1 Million Square-Foot Warehouse Approved In Falls

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — The 1 million-square-foot first phase of a new, $1.5 billion trade center in Falls Township has been approved.

Supervisors on Monday OKed plans for a huge warehouse that will launch a project aimed at drawing thousands of new jobs to Falls. Construction on the former U.S. Steel site, now called the Keystone Trade Center, is expected to start in July.

In January, U.S. Steel announced it had finalized the sale of about 1,800 acres to Northpoint Development. Northpoint plans to develop the location, which has been mostly dormant since 2001, into a bulk logistics center with 20 or more industrial warehouses.

They hope to attract major companies like Amazon, GM, Walmart, UPS and FedEx to the site.

Supervisors say the first phase will be built on 100 acres on the eastern side of River Road and south of Biles Creek.

Plans call for a 49-foot high warehouse with 196 doors and 475 parking spaces. Under the plan, trucks would enter the site mostly by Tyburn Road and Rt. 13.

By unanimously granting approval, supervisors officially launched what's expected to eventually be up to 15 million square feet of warehouses. The site is predicted to create from 5,000-10,000 light-industry jobs.

"One down, 14 to go,” supervisors Chairman Jeff Dence said following the board's vote.

In December, supervisors, school board members and Bucks County commissioners approved a 15-year tax break for NorthPoint at the site. The "payment in lieu of tax" agreement lets the developers to pay the equivalent of 110 percent of the taxes currently due on the site for the next 15 years.

That allows NorthPoint to pay a little more than what the property would be taxed at right now, but get a break on new assessments when they improve the property.

In response to a suggestion in the Bucks County Planning Commission’s report, Supervisor John Palmer asked NorthPoint officials about the possibility of using solar energy in the project. NorthPoint Development Manager Matt Gaston said green energy is not planned for the first phase.

Officials said warehouses are built to suit potential clients and solar power could be used if a prospective tenant wanted it.