Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook Luncheon Roundup

AEDC attended the Economic Outlook Luncheon hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce on January 26, 2010. This annual event features a look at the year to come and reflections on the economy, and this year featured inaugural Community Development Awards presented by the mayors of Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, and Phillipsburg.

The centerpiece of the event was an economic outlook given by Jay Bryson, Global Economist at Wells Fargo. Bryson presented economic data for the year past, but focused the presentation on 2010 projections. In short, he delivered projections similar to those presented by the Philadelphia Fed at the Community Jobs Forum hosted by CACLV earlier in the month: economic growth should occur in 2010, but it will be weaker than necessary. This growth will not be accompanied by hiring, which will make the average citizen feel like we are still mired in a recession. They expect nonresidential (commercial) construction to continue to contract through 2010, which looks like bad news for a city hoping to rebuild its productive real estate. Additionally, they foresee upside risk in that other OECD economies could begin to rebound at the same time, making life nicer for exporters.

After the global perspective, Kamran Afshar gave a regional snapshot summarizing hiring and purchasing opinions of local firms. Overall, survey respondents reported feeling optimistic about equipment purchase and hiring in 2010, but the numbers are still not what they were in boom times.

In addition to the conjecture, a few local businesses were awarded with Community Development awards. Mayor Ed Pawlowski presented JG Petrucci with an award for Allentown, spotlighting their commitment to rescuing commercial and industrial sites in the city, such as the Mack Corporate Headquarters and the Exide Battery site. Petrucci's purchase of Mack's building will allow Lehigh Valley Health Network to consolidate its administrative functions in Allentown, while their development of the Exide brownfield will create a new, green home for Bennett Toyota.

Mayor Sal Panto of Easton awarded George Mereiles with an award for helping to rebuild Easton's downtown with his restaurant ventures. We are hoping that Mr. Mereiles has the same success here in Allentown with his investment at Ninth & Hamilton, in the Butz Corporate Center.