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Tanger kicks off outlet center project
Business editor
mbradwell@observer-reporter.com
MEADOW LANDS - Tanger Factory Outlets officially broke ground Thursday for a $90 million, 308,000-square-foot retail outlet center in South Strabane Township, although the company has been moving massive amounts of earth on the site for several months.
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Tanger said the outlet center, which will include factory stores for Gap, Banana Republic, Nine West, Nike, Brooks Brothers, Old Navy, Sketchers, Reebok and American Eagle, will open next summer. A company leasing representative said later that additional retail leases are being negotiated.
According to the company, the architecture of the center, which will have a total of 75 brand-name and designer outlet stores, will capture the charm of Pennsylvania's historic, colonial-era carriage houses. Built on a hill overlooking Racetrack Road and The Meadows Racetrack and Casino, the center will feature five points of entry leading to landscaped courtyards. Covered north and south walkways will provide a comfortable shopping atmosphere for all seasons.
"The Tanger Outlet Center in Washington County will feature a collection of the world's most popular outlet brands and is destined to be one of the region's premier, upscale shopping attractions when it opens in the summer of 2008," Tanger said. He said the company has already moved 1.5 million cubic yards of earth and will move another 800,000 cubic yards before it can begin building on the site.
He also said the outlet center will create 250 construction jobs during the building period and more than 800 retail positions upon opening.
The center's estimated 4.5 million annual shoppers are expected to provide a significant economic benefit to area hotels, restaurants and other service businesses. The center will generate about $1.2 million in property tax revenue each year.
Joyce Popovich, who represented State Sen. J. Barry Stout at Thursday's ceremony, said the retail center will represent about $6.3 million in sales tax revenue to Pennsylvania.
Other local officials, including state Rep. Tim Solobay, county Commission Co-chairman J. Bracken Burns and chamber President Jeff Kotula noted that the county's transition to a more broadly mixed economy and its ability to take advantage of its geographic location have enabled it to attract a number of businesses in recent years.
"Twenty-five years ago, Washington County was not in a position to attract an opportunity such as this," Kotula said. "Today we are."
Solobay noted that the intersection of Interstates 70 and 79 is proving to be an ideal place for retailers to set up shop.
"I would suggest to you that Washington County is the place to be for retail," Burns said. "We are at a crossroads and a crossroads is where merchants look to trade goods."
Richard Bonds, Pennsylvania's executive director of tourism marketing who attended Thursday's ceremony, said Tanger Outlets have a strong reputation with shoppers in Pennsylvania and across the country. The company, based in Greensboro, N.C., operates 34 upscale outlet shopping centers in 23 states, including a center in Lancaster, and draws more than 150 million shoppers annually.
"Shopping is one of the top activities for tourists and tourism is the second-largest industry in Pennsylvania," Bonds said, adding that the state attracts more tourists annually than the state of New York.
