Alan Shuman uses his U.S. Army enlistment bonus to purchase his first property, a 3-bedroom, 2-bath townhouse in State College, Pennsylvania. He is a 19-year-old college sophomore.

Alan and Marina Shuman, now married three years, purchase a historic mansion at 1327 Perkiomen Avenue in Reading, Pennsylvania that had been converted into four units in the 1940s. They live in one of the units and call their newly founded business Shuman Development Group (SDG).

Shuman Development Group purchases its first commercial property, the eight-story historic Baer Building on Court Street. SDG’s purchase saves this landmark building from a planned demolition to become a parking lot for Berks County Bank.

Alan and Marina Shuman found the Reading Construction Company to renovate single-family homes within the City of Reading. Over the next several years, this company grows to 22 construction employees averaging 50 homes being renovated per year.

Shuman Development Group purchases the General Battery Building, their first large scale commercial building. The building is Exide Battery’s world headquarters, and this NYSE-listed company leases back 80,000 square feet of this 140,000 square foot building.

Exide Battery Corporation files for bankruptcy and uses the filing to break its lease with Shuman Development Group on December 23, 2003. Instantly over half of SDG’s monthly revenue vanishes, forcing SDG to file for a debt restructuring bankruptcy. The plan is approved so long as Alan and Marina Shuman turn over their home to the bank to sell.

Shuman Development Group has released the General Battery Building and successfully executed the debt restructuring. The restructuring required the sale of several SDG properties and those funds are used to purchase the 640,000 square foot Reading Outlet Center complex consisting of ten buildings sized from 8,000 square feet to 320,000 square feet.

SDG develops a neighborhood revitalization plan to restore the commercial heart of Northeast Reading. With the Reading Outlet Center (ROC) development underway, SDG develops its first neighborhood shopping center at the abandoned and environmentally contaminated Burlington Coat Factory building at 1920 Kutztown Road.

The Shops at the ROC opens at 8th and Oley Streets, this is the commercial heart of Northeast Reading and the centerpiece of the Reading Outlet Center development.