WAMPUM, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Finance Authority awarded $5 million July 15 to a private developer that plans to build a new business park in southern Lawrence County.
The park will be built by LaCarte Development Co. at the site of Stonecrest Golf Course in Wampum. The state finance authority provided a $2 million Business in Our Sites grant and a $3 million loan. In total, the project will cost at least $7 million, says John LaCarte, president of the development company.
“It is very rare to find a 200-plus-acre tract of land in western Pennsylvania with such an enviable topography and access to infrastructure and transportation systems,” he says. “Our engineers had prepared a feasibility study noting the need to extend critical infrastructure such as water, sewer, natural gas and electricity to the site. With these funds and private capital, the engineering and work on the installation of infrastructure and roads can begin, pending the successful closing of the purchase of the property.”
LaCarte estimates 1.5 million square feet of buildings can be built at the site and the businesses in the park will employ up to 1,000.
The Lawrence County Regional Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corp. assisted LaCarte in applying for the grants after the company reached a sale agreement for the site last year.
LaCarte Development is a division of LaCarte Enterprises, which operates several clothing and dry cleaning businesses throughout southwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. The company also owns Stoney’s Brewing Co.
LaCarte Enterprises is based in Charleroi, Pa.