State grant could help launch manufacturing boom
A $3.5 million state grant to the Penn-Northwest Development Corp. could be the remedy at just the right time to help launch a manufacturing boom in Mercer County.
Rod Wilt — executive director of Penn-Northwest, Mercer County's lead economic development agency — said most of the funding will go toward upgrading roads and extending utility service, primarily in Reynolds East Business Park.
"That work is necessary for us to attract a company that will bring hundreds of jobs," Wilt said.
In a press release Monday, state Rep. Mark Longietti, D-7, Hermitage, specifically said the development would result in the creation of 277 jobs, but Wilt and Brad Gosser, executive director and vice president of Greenville-Reynolds Development Corp., said only that several companies are interested in developing the site.
"We don't have a specific company at this point, but we do have very strong interest," Gosser said.
Much of the development will be geared toward providing water and natural gas lines, and sewer service to Reynolds East in Delaware Township. Greenville-Reynolds Industrial Park, in Pymatuning Township closer to state Route 18, already has those utility services.
The grant comes from the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, which Gov. Tom Wolf's Governor's Action Team oversees.
Terms of the grant call for a one-to-one match, which means Penn-Northwest, Greenville Reynolds, a municipality — or, ideally, a private manufacturing developer — will have to come up with $3.5 million to release all of the funding.
Wilt credited the area's state legislators — Longietti and Sen. Michele Brooks, R-50, Jamestown — for helping get the grant added onto the state budget this year. Wilt said public officials on the county and local levels in Mercer County also have been staunch supporters of economic development.
Gosser said the grant would help make more Reynolds East sites "shovel ready."
"If the site's not ready to go, it's hard to attract a business to the area," he said.
Another advantage is timing. Wilt said manufacturing is coming back to the United States, in part to address supply chain issues and rising costs of transporting goods from overseas manufacturers to domestic consumers.
The cost of shipping a container has more than tripled since before the pandemic, Wilt said.
"That, in itself makes it a lot more attractive," he said of manufacturing in the United States. "They're thinking, 'Geez, maybe we should look at a place like Mercer County.
Land costs give Mercer County another advantage. Wilt said he was aware of an eastern Pennsylvania property that was sold for more than $500,000 an acre. A manufacturer could get land in the county for less than $20,000 an acre.
"I know it's the lowest cost per acre in the state," Gosser said. "It's just huge multiples of what our land costs here."