioned to him that they were eating at his restaurant on Rendell's suggestion.

On Monday and Tuesday of inauguration week in January the restaurant was packed with people from Philadelphia, Weinstock said. "Business was probably up 25 percent to 30 percent those two days," he said. But it's hard to tell whether the influx will be sustained, Weinstock said.

"It's a good sign, though," he said.

Daniel S. Robinson, director of the Dauphin County Department of Community and Economic Development, has heard that Rendell likes to dine out and be visible. Robinson said he expects that visibility to benefit the city's bars and finedining restaurants.

"I would suspect that he'll be doing the downtown scene," Robinson said, "and if he's out and about, that will bring others in as well. That will domino down to the public."

Robinson said anytime the city gets new residents who learn of its attractions and assets, it's a bonus.

"An administration change can be a healthy process in reviving some aspects of the local economy," he said.

Rothman said Rendell has hired many people for his administration who were originally from New York and Washington, D.C., as well as from Philadelphia. Many of those people are used to city living and don't want to change.

Rothman said he hopes an anecdote is indicative of what's to come. He had a townhouse for sale on the southern tip of the Harrisburg along the river, in an area known as Shipoke. He already had three offers on the home. A couple moving to Harrisburg from New York City because the husband had taken a job with the Rendell administration saw it and offered more than the other three potential buyers. The New York couple got the house.

"I think it's a sign," Rothman said. "At least, I hope it is."

David Black, president and chief executive officer of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and the Capital Region Economic Development Corp. (CREDC), said he believes some trendy, upscale businesses might locate in Harrisburg because of Rendell.

"I've already been asked, as president of the chamber, if I wouldn't work to get a Starbucks here," Black said. The woman who asked him was a member of the Rendell administration; she approached Black at a reception for the governor, he said.

Black told her the city already had some exceptional coffeehouses, but he would see what he could do.

Black agreed with Rothman that a Rendell administration should be a boon to the city's rental and housing markets.

The people who worked for Republican Gov. Tom Ridge, a former congressman from Erie, were more suburbanites, he said.

Also, Black said, people who came from Erie to work in Harrisburg had no choice but to move to the capital. Philadelphia is close enough to Harrisburg that some people may want to rent apartments near the capital for use during the week but go home on weekends.

"Erie is a whole lot further away, and commuting isn't an option," Black said.

Steven Neiman, founder and chief executive officer of the Neiman Group, an advertising agency based in

Harrisburg, also expects younger retailers and entrepreneurs to capitalize on Rendell's and his staff's love of city life.

"You will find younger retailers and entrepreneurs will open new businesses that will cater to this population base coming in," he said. Neiman figures more upscale restaurants and boutiques might open.

Neiman is happy that Rendell is not shy about his love for Harrisburg. He said that love could boost the city's revitalization efforts.

"He'll bring a whole new energy level here, and I think the people he brings with him will, too," Neiman said.

While the business leaders believe Rendell will add to Harrisburg life, they don't believe the departure of the Ridge/Mark Schweiker administration will detract from it.

Black is not expecting a mass exodus of people who worked for the previous administration.

Years ago, they might have, he said. Today, "a lot of people who come to Harrisburg to work for an administration don't leave with that administration. What ends up happening is you get new faces, which make a nice mix with the old."

Robinson agreed the impact from the change in administrations wouldn't be that great because the numbers wouldn't be that high.

"We're not talking tens of thousands of people relocating," he said. "But you may see hundreds."