New ‘Flex’ Building Debuts at LindenPointe

HERMITAGE, Pa. – The new $2.5 million CHIP building is the latest addition to the LindenPointe Innovative Business Campus. The facility, now available for sale or lease, opened to members of the public on Wednesday.

The 12,700-square-foot facility is a “flex building” that can readily be divided and is designed for multiple potential uses, said John Mastrian, of the Community Hope Investment Partners — or CHIP — board of directors. “It can be ideal for engineering groups, high-tech, manufacturing.”

Making the facility as flexible as possible was paramount, said Gary Gulla, assistant city manager of Hermitage. “The challenge you have with a building like this is that we had some grant dollars involved, so you have to start it and end it. Sometimes with a flex building you don’t want to finish the whole thing.”

The building can house two businesses simultaneously, and there’s land available to expand on, Mastrian emphasized. The building, which sits on five acres, can be enlarged to 20,000 square feet. “And if we come across a project that’s really huge, we can get more land from the city of Hermitage,” he noted.

Penn-Northwest Development Corp., the city of Hermitage and CHIP, a nonprofit corporation, collaborated on the project. The building is part of a strategy to bring living wage and technical jobs to the Hermitage area, Mastrian said.

“It’s a great example of the kind of public-private partnerships that are starting to occur around here more and more,” said Sherris Moreira, executive director, Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The LindenPointe Innovative Business Campus is situated on 115 acres and is home to a diverse array of enterprises. The $6 million public-private economic development initiative is a mix-use technical park with protective covenants in place to protect property values.

The campus is also home to Butler County Community College, the eCenter@LindenPointe – a business technology incubator with labs and access to conference rooms – and the Training and Workforce Development Center. All are potential selling points for any interested parties, Mastrian said.

“We have education and we have training available – right here.”

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.