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Technology park is finally a reality
Last week, 18 bids for excavation work to make 12 to 15 acres of the park available as building sites were opened.
Building site preparation and final grading of the park road may not seem significant in the overall development of the technology park. But what this work does is create more pad-ready sites, and according to Don Chappel, GCIDC executive director, "Companies today are looking for pad-ready sites, with utilities already installed, so they can begin building immediately. They want them ready to go."
Plans for the EverGreene Technology Park were first made public in 1999, when local development officials began discussing bringing a high-speed fiber optic data line to the proposed park site north of the county airport.
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But the first building at the park was completed in August 2006 and is now fully occupied. Tenants include the RJ Lee Group, Westmoreland County Community College and CNX Gas.
A second building now is under construction at the park. Horizon Properties, which is constructing the 40,000-square-foot building, said earlier that it expects to have the building completed this summer.
GCIDC also is making preparations at the park for the new Pennsylvania National Guard readiness center. The state Department of General Services plans to build the new center on an 18-acre parcel north of the park's existing buildings.
The new readiness center will replace the Capt. Robert C. Wiley Armory in Waynesburg, which was constructed in 1914 and, according to national guard officials, has outlived its usefulness.
But something is finally happening, thanks to a lot of work by a lot of people, most of whom we assume were recognized during Thursday's ceremonies.
The point is that many people hear about a development plan when it is first announced and expect it to happen overnight.
They often don't hear of all the hurdles that have to be crossed, the money that must be obtained, the plans that have to be prepared and the businesses that have to be signed as tenants.
It takes time, and those who do the work often face criticism for not moving fast enough. Whether they could have moved faster, we don't know.
What we do know, however, is that those in charge of this project remained determined to see it through, and the project is now a reality.
