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Pittsburgh Regional Alliance tours county developments

By Eric Morris emorris@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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John F. Brothers|Herald-Standard

Fay-Penn Economic Development Council held an economic familiarization tour of Fayette County business assets for staff of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance. Among the properties visited was the University Business Park in North Union Township.

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.Fay-Penn Economic Development Council held an economic familiarization tour of Fayette County business assets for staff of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance. Among the properties visited was the Eberly Business Center, located in the University Business Park in North Union Township.

Fayette County’s portfolio of business parks and developments have impressed officials from a regional economic development organization that markets to companies from outside the region.

Officials from the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA) — the marketing affiliate of regional nonprofit economic development organization the Allegheny Conference on Community Development — visited the county recently on a familiarization tour hosted by Fay-Penn Economic Development Council to showcase the county’s existing and potential business developments.

The tour, PRA officials said, would better enable the organization to market Fayette County’s premier business assets.

Fay-Penn economic development manager Dana Kendrick said the partnership between Fay-Penn and the Allegheny Conference and PRA has been key for growth and sustainability in the county.

“To have (the PRA) come out and tour the county’s sites is a key element to allow them to stay current with the availability of space we have here, to understand what property is ready to go,” said Kendrick.

The tour featured Fay-Penn-owned properties University Business Park in North Union Township, Dunbar Township Business Park, ICMI Road Business Center in Dunbar Township and Fayette Business Park in Georges Township, as well as stops at the Fayette County Business Park in South Union Township and Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport, which officials said could be a draw for corporations looking to locate their operations in the county.

Kendrick explained that the Allegheny Conference and PRA help companies who are seeking to locate to a particular area by facilitating conversations between those companies and economic development organizations such as Fay-Penn, which can aid companies in site selection and provide financial assistance.

The visit, she said, let the PRA team learn what the county has to offer, both in business opportunities and in quality of life — information that will allow it to better cater to a company’s needs.

“To be familiarized with where those properties are, they’re able to better attract a company to a better location in the area,” Kendrick said.

PRA president David Ruppersberger said the opportunity to view the county’s assets and meet with key community and business leaders and elected officials will allow his organization to better market business investment for the county.

“When you actually see a site and how pad-ready it is…just the team seeing that firsthand will make it top of mind.

” It’s going to help the team market that,” he said.

Ruppersberger said a proposed Beaver County “cracker” plant, which would convert natural gas into polyethylene pellets to be used in the manufacturing of plastic products, could benefit Fayette County by potentially attracting manufacturing. Pad-ready sites in Fayette County business parks could be appealing to plastics manufacturers, he said.

“Many of the sites we saw would be very suitable for that type of manufacturing. Access to highways is important to those types of companies,” said Ruppersburger.

During the tour, PRA officials made contact and networked with local officials and business leaders, an opportunity that Ruppersberger said leads to additional opportunities.

“Knowing that you’ve got competent partners you can work with in the county make people that much more inclined to refer people to do business in the county,” he said.

In addition to the abundance of available land, Ruppersberger said he was also impressed by several high-tech, innovative businesses showcased during the tour, and noted that having major, national corporations like Boeing occupying the county’s business parks is beneficial to the entire region’s identity.

“That Boeing operates here is something that puts southwestern Pennsylvania on the map,” he said.

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