Cultivating
Cultivating
growth within our
growth within our
manufacturing
manufacturing
community
community
Allentown Economic Development Corporation
2022-2023 Annual Report
01 Message from the Executive Director
03 About AEDC
04 The Bridgeworks Enterprise Center
10 Urban Made
14 Urban Sites
18 A Year of Highlights
19 Financials
20 Staff + Board
Our Mission: To make Allentown the best place to start and grow a manufacturing business.
FRONT COVER: 606 S. 10TH ST, INTERIOR BUILDING G, 2022
PHOTO CREDIT: BRITTANY BUTKOWSKI
INSIDE COVER 606 S. 10TH ST, EXTERIOR BUILDING G, 2022
PHOTO CREDIT: LAUREN MATTHEWS
Allentown’s Champion for Redevelopment and Manufacturing
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AEDC | 2022 - 2023 ANNUAL REPORT
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
AEDC’s manufacturing projects reuse existing infrastructure,
protect the environment, create employment opportunities that
are accessible to Allentown residents and generate inbound
wealth into the community, a community with a long history of
hard work and deep relationship with manufacturing.
Pursuing manufacturing projects, on brownfields and in urban
areas runs counter to virtually every land use pattern and
economic trend since World War II. To change 75 years of
outcomes left by that legacy requires AEDC to be the first to
jump into the vacuum. Once engaged, AEDC, often through
sheer force of will, moves the project forward while we identify
other partners to toil with us to return economic activity to
these sites. Without AEDC’s involvement, who knows what
would fill the vacuum.
This report highlights a recent success in all three of AEDC’s
programs with more work in progress.
Nature can be very resilient; plants grow rapidly anywhere
open soil exists in the absence of human activity. Aristotle is
credited with observing this phenomenon when he stated that
“nature abhors a vacuum.” Unlike a carefully cultivated garden,
what sprouts organically may not be what we would have
planted deliberately.
Brownfields are previously developed sites that have become
vacant or dormant and are challenging to redevelop due to real
or perceived environmental impacts. Brownfields often mimic
what Aristotle observed about vacuums. Litter, dumping,
weeds, graffiti, vandalism and other activities gravitate to
vacant or abandoned properties. For decades the United
States economy has moved away from manufacturing,
resulting in brownfields scattering the landscape, particularly in
urban areas.
Since 1979, AEDC’s Urban Sites program has worked to
create projects where there were no projects. Our efforts
directly combat the “vacuum” effect and seek instead to
replace vacant and underutilized properties with productive
uses that support employment and generate economic activity.
In so doing we often work to protect and support
manufacturing uses that continue to be underrepresented in
contemporary municipal zoning ordinances.
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AEDC | 2022 - 2023 ANNUAL REPORT
PHOTO CREDIT: MARCO CALDERON PHOTOGRAPHY
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AEDC | 2022 - 2023 ANNUAL REPORT
Allentown Economic Development Corporation has been the city’s
champion for redevelopment and manufacturing since 1979.
Based in a former Mack Trucks plant on the southside of
Allentown, AEDC continues to support local manufacturing
businesses,
entrepreneurs
and
redevelop
vacant
and/or
underutilized sites within the city.
AEDC prides itself on partnering with others to make projects
happen where there might otherwise not be a project. Our
partnerships offer value to our customers through reducing project
risk, navigating the regulatory process and assisting with funding.
Manufacturing supports the economy of the city and region, as
well as the quality of life for residents. It’s one of the reasons why
AEDC was created – to champion manufacturing in the City of
Allentown! We do this through Bridgeworks Enterprise Center,
Urban Made and Urban Sites, three core programs that allow us
to help businesses grow, receive the support they need and find a
home in Allentown.
ABOUT AEDC
AEDC prides itself on partnering with others to make
projects happen where there might otherwise not be
a project.
Program | The Bridgeworks Enterprise Center
70
full + part
time jobs
new intellectual
property assets
gross revenue
generated in 2022
$18.4M+
On the corner of South 10th and Harrison Streets, sits the refurbished former Mack Trucks Plant 4A,
now known as Bridgeworks Enterprise Center (BEC). Since 1989, the 64,000 square foot facility has
been home to 11 manufacturing clients and is the only business incubator in the Lehigh Valley
dedicated primarily to manufacturing startups. In addition to AEDC’s incubation clients, BEC also
supports multiple entrepreneur tenants who utilize the Flex Office or co-working space for non-
manufacturing purposes.
Year after year, Bridgeworks Enterprise Center’s incubation clients produce millions in revenue,
create dozens of full-time and part-time jobs, pay significant wages and generate new intellectual
property assets. Since its foundation, the Bridgeworks program has launched 70 startup companies,
producing 36 graduates, 34 which are currently operational companies and 6 successful exits
consisting of mergers and/or acquisitions. These manufacturers have helped create over 600+ new
jobs around the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
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AEDC | 2022 - 2023 ANNUAL REPORT
Incubation Program Clients
BEC Tenants
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AEDC | 2022 - 2023 ANNUAL REPORT
ANDREW SCHEVETS, FOUNDER + LEAD ENGINEER | PHOTO CREDIT: MARCO CALDERON PHOTOGRAPHY
In the spring of 2015, Andrew Schevets moved his company,
Amorphic Tech, into AEDC’s Bridgeworks Enterprise Center. He was
seeking a space to build and test an energy recovery prototype and
Bridgeworks was the perfect fit. Starting in a space of 736 square
feet, the company expanded into a larger spot simultaneously with
the acceptance of their application into AEDC’s incubation program.
Amorphic Tech now occupies just over 3,200 square feet in the
former Mack Trucks assembly building.
Originally, Schevets paid service providers to make prototypes and
then built up the test system. The initial results were successful,
however he did not have a commercially ready product, so he began
to shift gears to a services-oriented business. This helped to boost
revenue and enhance manufacturing capabilities. After building up a
client base and growing the in-house prospects, the energy recovery
development work began being funded by government agencies.
Now, Amorphic Tech is a vertically integrated technical solutions
provider. The company excels at the intersection of modern digital
engineering tools, cutting edge manufacturing and novel materials to
create products previously impossible.
A Love to Make and Create
“I just love to make things. I love to be
creative. With modern engineering tools,
coupled with our 5-axis machines and 3D
printers we can make just about anything.
This allows us to use our creativity to bring
things to the world that are unique and have
never been done before. Since we make
everything ourselves in house, we own our
processes, which allows us to innovate even
further;
generating
new
manufacturing
techniques, materials, and processes to
create things made nowhere else.
Andrew Schevets, Founder
amorphictech.com |
Schevets is proud to share Amorphic Tech has created
products, components and systems in the thousands and
has delivered them all over the globe, including more than 16
countries.
Over the past year Schevets and his team have gained a
tremendous amount of international credibility, specifically for
their energy recovery work in the water industry. “I was
invited to participate in the new technology competition at the
Global Water Summit in Madrid – which I walked away with
the W.” Schevets shared, “I also earned the opportunity to
experience the Middle East when I was invited to present our
technology at the Future of Desalination International
Conference in Saudi Arabia.”
Schevets credits the company’s success to the entire
Amorphic Tech team who keeps things pushing forward.
While innovation is never a straight line, the team is always
driving progress.