CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Three local brothers hope to generate new jobs for the area with their plans for a seven-pad Glassworks Business Park to be built on the 28-acre site on Grand Avenue that once housed part of the Owens-Illinois Glass Plant.

Miles Brothers LLC purchased the property with an idea of a business park and plans to start construction this year.

“This park is going to provide 212 jobs when we are at full occupancy based of the average square footage of the buildings,” said Theron Miles.  “The project should bring new jobs, and it is a benefit to the entire community.  As it sits right now, it provides nothing to the surrounding town, and when this park is completely full, whether it takes three years or 20, it will be a great benefit to the borough and the entire county.”

The job projections are based on an economic impact study conducted by Delta Development Group of Mechanicsburg as part of overall project planning.  Theron, along with brothers Ryan and Curtis, formed the LLC Corporation in addition to their separate construction company, Terra Works.

The idea for the business park is a simple one: provide seven building pads that are ready for business to build on and all utility connections are available.

“We’re going to go in there from start to finish,” said Theran. “Every pad will be 100 percent complete within one percent of slope.  All storm sewer, sanitary sewer, and water lines will be laid into each building pad, so every business can tie in at that point to reduce expenses as much as possible.  All sites will be built at 100 percent compaction, and that way there’s no worries of structure settling or anything else.”

“The ultimate goal is for them to decide what size building they want and come and start building their footer and have every utility necessary right on the pad and ready to go.  This would substantially reduce their excavation costs.”

The goal of Glassworks is to have the park sixty percent full within three years of construction.

Jamie Lefever, executive director of the Clarion County Economic Development Corporation, welcomes the project.  CCDC is also a recognized IDA (Industrial Development Authority) and EDC (Economic Development Corporation).

“The IDA is in support of the Glassworks project as an economic development generator for Clarion County,” said Lefever. “For a developer such as the Miles Brothers to take on a project for the benefit of the community is admirable.  The IDA will serve as the conduit for the TIF plan along with the developer. The CCEDC and the CCIDA both support and encourage this project of Glassworks and will continue to work closely in the process.”

The backing of the CCDC is important because it will help in generating financing for the development of the park.

“Right now, we’re exploring our financing operations, getting as much support as possible from the three local governments of Clarion County, Clarion Area School District, and Clarion Borough,” said Miles. “We are not asking for any sort of tax abatement or anything like that.  This will not be a tax free zone, and there is no tax incentive for purchasing this land.  If approved by the local governments, a state guarantee would allow us to build the infrastructure in the park.”

The Commonwealth program called TIF (Tax Incremental Funding) promotes and stimulates the general economic welfare of various regions and communities in the Commonwealth and assists in the development, redevelopment and revitalization of Brownfield and Greenfield sites in accordance with the TIF Act. The program provides credit enhancement for TIF projects to improve market access and lower capital costs through the use of guarantees to issuers of bonds or other indebtedness.

TIF bonds can be issued for local economic development projects, and Clarion County’s local board would need to authorize such an arrangement.  A representative of the three local government entities is part of the TIF board, with Carol Lapinto recently appointed as Clarion Borough’s representative.

The business park in Clarion Borough is also still zoned for commercial and industrial uses.

“That allows us to mix between the two, such as an office building or light industrial,” said Theron.  “We plan on having no heavy industrial and no businesses that produce any smoke or toxins or high levels of noise. The property has gone through a complete DEP Phase One Clearance and is in the process of a Phase Two Clearance that should be complete within the next sixty days.  As of right now, there are no contaminants that we have found of any problem on the property.”

In terms of marketing the project, Glassworks plans to use a local realtor teamed up with an industrial retailer, and their primary method of sale will be through the industrial retailer from Pittsburgh.

A fact sheet on the project includes:

Business demographic: warehousing, industrial, machining, tool and die, distribution, electric generation facilities, liquid propane compressor stations, industrial retail and supply, and professional offices.

Building pads: Graded at one percent slope, full underground utilities at all pads, permitted E&S plan for each building pad, and predesigned storm water management per pad.

Project Size: 28 acres of land, 24 acres available for building, seven building parcels, and an average lot size of 3.4 acres.

For additional information on the project, call Miles at 814-229-0908.