190: Embracing The Future

190 West Lincoln Highway, Coatesville, PA 19320. 

To an outside reader, this simple street address might seem like just another location.

But to us, here at nth Solutions, it’s the catapult into a future of endless opportunity, community impact, and an nth number of solutions. It’s the home to a revitalization that will only continue to expand the production and manufacturing of a myriad of innovative products.  Or, in the words of our co-president and co-founder, Sue Springsteen, it’s “where old meets new, where industry meets technology, and where respect for Coatesville’s history embraces Coatesville’s future.” 

Yesterday, nth Solutions, LLC—parent company of H20 Connected, BioForce Analytics, Priority Green, and more—celebrated the topping out of the nth Innovation Center, a time-honored tradition of celebrating the last structural beam to be placed in a new building. Accompanying Springsteen at the ceremony were over 70 prominent politicians, stakeholders, and community members who have followed this project since its birth. Remarks were given by Ed Simpson from the Coatesville City Council, Coatesville City Manager James Logan, Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michele Kichline, PA State House Representative Dan Williams, and Regional Administrator for Housing and Urban Development Joe DeFelice.

When we first initiated this project last January, the deliverables of our new building seemed almost intangible. But those days of waiting are over. Throughout the past several months, we have proudly watched as developer Proudfoot Capital and Iron Hill Construction Management has transformed 190 from the former Lukens Steel Sales & Marketing office, into a fully restored building and the addition of a magnificent two-story engineering lab and manufacturing facility. With the final piece of steel placed, it’s onto finishing out the interior spaces, and we are anxious and excited for the future that awaits.

So, what’s next?  Of course, growing the businesses headquartered at the site.  However, business is only one area of growth we target.  The completion of the nth Innovation Center is part of the renewed economic development in Coatesville utilizing the Opportunity Zone initiative. Specifically, we foresee not only the opportunity for greater innovation which will stimulate growth, but also for job creation which will benefit the city’s constituents. Springsteen herself speculates “in addition to the current ten full-time and more than a dozen part-time personnel at the combined companies now, we will add another 25 jobs in the first 18 months.”

Perhaps the most important and valuable aspect of our topping-out ceremony and project overall, however, is the people we will interact with on a day-to-day basis. While our building may be a physical structure standing in the middle of the city, it is also an invitation for opportunity and a commitment to community engagement. Springsteen notes that when she first considered Coatesville as a prospective new home for the company, she “talked to everybody. I hung out in the post office, in the local diners, and I talked to everyone on the street who would talk to me. I heard stories from people about how long they lived here, what their frustrations were, and what their dreams were, and I just really liked what I heard. The city leadership is very supportive and business-friendly, and I just thought I could be here.” 

And “be here,” we are. A city built on stories and dreams. A company built on innovation and aspiration. Together, we make the perfect team.