Ford City developer offers to buy vacant PPG land
FORD CITY -- A local development company has made an offer to purchase, remediate and develop Ford City Borough's 50 acres of vacant former PPG Industries land at a price of $225,000.
Ryan Bloser's Rysc Group presented borough council with its Master Plan for the brownfield property along the Allegheny River at a public meeting Monday night.
Bloser, 23, of Ford City and a Duquesne University graduate in business administration, co-founded the Rysc Group in 2005 and currently serves as its chief executive officer. Prior to the Rysc Group, Bloser was chief executive officer of Power Design Technologies, a company he founded at the age of 14.
Bloser's plan is for the construction of a technology park. It will include a feasibility study, design and construction of the infrastructure (approximately $12 million in infrastructure) of the park and a business incubator building, he said.
"I feel Ford City can rekindle its entrepreneurial spirit," Bloser said.
Borough solicitor Frank Wolfe opened and read for the public the company's bid.
The proposal, which is $4,500 per acre, is far less than the appraised figure of $30,000 per acre that was given in a 1998 appraisal, borough councilman Tim Malec said.
"We remediated the property and got Act 2 clearance," Malec said. "It's pretty much cleaned up."
"This is a bargain rate," Mayor Marc Mantini said of the group's offer.
Project manager Joseph Bunta told council that the property has some contamination problems and that the offer was a fair price for brownfield property. Bunta said the group could get clean property at the county's Northpointe Industrial Park for $25,000 per acre.
"We're putting this in front of you with the hope of revitalizing Ford City and bringing back jobs," Bunta said.
Bloser answered council members' questions about the project saying he didn't yet have a letter of credit, but he had contacted investors and will be able to raise a half million dollars in venture capital at the start of the project.
Bloser said he is presently talking with four potential tenants who are ready to build.
He could not provide details at this time of the number of jobs that would be created, who was investing in the deal, where the financing would come from or the companies interested in the occupying the proposed park.
Bloser gave a profile in his plan of the four companies that have expressed interest in becoming tenants, saying that their makeup ranged from high-tech manufacturing to energy and information technology.
Council told Bloser it wanted to examine the proposal before proceeding any further.
In other business, Council passed an ordinance creating the position of borough manager. The ordinance was publically advertised last week.
The position is part-time at a salary of $12,000 per year without benefits, council said.
Council will begin the search of candidates to fill the position.
