EASTON, Pa. — State officials have committed millions of dollars to a project to convert an Easton brownfield into housing, just as Northampton County leaders again rejected sending more than 10 times that amount to a brownfield project at the Dixie Cup factory in Wilson.
VM Development Group plans to turn the former Easton Iron and Metal scrapyard into 200 apartments and space for commercial uses.
Its project last week got a $2.3 million boost from Pennsylvania’s Mixed-Use Housing Development Pilot program.
That money will be sent to Easton officials to help fund demolition and work to clear hazardous materials from the lot along Bushkill Drive, which has sat vacant for more than a decade.
The city has controlled the site since 2023. It was turned over by Easton’s Housing Authority, which acquired the property in 2019. Easton Iron and Metal shut down the scrapyard four years before.
The grant “will provide affordable housing opportunities” for residents.State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh
Cleaning up the site is the city’s final task before handing it over to VM; the developer and city agreed in October 2024 to a $1.5 million sale.
The pilot program is meant to “help communities transform unused and blighted properties into much-needed affordable housing,” according to state Community and Economic Development Secretary Rick Siger.
State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh, celebrated the grant “that will provide affordable housing opportunities” for residents, while state Rep. Robert Freeman, D-Northampton, supports workforce housing.
But details about VM’s plan and potential affordable aspects are unclear.
The development, to be known as The Foundry, was among seven projects selected for funding out of more than 100 applications.
The Easton project got almost a quarter of the $10 million awarded.
VM also led the projects to redevelop the Simon Silk Mill, Watermark, Governor Wolf building and other old Easton buildings into housing.
No TIF for Dixie Cup
Skyline Investment Group is working to convert the Dixie Cup into more than 400 apartments.
The developer last week took down the former factory’s iconic rooftop structure, one of the first steps in the project.
Last fall, Skyline asked Northampton County Council to approve a tax increment financing district that would let the developer use its property taxes to pay off loans for 20 years after the new complex’s opening.
But council members rejected that proposal by a 5-4 vote.
Three of those members who voted against the TIF were not re-elected last fall, prompting the developer to take a second bite at its request.
“I see that as a win for everyone, not as an out to a wealthy developer."Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski
Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski urged council members to approve the TIF.
Skyline spent $35 million to remediate underground tanks and remove asbestos and radiated soil from the site, she said in arguing the TIF “offers a fraction of recovery” for the company.
The TIF would see the developer pay $2 million to support the county’s affordable housing efforts, while also paying increasing tax revenues each year, she said.
“I see that as a win for everyone, not as an out to a wealthy developer,” Zrinski said.
But the TIF would have allowed Skyline to redirect its increased tax payments toward construction and related costs rather than to the county. Northampton County would've stood to start collecting larger tax revenues from the property in 20 years.
But council on Thursday night again voted down a TIF for the Dixie Cup, this time by a 6-3 vote.
Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Northampton County Council's vote in November was split along party lines.
