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The Keystone Trade Center has signed the first tenant for its massive redevelopment of the U.S. Steel site, the developer and Falls Township announced Friday morning.
NorthPoint Development and Falls Township said the tenant is a “major transportation company,” but they declined to name them at this point.
The company will fill a 1,159,849 square-foot distribution center that is current under construction.
The tenant is the first signed for the site, among the largest distribution center projects in the country. NorthPoint Development officials have previously said they have had conversations with other companies interested in the site that is near highways, rail lines, airports, and ports.
NorthPoint Development began site work a little less than a year ago on the 1,800-acre property purchased from U.S. Steel for $160 million in late 2020. Ground on the complex was officially broken in April.
Work has continued in the months since and the new warehouse that has the tenant signed is set to open in fall 2023.
“I am pleased to see continued progress on this parcel of land which sat almost completely vacant for far too long,” Falls Township Supervisors Chairperson Jeff Dence said. “Falls Township – with NorthPoint’s vision – is bringing new life to this once-thriving economic hub.”
NorthPoint Development officials have said the project has the potential to add 5,000 to 10,000 jobs and 15 million square feet of new warehouse space with a total investment of $1.5 billion over the coming years. The company said they want to develop the “largest e-commerce, logistics, and multi-model industrial project on the East Coast” with room for as many as 20 new buildings.
“Our investment into the former U.S. Steel site works to redevelop the former site for long-term sustainability by putting the site back into production, regenerating taxes into the community, and further strengthening the economy through job creation,” Brent Miles, chief marketing officer at NorthPoint Development, said in a statement Friday.
Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, who formerly was a member of the Falls Township Board of Supervisors, heralded the ongoing redevelopment.
“The county is proud to be working closely with NorthPoint to turn their vision into reality because we know the benefit it will bring to our residents,” he said.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero said the redevelopment is “transformative not just for Lower Bucks, but for our entire region.”
Jed Momot, the chief strategy officer for NorthPoint Development, said in 2020 that NorthPoint Development is investing $25 million over the next few years to complete cleanup of contamination at the property.
The project is receiving tax breaks to help spur along development.
The site is marked a Keystone Opportunity Investment Zone.
All three taxing bodies for the property – the Bucks County Commissioners, Falls Township, and the Pennsbury School District – agreed in 2020 to allow the site to become a Keystone Opportunity Investment Zone from January 1, 2020 and ending on December 31, 2035. The designation will give the developer tax breaks to encourage growth.