Washington County moved ahead with development in 2012
A rendering of the Town Center project at Southpointe II
A view of Meadows Landing, under construction along Route 19 and Racetrack Road in North Strabane Township
As most of the rest of the country continued to pull itself out of five years of economic recession, Washington County pushed ahead with major development in all directions during 2012.
Driven by the continued growth of the natural gas industry in Washington County, developers responded to demand for everything for office and industrial space, medical complexes and more hotels.
The highlights of the past year included:
Along a 12-mile stretch from the Peters Township-Upper St. Clair line through North and South Strabane Townships, roughly a dozen projects of various sizes were under way, including St. Clair Hospital’s outpatient clinic in McMurray; the continued build out of Ashwood Commons office condominiums in North Strabane; preparation for Tri-State Surgery Center, the first project in the 204-acre Meadows Landing development in South Strabane; and substantial site preparation for Park Place, a two-tiered mixed-use development that straddles North and South Strabane.
More hotels
Hospitality continued to be the name of the game on Racetrack Road, which now boasts more than 700 rooms. Construction began in October on an 80-room Microtel and The Meadows Racetrack & Casino, a prime driver for rooms in the corridor, was moving ahead with plans to build a 200-room hotel and spa in 2013.
“For developers to be interested in building hotels in this economy is a statement to where Washington County is and is going,” commented J.R. Shaw, executive director of Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency, which noted that the hotel occupancy rate countywide through August was 79.7 percent, up from 76.6 percent in 2011.
Southpointe II neared the end of its available acreage in 2012 with a number of high-profile projects announced, including new headquarters buildings for Mylan Inc. and Ansys, and lead developer Horizon Properties breaking ground for its Town Center project that will include retail, restaurants, offices and a 380-unit luxury apartment buildings.
Despite the abundant growth in business projects, Washington County learned it wasn’t ready for a convention center. After commissioning a Philadelphia consulting firm that works on hospitality industry projects, Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency learned that the regional supply of convention centers in Western Pennsylvania made adding another one here a little too risky.
The consultants also recommended that a convention center not be pursued if the county was to be responsible for its operations.
County commission Chairman Larry Maggi said commissioners “were skeptical of using tax dollars” for the project.
“We didn’t feel that the county government should be in that business,” he said.