NEW CASTLE, Pa. – Putting former industrial sites back into use, luring spinoff from the Pittsburgh area’s emerging technology sector and capitalizing on the region’s transportation assets are among Forward Lawrence’s objectives under its new leader.
Albert “Chip” Abramovic started Feb. 3 as chief executive officer of Forward Lawrence, the combined identity for the Lawrence County Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Lawrence County Economic Development Corporation.
“When you’re not looking for opportunities, opportunities present themselves,” Abramovic says.
The position became open when Benjamin Bush, who had been CEO since July 2023, left Forward Lawrence to take a new job as vice president of public affairs for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.
Abramovic was in his third term as a Venango County commissioner – and pondering whether he wanted to seek a fourth – when the CEO position at Forward Lawrence became available following Bush’s departure last year. Though he didn’t feel as though he had plateaued yet in his role as a commissioner, he thought he might be getting close and considered whether it might be time for a change.
Also, taking on the Forward Lawrence role permitted him to focus more on an aspect of the county commissioner seat that he enjoyed: promoting economic development.
“We all campaign on economic development” but managing a county’s day-to-day operations is a commissioner’s “first and foremost responsibility,” Abramovic says.
Transition Time
Abramovic reports he has spent his early days transitioning into his new role, learning about the organization he now leads and “getting the lay of the land.” The Feb. 17 launch event for Power Northwest in Hermitage provided an opportunity for him to connect – and reconnect – with business and civic leaders in the region, and he plans to meet with more of them over the coming weeks.
Several members of Ellwood Group’s team have met with Abramovic and spoke highly of him, Dylann Yarrington, communications specialist for the New Castle-based manufacturer, says. The organization plays a “leading role” in advancing workforce development in Lawrence County and Abramovic maintains strong relationships with officials to advance county initiatives, she says.
“We appreciate Chip’s collaborative approach and remain committed to working together to support Lawrence County’s continued growth,” she adds.
Representatives of Berner Air Curtains in New Castle have not met Abramovic yet but wish him well in his new role, Natalie Clark, Berner marketing manager, says. “Berner takes an active role in the Lawrence County community, and we look forward to working with Forward Lawrence and its new leadership,” she adds.
Forward Lawrence is “a great partner” to the city of New Castle, including on infrastructure projects that address the needs of multiple businesses in a specific area, and expansion and cleanup of brownfields and industrial sites, according to Chris Frye, city administrator and community development director.
Economic development and housing availability, especially to accommodate employees of businesses seeking to relocate, remain challenges in the city, he says. The lack of housing “negatively impacts our chances and opportunities for economic development,” he says.
Targeted Properties
The city recently acquired the 35-acre former Shenango China property, an industrial brownfield the city is seeking federal demolition and environmental remediation funds to address. It is one of the properties that Abramovic is looking to have available for potential redevelopment.
Other properties include the former Remacor facility in Taylor Township, which processed secondary magnesium scrap and is awaiting demolition and remediation action, and Stonecrest Business Park in Big Beaver Township, where infrastructure work is nearly complete.
“We’re in a very unique growth and expansion phase here,” Abramovic says. Unlike in Venango County, which was “running out of places to grow and expand,” Lawrence County has “large opportunity for growth” because there are opportunities to develop physical sites.
“We have a lot more in terms of pad-ready sites now than we did just a few years back,” Paul Bucciarelli, business retention and workforce specialist for Forward Lawrence, says.
Lawrence County companies that are growing include Berner Air Curtain, Steelite International and Ezeflow-Flowlite Corp., a pipe manufacturer that has a supplier contact with the U.S. Navy’s submarine program.
Abramovic reports his outreach has included speaking with food production companies. He also wants to talk to Carnegie Mellon University and Astrobotic Technology, a company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions.
“I’m learning there’s a little bit more aerospace engineering and technology up here, that type of stuff,” he says. He wants to look at how to expand work in that sector and get integrated into that supply chain.
Data Centers
“Data centers right now are hot,” Bucciarelli says. “They’re sort of controversial in some sectors, but we think we’ll get our share at some point.”
“If they come, we’re going to figure out how to make this work,” Abranovic says.
He stresses the need to “get out ahead” of the data center push and to see what can be done to help or protect communities where they are being considered. Lawrence County has a “potential abundance of power” and opportunities for sites to accommodate data centers, but the centers also come with “a lot of unknowns,” he points out. No one is an expert on them because they evolve so quickly and move so fast. Because each data center is built differently, it can’t be assumed how much water one will consume, for example.
“What happens if they do come? How do we get ahead of it with the residents what a full data center encompasses, what negativity is accurate, what positivity is accurate?” he asks.
Forward Lawrence is looking for new industries that can support the county’s existing industries, specifically emerging technologies developing out of Pittsburgh “and grasping that north,” Abramovic says.
“As the Allegheny market seems to be moving itself north, we’re poised perfectly to start taking advantage of that, say, in Elwood City, and then work its way up the [Interstate] 376 corridor, also from Beaver up through,” he says. “I really strongly believe in logistics of where we’re at for that growth, northern growth.”
“We’re in a great spot to be a distribution center by virtue of our transportation systems,” Bucciarelli adds. The county has access to “wonderful transportation systems,” including interstate highways and is just 40 minutes away from Pittsburgh International Airport, which recently completed an extensive renovation of its main terminal.
Because of its location, Lawrence County is able to access resources from both northwestern and southwestern Pennsylvania, and benefits from greater exposure with its new inclusion in Pittsburgh’s metropolitan statistical area, the Forward Lawrence officials said.
Potential opportunities include spinoff from the Royal Dutch Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca, Abramovic acknowledges.
“We still haven’t fully exploited the Marcellus Shale and the natural gas reserves that we have,” Bucciarelli says.
“The more exposure we get in different markets, the better we are to be on the map, and being able to be that hinge where we can do the Northwest and the Southwest really exposes us to different markets,” Abramovic says. “Opportunities that might not be hitting the Northwest can hit us. Opportunities in the Southwest we can pull up.”
Capital Programs
Forward Lawrence can help secure Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grants as well as other grants and loans for projects, Abramovic says.
“We can help point them things like Appalachian Regional Commission grants,” Bucciarelli says. “We have our own revolving loan fund that we can use to sometimes supplement any of these as well.” Funding packages typically are a combination of public, private, local and state funds.
Other resources Forward Lawrence offers include a leadership program “to help raise leaders up,” he says.
Key to capitalizing on those opportunities is making sure the county is able to accommodate workforce needs.
“We want to improve the talent pipeline. We know we have good paying jobs available here, but sometimes we don’t have workers whose skill sets match those jobs,” Bucciarelli says.
In addition to focusing on post-secondary educational institutions and trade schools, the organization is looking to get involved with the schools as early as middle school “to try to create that awareness of how important it is to get some advanced training,” he says.
“We’re also trying to sell the region to our younger people, talking about the good quality of life they can have if they can find a decent job because you’re not spending 50% of your income on your housing,” he says. “Sometimes that’s a heavy lift, but if you explain it to the parents especially you can sometimes convince the kids that they ought to give this place a second chance.”
Pictured at top: Albert “Chip” Abramovic became chief executive officer of Forward Lawrence on Feb. 3.
