Corbett Announces $7 Million In State Funds To Aid Development At Pittsburgh International Airport
Aug. 14--Gov. Tom Corbett joined local officials at the Pittsburgh International Airport today to announce the commitment of $7 million in state funds to seed a massive development proposal that airport officials said could, over the next decade, lure more than $200 million in private investment along with thousands of jobs.
Mr. Corbett joined Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, state Sen. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, and state Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Moon, at a morning news conference to herald the development.
Airport officials said the release of the state funds meant that remediation work on the 195-acre brownfield site adjacent to the airport complex could begin within months. Site preparation could take between two and three years on land that includes abandoned coal mines.
"Today is a milestone," said Mr. Corbett, calling it "a project well worth the investment of state dollars."
Those dollars include $5 million in state economic development funds, $1 million from PennDOT for road work at the site, and $1 million from the Department of Environmental Protection to stabilize former mines and remove acid drainage from the site.
In the past, airport officials have projected total costs to prepare the site at $32 million. The county initially sought $15 million from the state to spur the project. The budget for the balance of the site preparations remains in development but Mr. Fitzgerald said that revenue from the natural gas lease at the airport could provide some of the support for the project.
Eventually, airport officials suggested that site could include extensive commercial office space with the possibility of adjacent hangars, allowing tenants direct access to airport runways.
The land is part of an overall foreign trade zone around the airport, meaning that firms could in theory benefit from favorable customs treatment of activity at the site.
Mr. Corbett and Mr. Fitzgerald also suggested the possibility of developing a second airport hotel on the property. Randy Forister, the airport authority's senior director of development, said the authority has had discussions with a number of potential office tenants and hotel developers but didn't have any firm commitments for the private sector projects that they hope will eventually populate the site.
The development is envisioned to include more that a million square feet of class A office space along with a 400-room hotel.
Mr. Corbett said the development offered the promise of being a significant part of an overall economic resurgence in the immediate region, along with the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Southern Beltway and the ethane cracker plant he hopes to attract to a nearby Beaver County site. While acknowledging that no final decision has been made on the cracker plant, Mr. Corbett described himslef as "bullish" on its prospects.
Politics editor James P. O'Toole: [email protected] or 412-263-1562.
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