The site of an old northwestern Pennsylvania steel mill is now home to a thriving industrial park that recently opened a new parcel for business.
The Titusville Opportunity Park, located about an hour's drive from Erie, was built on top of 207 acres of vacant former steel-mill property. The refurbished buildings in the business park on the reclaimed brownfield hosts 24 companies with more than 200 workers altogether.
This month the Titusville Community Development Agencies opened a new section of the park that has about 55,000 square feet of building space. It was named the J. Michael Allyn Industrial Complex after the man who, as head of the redevelopment agency, organized the purchase of the brownfield property in 1998.
Business outreach coordinator Deb Eckelberger says the development group hopes to draw light and heavy manufacturing companies to the Allyn complex. Grand Valley Manufacturing, a Titusville business that specializes in industrial machining, already moved in this spring and plans to hire another 25 workers, Eckelberger says.
She adds that the industrial park offers other benefits, like access to a railroad line and high-speed Internet. Buildings in the park can be constructed to suit the needs of specific businesses.
Source: Deb Eckelberger, Titusville Community Development Agencies
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen