MERCER, Pa. – A distribution company interested in breaking ground on a 930,000-square-foot sorting center in East Lackawannock Township is seeking to get permits in place for a proposed groundbreaking this fall.
Mercer County commissioners are working with a site selection firm acting on behalf of the potential end user, which is not being identified, Commissioner Bill Finley said. The proposed center would be constructed on 200 acres of county-owned property at Interstate 90 and Pennsylvania Route 19 and could employ as many as 2,000 workers.
“They’d like to break ground in November,” Finley said. “From the way I understand it, the decision is a ‘yes’ until something would happen that would delay the schedule to where it just won’t be reasonable for them to get started on time.
“But as of right now, they want to build on the site, and everything is good,” he continued. “It’s just a question of getting all the permits necessary and the utility extensions, the designs and plans to be in place for them to be open and operational.”
Finley said several factors went into the company’s choice of the property, including its relative flatness and proximity to Interstate 80. County officials were told to expect 400 tractor trailers daily in and out of the center.
“It could be the start of something really great there,” said Jim Bombeck, executive director of the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce. Spinoff activity could include other trucking and distribution businesses, restaurants or stopping centers such as a Sheetz or Buc-ee’s.
Mercer County has been working with Penn-Northwest Development Corporation, which engaged a firm to market the property to potential end users, Finley said. Penn-Northwest had offered the site as an option to the TJX Companies after a group of Lordstown, Ohio, residents pushed back on plans to develop a distribution center in the Trumbull County village.
Penn-Northwest representatives referred all requests for comment to the Mercer County commissioners. The county also is working with utility companies and the Mercer County Soil Conservation District, Finley said.