Westmoreland Redevelopment Authority considers infrastructure for vacant Derry site

More than halfway into a six-month contingent agreement to sell a former Derry Borough industrial site, the Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority may install internal roads and utilities to help lay the groundwork for attracting new occupants.

“If we were able to sell the property and the developer was going to carry the cost of infrastructure, that would be the best-case scenario,” said Brian Lawrence, executive director of the redevelopment authority. “We’re also planning for the scenario where the private sector isn’t at the table — if we’re able to install the infrastructure to get development to the table.”

While construction costs are subject to increases with passing time, the cost for installing infrastructure at the vacant 18-acre property was estimated at $2.4 million in November, according to Lawrence.

“We want to resharpen our pencils, but we’re pretty confident we’re most of the way there,” he said about the authority’s ability to pay for the work. He cited funding from multiple sources that would leave the authority about $140,000 shy of the estimate.

The authority’s agreement to sell the site at Route 217 and West Third Street to Landmark Properties Group for $325,000 is contingent upon the latter finding tenants. The Allison Park developer is working with Harvest Commercial Real Estate Services to market the site to prospective occupants.

At latest word in early April, Lawrence said, tenants had yet to be determined for locating at the planned Derry Business Park.

A Harvest official did not return a message seeking comment.

In an earlier news release, Landmark CEO Bob Ferree said, “We had a sense when discussing the site with Brian Lawrence that our expertise in developing multi-tenanted buildings would be a great asset to the site and Derry Borough.”

Revamped property

At one time home to a plant that produced ceramic insulators for Westinghouse, the property later was revamped as the multi-tenant Porcelain Park, but it has long been vacant. The Redevelopment Authority obtained the property in 2010 and since has been working to remediate what had become an eyesore in the Derry community.

Lawrence expressed hope that working with a private developer will bear fruit in the goal of revitalizing the site, where previous efforts in partnership with the county’s nonprofit Industrial Development Corporation have not.

“We’ve always been marketing the site for new development,” Lawrence said. “Now that we’ve got a commercial real estate company involved, I think it does increase the exposure of the property to the market.”

“We’re hopeful,” Derry Borough Council President Al Checca said of the latest effort to redevelop the site. “If they find a potential person that wants the property, we’re all about foot traffic to the borough and increasing business.”

The authority’s agreement with Landmark is set to expire June 5, Lawrence said, adding, “We would be open to having another conversation with them to look at extending that.”

Landmark has indicated its intent to market the Derry site to light industrial tenants in need of anywhere from 10,000 square feet to 170,000 square feet.

“Marketing smaller lots in an industrial park setting makes more sense than trying to market it as one 18-acre lot,” said Lawrence.

‘Most challenging’

The authority’s infrastructure plan would support that, calling for about 3,600 feet of curbed roadway, replacement of a culvert that carries Garland Mills Run under the site and installation of stormwater inlets and new phone, data, sewer and gas lines.

According to Lawrence, $500,000 in county funds have been set aside for the work, as well as $612,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission, while state officials have approved $650,000 through a multimodal transportation fund and $500,000 through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.

The authority also has applied for federal funding to help expand monitoring of petroleum that leaked from underground fuel storage tanks at the site, Lawrence said. Two more monitoring wells are needed, in addition to eight that are already in place, to confirm the extent of the leakage, he said.

Other challenges have included a June 2022 arson that destroyed one of the last remaining structures at the site — the former Ralph Smith & Son auto repair shop.

Advantages the property offers include its location along both Route 217 and the Norfolk Southern Railroad main line between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

Still, Lawrence acknowledged, “Of all the properties we’ve had, this has been absolutely the most challenging one.”