Geneia opens for business as lead tenant in World Trade Center Harrisburg

Geneia LLC, a health care analytics and technology subsidiary of Capital BlueCross, has moved its headquarters and about 100 employees to Harrisburg from the TecPort Business Center in Swatara Township.

The move was first announced in January.

“After many years and battles, life comes to the facility,” said Moran, president of Moran Industries Inc., who bought the facility out of federal bankruptcy court in late 2013 after it sat unfinished for five years.

Contractors walked off the site in 2008 over payment issues with former owner David Dodd. Dodd pleaded guilty in 2011 to felony charges of money laundering and misappropriation of federal funds. He was sentenced to federal prison for 87 months in February 2014 on charges related to defrauding clients out of millions on the project.

Moran has spent millions of dollars to finish the 215,000-square-foot mixed-use complex and fulfill the promise of an economic hub at Cameron and Herr streets.

Geneia, part of a growing wave of tech companies moving into Harrisburg, is leasing about 43,000 square feet over two floors in the building.

The analytics firm sells its technology to health insurance plans across the country, as well as to hospital and medical groups. It integrates data from clinical information, claims data, pharmacy and laboratory data, as well as other types of information that might help companies better understand patient care and develop stronger modeling capabilities.

“With the movement of Geneia’s headquarters to (the former) Capitol View Commerce Center, Capital BlueCross is furthering its commitment to the City of Harrisburg and just as important, is positioning Harrisburg as a center of innovation in the health care industry,” said Gary D. St. Hilaire, president and CEO of Capital BlueCross.

In addition to Geneia, World Trade Center Harrisburg, the York-based trade services organization that lent its name to the complex, will be a tenant. The organization could move in the next few weeks, said Tina Weyant, executive director.

“If we could be in by November 1, we would be very happy,” she said.

No other tenants deals have been announced. But Jeffrey Stroehmann, vice president of operations for Moran Industries, said he’s confident a few additional tenants will come online in the coming months.

“The first anchor company sets the tone for the rest,” he said.

Moran would love to attract a manufacturer to the site, he said, citing a recent uptick in interest from European companies to locate a facility in Pennsylvania. That would be an ideal fit, he said, with the World Trade Center relationship.

Other office users or logistics operations could be possibilities, as well as a restaurant. There is more than 100,000 square feet of space available for lease in the building.