Berks Park 183, a BerksIDA project, was partially returned to the tax rolls this year and will generate over $575,000 per year in tax revenue for Berks County on a site that previously sat vacant and generated nearly no taxpayer value for 85 years.
In 2021, a portion of the site was purchased by a developer for lease to FedEx. With their building completed last year, 2024 will be the first full year of operations and value for Berks County. So far, the impact has been significant. In addition to the new property tax benefits, recent sales of the property generated over $850,000 in transfer taxes: in 2024 the Schuylkill Valley School District and Bern Township each received $212,000 in unexpected tax benefit. And this from a site that generated no revenue at all for more than eight decades.
“This is what a developer of last resort can do for Berks County,” says BerksIDA Executive Director Jeremy Zaborowsi. “We’re taking a property that didn’t make sense from a business perspective but did from a county perspective and creating a return for taxpayers.”
He points out that this is the impact from just one building on the site. A second building, currently under construction, is slated for completion at the end of this year, with three more to go after that. “BerksIDA couldn’t make this happen,” Zaborowski says, “without the help of state and local government.”
He explains that the goal of the IDA is for all taxpayer investments to have a positive return in five years or less. “Just the first two lots in operation,” he says, “will pay back taxpayers in less than five years.”
About Berks Park 183: A former WWII base, BerksIDA work on the 55-acre campus adjacent to the Reading Airport began in 2020 in earnest and included utility infrastructure, stormwater improvements, and traffic accommodations. The site will now offer 816,000 square feet of light to medium industrial space that will create 200-300 jobs.