Is there job "hope" for N.E./Lehigh Valley PA? (Scranton: apartment complexes)

[Spongedaddy]

Hi. My family moved form FL to NJ to be closer to my wife's family and a job opportunity. Living here is killing us and the Mrs. doesn't want to move all the way back to FL. We have narrowed our choices to VA, NC and the N.E., Lehigh Valley portion of PA. The two things that bother me about the PA area is the seemingly low amount of apartment complexes and the seemingly declining job growth.

So I was wondering if there is any job hope for that section of the state. It seems like future job growth predictions in that area are slim to negative and there doesn't seem to be a lot of employment opportunities. I work as an Account Manager for a major telco company currently.

I would appreciate any opinions on the possibility of an economic rebound for the state.

Thanks.

[SteelCityRising]

Is there an "immediate" band-aid to help the ailed economy in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley? Nope. Is there abundant hope on the horizon for a huge turnaround over the next 5-10 years. Most certainly yes.

After both 9/11 and the major blackout that shut down New York City a few years later, the government began urging major financial firms that were based in Manhattan to establish "back offices" that are no more than 125 miles from New York City but also on their own utility grids so that the nation's financial sector could continue to churn along uninterrupted in the event of another terrorist attack or power failure in the Big Apple. What does this mean? The Pocono Mountains, Lehigh Valley, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre are all the most appealing locations for these types of offices, as we're on our own power grid, a different water supply, and are close enough to be within a half-hour's flight or two-hour drive from NYC yet still far enough away to be spared any negative impacts that might be associated with a problem in Manhattan. This has many dubbing Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley as being the new, upcoming "Wall Street West."

A commuter rail has been planned to link Scranton to Hoboken, NJ for a long number of years now. This rail line would make stops throughout the Poconos and North Jersey and on into Hoboken, at which point commuters could transfer to the PATH into Manhattan. After years of bickering, red tape, talking, etc. between PA and NJ, it finally appears as if work on the project, which would use mostly existing rail lines, could be underway next year or in 2009. This project was initially proposed to ease the horrific traffic congestion experienced on I-80 as commuters rush from Monroe County, PA on into North Jersey and NYC for work. However, this line may also serve to make the region even more attractive for the Wall Street West initiative, as well as provide a much-needed "shot-in-the-arm" to help Scranton along on its current renaissance. Critics argue that the trains will be clogged with drug addicts as opposed to commuters, but as a potential upcoming Scranton-NYC commuter myself after graduate school, I can assure you that the demand is here for such a project amongst the white-collar community, as I've heard more of my peers as well discussing the train project with optimism about how it will positively-affect the region.

Downtown Scranton recently announced that it would be welcoming its first firm associated with Wall Street West---Seccas. More are expected to soon follow over the next 2-4 years. In the suburbs of Stroudsburg, in Monroe County, a major commerce park is being developed exclusively to be marketed towards Wall Street West corporate monoliths, and this park will be within reasonable commuting time of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Lehigh Valley, and North Jersey, so it could serve as an economic boon to all three areas. I'm not quite as familiar with the Lehigh Valley, but I believe they also made a similar announcement to Scranton in that they'll also soon be welcoming their first employer related to this initiative. In my opinion, the Lehigh Valley, in the long-run is more adequately-suited for Wall Street West than Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, as we're right on the edge of that acceptable 125-mile radius, but the big "winner" here will most likely be Monroe County, PA, even though you couldn't pay me enough to live in the Eastern half of that county, which has noticed its quality-of-life deteriorate as it was transformed from "Honeymoon Capital" to "suburban sprawl bedroom community."

A developer in Monroe County is currently constructing a 4.5 million square-foot office complex known as the "Penn Regional Business Center" that will house at least one "leading world bank," with more on the way.

I'd reccomend you research this issue more heavily on your own via some of these links:

Wall Street West Home
Talk Show
Ben Franklin Technology Partners Northeast - Wall Street West: Northeast PA to Serve as Center of NYC Financial Data Backup Efforts
Pennsylvania Tries to Sell Itself as Backup for Wall Street During a Disaster - New York Times
Wall Street West Gets Data Center Tenant - Data Center Knowledge

Hope this helps you at least somewhat,
Paul

[turk1will]

You Go Paul'

Everyone needs to put there seat belts on. We are about to explode into high tech financial growth.