Canonsburg seeing benefits from nearby Southpointe
Rich Russo, owner of Russo’s Sunoco, in front of his station located at the corner of West Pike and Bluff Streets in Canonsburg.
Workers at Tim’s Car Wash in Canonsburg detail dealership cars at the car wash.
Owner Tim Taylor, of Tim’s Car Wash in Canonsburg outside his business.
Owner Tim Taylor, of Tim’s Car Wash in Canonsburg outside his detailing part of his business.
Rich Russo, right, owner of Russo’s Sunoco in Canonsburg inspects a car with mechanic, Jimmy Dombrowski, in one of the station’s bays located at the corner of West Pike and Bluff Streets in Canonsburg.
Rich Russo is a 24-year resident of Canonsburg, vice president of borough council and service station owner on West Pike Street. As a taxpayer, elected official and merchant, he has a triple perspective on the effects that Southpointe, the massive mixed-use park next door, has had on his town.
“It’s a dual-edged sword,” he said. “The park has had a positive impact overall, and certainly a residual impact on my business. Any commerce and growth and development are good.
“But if I may put on my borough hat for a moment … it’s been frustrating to see a new town build up right next to an existing town that struggles continually. We have an old, aging town. We have a main street that needs a shot in the arm and we struggle with that.”
His municipal hat firmly affixed, the operator of Russo’s Sunoco contends that when it comes to receiving government aid, a shimmering, modernistic park has a distinct advantage over a 213-year-old borough. “They like new development and leave other towns behind.”
Southpointe is a jewel that outshines most business parks, with its distinctive buildings, green expanses, rolling hills and corporate headquarters. But it is more than a business park, featuring fashionable homes, hotels, apartments, a popular golf club and an evolving Town Center offering an eclectic restaurant-retail mix.
In 22 years, the Cecil Township park has built up and is nearly built out – the final parcel was sold in December. Its growth accelerated over the past decade, fueled partly by the rise of the oil and gas industry, but it was a big boy with burgeoning muscles before that.
Developed in two phases, Southpointe I and II, the park seemingly has everything but a carwash and a gas station. Drive at night along Interstate 79, past thousands of glowing lights, and the 900-acre expanse takes on the appearance of a city.
Southpointe continues to thrive, and a sampling of local business operators, municipal officials and executives indicates the park has, indeed, benefited the surrounding area. The degree to which it has done so, however, is in the eye of the beholder.
Impact undeniable
Don Hodor has lived in the park since construction began in 1993. “I’m next to the eighth hole (of the golf club) and I have eight broken windows to prove it.”
As executive director of the Southpointe Chamber of Commerce, he compiles numbers attesting to the park’s enormity and vitality. There are about 300 businesses there, one-fourth Marcellus Shale-related, with an estimated 9,000 employees. And a lot of rush-hour traffic that can snarl roadways inside and outside the park.
“Folks are fighting about traffic in Cecil Township and Canonsburg,” said Russo, whose family has owned the filling station for nearly 60 years. “There’s always a debate: How do you deal with congestion? If you have a business that’s based on congestion, that’s good. If it’s not based on that, it’s a heartache.”
Over the past three years, according to Hodor, Southpointe’s economic impact has increased from $1.7 billion to $2.4 billion, the tax impact from $90 million to $160 million.
One group of heavy hitters – Ansys, Consol Energy, Noble Energy and Rice Energy – is headquartered there, and another group – Mylan, Range Resources, CentiMark, AccuTrex, Crown Castle – has a significant presence.
There is so much happening, so much available there that employees can stay the entire workday and beyond. But not all of them do. Adjacent communities offer dining options and services that cannot be accessed in the park.
Take Tim’s Car Wash and Detail shop, off Morganza Road in North Strabane Township, near the Canonsburg line.
“The last three years, I’ve seen 8 to 10 percent growth (in business),” said Tim Taylor, the owner. “I hate to say it, but we have to turn down detailing work.”
He declined to give specific numbers, but said overall sales – washing and detailing – have risen “close to 6 to 10 percent” over that period.
Southpointe probably is not solely responsible for those increases, but Taylor is pleased with how the increase in local traffic has affected his enterprise. He said his company has accounts with a number of park tenants, including Consol, Fairmont Supply and “a lot of gas and oil companies like MarkWest and G4S (Secure Solutions). They’ve been good to us.
“I think all (area) businesses are seeing an impact.”
Russo essentially agrees.
“This has had a positive impact on my business and other businesses in Canonsburg,” said a man whose services are not available in the park – gasoline and full-service auto repair. “I would say, yes, our opportunities have improved and increased since the beginning of Southpointe.”
Fellow borough official Bob Kipp said Southpointe has, indeed, benefited Canonsburg – and vice-versa.
“We have a lot of residents working at the park,” said Kipp, the borough manager. “Housing is affordable, we have a wonderful town park and pool, and you can’t say enough about the Canon-McMillan School District. I think we’ve had population growth – slow but steady.”
He said new homes have been built, and older ones renovated, in and around Canonsburg. Apartment complexes also have been on the rise.
U.S. Census Bureau figures attest to borough growth, showing a 2010 population of 8,988, up 4.5 percent from 2000. The neighboring townships also experienced residential bumps over that decade, North Strabane from 10,057 to 13,408 (33 percent) and Cecil from 9,756 to 11,271 (15.5 percent).
Canonsburg, according to Kipp, is “seeing an influx of younger families. Nothing against seniors, but we’re seeing a nice mix.”
He said the borough’s average household age is in the late 30s, down from the mid-40s a decade earlier.
“From a planner’s perspective, this is a wonderful community,” added Kipp, who resides in the North Hills.
Borough’s location a plus
The impacts Southpointe has had on Canonsburg could have been more pronounced if a connector road, proposed a decade or so ago, had been built.
“Council folks debated it, and at the end of the day, the majority thought it was a good idea,” Russo said, explaining that the roadway would have linked the borough’s east end, near Sarris Candies, with the park. “We approached the county, and it died there.”
Morganza Road is the only connection between the two, and it is slow and somewhat circuitous. The connector would have provided direct access and, perhaps, enhanced borough business.
Canonsburg, however, is readily accessible to thousands of commuters daily, and not all of them work in Southpointe. Interstate 79 and Route 19 run nearby; the Parkway West and I-70 are roughly 10 miles to the north and south; Route 519 weaves through the borough.
Dunkin’ Donuts was smitten with the location.
“We look at population and traffic, and you can’t deny an office park of that size,” said Mike Zappone, marketing and guest relations manager for Heartland Restaurant Group, the Pittsburgh-based owner of Dunkin’ franchises in Southwestern Pennsylvania. “As successful as that store has been, there is room for growth.”
Dunkin’ abandoned Washington County years ago, but returned May 4 on Cavasina Drive, in the former Long John Silver’s restaurant. Zappone said the store, managed by borough resident Phil Agostinelli, has exceeded the lofty expectations Heartland had for it. He said the shop bustles from its 5 a.m. opening to about 10 a.m., fueled initially by a rush of Marcellus Shale workers, followed by a wave of doughnut-holics heading to their jobs at Southpointe and elsewhere.
“Dozen-doughnuts sales are high, advance orders are high,” Zappone said, adding that Dunkin’ is exploring the feasibility of providing a delivery service from high-volume stores. That could start as early as 2016 and Canonsburg could well be included.
Food delivery would not be a new initiative in Southpointe. Corporate meetings abound there, and meeting rhymes with eating.
“The catering business has really taken off,” Hodor said.
It apparently has for Jason Capps.
“Bella Sera Catering is thriving and still very actively catering in Southpointe, often daily,” said the owner/chef of Bella Sera Catering, Venue, Bistro and BBQ, a mile from the park off Morganza Road in Cecil. His firm caters meetings, of course, but also “retirements, special recognitions, annual holiday events, you name it.”
Capps has been satisfying Southpointe appetites since the early 1990s, before the park was a park. “I used to set up a little tent where Community Bank is and sell sandwiches to the workers building the golf course and the original row of townhomes above the lake.”
Then from 1999 to the 2006 launch of Bella Sera, Capps owned Greco’s Gourmet to Go, a North Strabane operation that delivered to Southpointe businesses and catered company picnics.
His current enterprise is still taking food to the park, but Capps said this isn’t a one-way dynamic. A number of Southpointe employees come to his facility for its weekday buffet lunches.
It is another example of the reciprocal relationship between Southpointe and the Canonsburg area.