LaCarte's Alta Vista risk paying off
When John LaCarte drives along Interstate 70, he realizes the risk his family partnership took nearly a decade ago on an undeveloped light industrial site in Fallowfield Township was worth it.
"When I drive down 70 eastbound and see those buildings lit up, it makes me proud," said LaCarte, a partner with his four brothers in Fratelli Partners.
Fratelli is the Italian word for brothers.
Those buildings make up the growing development at Alta Vista Business Park. The park is owned by the Middle Monongahela Industrial Development Association, of which LaCarte is a board member.
Fratelli Partners began construction in 2003 on a 30,000-square-foot structure in phase 1 of the Alta Vista park as a spec building with no identifiable tenant for the land.
"We liked the Alta Vista site and we liked the KOZ," LaCarte said of the Keystone Opportunity Zone tax-free status.
"That allowed us to take that risk. To build a building and have to pay real estate taxes while that building sat empty ?/p>
"But we were fortunate that Progeny Systems happened even before we were finished building that building."
At the time, then-U.S. Rep. John Murtha's district had just been reformed to include portions of the Valley and he was looking to make a splash. Naval contractor Progeny Systems was looking for a site for its new facility in the region.
Progeny Systems temporarily located in the Model Cleaners building in Charleroi until its Alta Vista site was completed in 2004.
LaCarte's development company also attracted Exide Technologies and Techno Care to the building. When Progeny System grew, Fratelli Partners expanded the building by 22,500 square feet.
Seeing the success of Fratelli Partners in its initial building, and with a grant from the Local Share Account, the proceeds of slots gaming revenue in Washington County, MIDA built a new spec building in phase 1 of the park.
At the same time, Fratelli Partners was negotiating with Weatherford, a drilling service company that supports the Marcellus shale industry.
"We entered into an agreement with MIDA to buy that building at the same time we were negotiating with Weatherford as well as a couple other possible tenants," LaCarte said. "Quite frankly, there were other interests. But we were fortunate to complete the deal with Weatherford."
With two buildings encompassing four firms, nearly half of phase 1 of the park has been completed.
But Fratelli Partners is already moving up the park, which is designed on tiers along a hillside. With MIDA recruiting Gardner Denver Inc. to the park, LaCarte's development company built and reached a lease agreement with the firm to move its divisional global headquarters and North American distribution center into phase 2 of the park.
The company produces liquid ring pumps and compressors for use in the oil and gas, petrochemical, paper, mining, and general industrial products industries.
The LaCartes are already planning a new spec building in the park.
"Ideally, we'd like to have a tenant in hand, but at this point we don't," LaCarte said.
Actually, LaCarte has interest from one company he is familiar with -- Model Cleaners. While the company for which he is president remains committed to keeping its headquarters in Charleroi, a new division of the company might be located at Alta Vista. That division Frac Wear customizes special flame resistant/flame retardant uniforms worn by workers in the Marcellus shale industry.
"Our company is growing and we're in the process of reviewing our master plan for growth," LaCarte explained.
LaCarte said the risk he and his brothers took at Alta Vista was worth it. He is driven by such challenges.
A 1985 gradate of Charleroi Area High School, LaCarte earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in five years from the University of Rochester. His MBA is in corporate finance and accounting. He then worked for PNC Bank for a couple of years in commercial financing for real estate projects before joining the family company, Model Cleaners. That background fueled his interest in real estate development.
He developed Charter Oaks, a residential community in Speers in 1999 and was slightly involved in some small development in Todd Manor a few years later.
But his greatest interest was in commercial development, which Fratelli Partners formally entered at Alta Vista. LaCarte one of the biggest challenges for Valley Communities is try to balance their budgets amidst a decreasing tax base. Working to spur economic development is the best way his family has found to improve that,
"Our family is focusing on the Mon Valley and trying to drive economic develop-ment," LaCarte said. "It's where we make our home."
