New Owners, New Era: Real Estate Collaborative closes on Frog, Switch & Manufacturing site

Cumberland County – Ownership of the 27-acre former Frog, Switch, & Manufacturing (Frog Switch) industrial complex was transferred into the hands of the Real Estate Collaborative, LLC (REC), Thursday morning. The transaction comes just weeks after REC received a $10.2 million award to transform the site.

The Borough of Carlisle, the Cumberland County Commissioners, the current site owners, and several state legislators including Sen. Greg Rothman, Rep. Barbara Gleim, Rep. Torren Ecker, Rep. Nate Davidson, Sen. Patty Kim, and Rep. Thomas Kutz, each expressed their support for REC’s project and application to the PA Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites Program, through which REC was awarded $10.2 million of grant and loan funding. REC received the second largest award in the Commonwealth — a testament to the robust support for REC and its plan to transform the site.

Frog Switch has been a mainstay in the community employing generations of Carlisle families. The facility has been used for manufacturing for approximately 185 years. Its current namesake comes from the railroad “frogs” and “switches” that were once produced extensively at the site. Most recently, the site produced manganese steel castings for crushers; however, in June 2023, the Frog Switch Board of Directors determined that it was economically impossible to continue operations due to international competition and the prohibitive costs of necessary capital improvements.

The closing between the Frog, Switch Manufacturing Company and REC occurred nearly nine months after REC entered into a purchase agreement for the site. Since then, REC has coordinated closely with company owner Bessie Jamieson, existing Frog Switch staff, the PA Department of Environmental Protection, the Environmental Protection Agency, and regional stakeholders to identify existing safety and environmental concerns and plan for the site’s reuse. Ultimately, REC will demolish the existing structures, perform remediation and make the site pad-ready to sell to a future developer — a plan for which Ms. Jamieson, the Borough of Carlisle, state and federal legislators, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development have expressed their written support. When asked about the partnership with REC, Ms. Jamieson stated that the Frog Switch Board passed on a financially lucrative offer for the property in a desire to create something special for the Carlisle community as her family’s legacy.
“I am so happy that we were able to reach this point with REC and CAEDC. ”Ms. Jamieson said. “I am convinced that they will ensure that my family’s industrial site will be transformed into an area befitting a gateway into Carlisle but will also memorialize and recognize the 125 years of contribution to industry and employment. ”

“Today marks the start of a new era at Frog Switch,” REC Chair Andrew Notarfrancesco said. “We want the Carlisle community to know that we have been working on this with Bessie and her team for two years now and that we are doing everything we can to make sure this property does not become a blight and liability, but rather a place of economic opportunity and community benefit. We thank Bessie and everyone at Frog Switch for their remarkable commitment to Carlisle, their good stewardship of the environment during their almost 200 years of operation, and the trust they are placing in REC to make the redevelopment of this site something they can be proud of. We intend to move swiftly and deliberately to fulfill the promises we made to transform this site and not lose the momentum that we have spent more than two years generating.”

Notarfrancesco also elaborated “The redevelopment project will benefit an area that is in need of new economic opportunities and environmental justice. For instance, 18% of households in the surrounding neighborhoods are living in poverty — the County average is only 7.9%; and the median household income in the community is only $50,958 as compared to the County’s median of $82,174. This area is distressed and vulnerable to further challenges if Frog Switch is not redeveloped, which is why REC is taking immediate action by following the plan it has presented to the public.”

In addition to the significant PA Sites award, REC has methodically assembled multiple funding sources to support redevelopment of the site. The immediate next step for the site will be to implement a professionally developed safety and security plan. Learning from past Carlisle redevelopments, REC is committed to protecting the public from physical dangers, including 15-foot-deep concrete pits, environmental contaminants, and unstable buildings.

During the remainder of 2025 REC will work with the USEPA Brownfields Office to conduct additional environmental site assessments and hazardous materials surveys and structural analyses of the buildings. The findings of these evaluations will determine the next actions to be taken at the site. It should be noted that the REC team is comprised of volunteers, including construction and brownfield experts, legal and economic development professionals. In addition, REC has already secured over $11 million to accomplish the tasks necessary to redevelop the Frog Switch site. Once REC completes demolition, remediation and other site preparation activities, it will solicit a request for proposals, asking private entities to submit preliminary plans for the redevelopment of the site. REC will then sell the property, enabling diverse economic opportunities to flourish in the Borough.

For questions or comments, please contact REC Chair Andrew Notarfrancesco at [email protected].