Over the past 7 years, a significant amount of industrial property development in Pittsburgh has occurred near Pittsburgh International Airport in the “Westport Development District,” located at the Westport Road Interchange of PA 576. This area of growth includes Pittsburgh business park developer, Chapman Properties’, newest development, Chapman Westport, a 300-acre business park master planned for 2.5 million SF of industrial, distribution, flex, hospitality and office space.
Chapman Westport has a prime location 3 miles from the airport, with direct access to PA 576 and I-376, in the heart of what we refer to as Pittsburgh’s “energy corridor” – the continuous stretch of interstate highways that will soon directly connect Beaver County to the airport and Southpointe. Once complete, this corridor will provide direct access to the explosion of business activity occurring in the region as a result of the Marcellus Shale natural gas play. This will be particularly resonant, and only contribute to the industrial property development in Pittsburgh, if and when the Shell ethane cracker plant comes to Beaver County.
Owned and managed by Chapman Properties, the premier business park developer in Pittsburgh, Chapman Westport provides the ideal location to develop a high-end distribution center or corporate campus on pad ready land in a 100% location. Chapman Properties recently broke ground on a build-to-suit facility for Thru Tubing Solutions, a U.S. based energy company that specializes in delivering performance-optimized equipment and services to shale gas regions. Thru Tubing Solution’s rapid growth and desire to service the local shale region from a centralized location drove the company’s decision to locate at Chapman Westport.
Findlay Township and the State of Pennsylvania have been very supportive of the Westport Development District, providing the largest contiguous opportunity for industrial property development in Pittsburgh, and the potential for over 6,000,000 SF once fully developed. A significant portion of new building opportunities to date was prompted by Findlay Township’s support of a TIF District, which funded the construction of water and sanitary sewer systems to directly support development in the area.
As many in the industry have noticed, the industrial market has become very tight in Pittsburgh, with a limited supply of available buildings and pad ready sites. Build to suit development activity in Westport by business park developers in Pittsburgh is increasing as a result, and we expect this to continue as the energy market expands. Chapman Westport is a logical energy sector play and a prime location for a distribution center looking to be in the Pittsburgh region.