Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services has announced plans to construct a 223,200 square foot industrial building on speculation in CenterPoint Commerce & Trade Park West in Pittston Township, Luzerne County.
The project site is located at 225 Enterprise Way across the street from the Mericle-developed distribution center occupied by The Home Depot. Mericle will begin constructing the building in July and expects the new facility to be ready for tenants by the end of November.
The building will feature 30’ to 33’ ceiling clear heights, 30 loading doors, energy efficient heating and lighting, and abundant on-site trailer storage. The building can be subdivided to as small as 49,600 square feet and expanded to 310,000 square feet.
Mericle Vice President of Marketing Jim Cummings said the building will be marketed to a variety of manufacturing and distribution companies. He said a building of this size typically houses between 100 and 200 workers when fully occupied.
“We continue to receive inquiries from food manufacturers, life sciences companies, and national retailers seeking industrial space,” he said. “The building’s flexible design means that it can be easily customized for many types of businesses.”
The 24.31 acre parcel is one of the more than 30 “ReadyToGo!™ Sites” Mericle’s Design and Excavation divisions have developed in CenterPoint. Through its ReadyToGo!™ Program, Mericle is preparing more than 90 sites in 10 Northeastern Pennsylvania business parks for immediate building construction.
“The project site has been cleared, graded and compacted and all permits and approvals are in hand,” said Cummings. “By doing all of the planning and site work up front, we have dramatically shortened the building’s construction schedule,” he said.
Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce President Joseph Burke said having a modern building available so close to the interstate system and the local labor force should quickly lead to new jobs for the Pittston area. “The building will be less than one mile from I-81 and I-476 and will have high ceilings and efficient utility systems,” he said. “When you add the fact that more than 470,000 people live within 20 miles, you have a winning combination that will undoubtedly be very attractive to a lot of companies.”
The new building will be the 22nd constructed in CenterPoint since 2006. Mericle will also soon break ground for the first of six new speculative office buildings in CenterPoint West.
The Wilkes-Barre-based Commission on Economic Opportunity is constructing a 50,220 square foot warehouse and distribution center on a 6.35 acre ReadyToGo!™ Site in CenterPoint East donated by Mericle. The facility will house the operations of the non-profit Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank.
By the end of 2013, CenterPoint will be home to 24 buildings totaling more than 5.8 million square feet according to Cummings. He said the park is now home to 32 companies employing approximately 3,400 people.
Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, founded by Rob Mericle, is a vertically-integrated company with more than 200 in-house professionals with expertise in all aspects of commercial real estate development and construction. The Mericle team includes licensed architects, land planners, professional engineers, surveyors, licensed electricians, plumbers, carpenters, certified public accountants, in-house legal counsel, leasing and marketing professionals, licensed brokers, property managers, and more.