Year after McKeesport flyover ramp reopens, industrial park vacancies remain

Things remain quiet at the heart of RIDC's Riverplace Industrial Center of McKeesport, a year after a flyover ramp opened from Lysle Boulevard over CSX and Union Railroad tracks.

While there's plenty of activity at either end of Industry Drive, vacancies remain at the former EchoStar call center and Maglev Inc. buildings.

“They have some great buildings here, some great opportunities,” said Jim Kelly, who returned to Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania six months ago to manage the former McKeesport U.S. Steel millsite.

Responding to Daily News questions, top RIDC officials reported “an increase in prospect interest” in McKeesport and the Riverplace City Center of Duquesne.

“There is no question that the flyovers mitigate any concerns companies might have about accessing the park over active rail lines,” according to RIDC president Donald Smith and vice president Tim White.

The fruit of that labor is being seen in Duquesne.

“The Dura-Bond Pipe Coating Co. project has taken place since the flyover was opened,” said Chuck Starrett, coordinator for an enterprise zone that covers Allegheny County's three third class cities from the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Duquesne.

“Clearly, without the flyover it would have been difficult to operate the business with the number of trucks,” Starrett said. “This is a $12 million project employing approximately 75, encompassing over 55 acres.”

In McKeesport, Smith and White said RIDC continue to focus on getting new tenants for former EchoStar and Maglev spaces, but concede that the economy is a factor.

“As you see this economy start to turn around you will see things start to pick up in the waterfront down there,” state Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Dravosburg, observed.

Kortz, a one-time manager at U.S. Steel's Irvin Works, shares the optimism of others who believe the recent layoff of 142 hourly employees at U.S. Steel's McKeesport Tubular Operations will be short-lived.

“There have been some layoffs, not because they're not doing a good job but because of the dumping of foreign steel,” Kortz said.

The Tubular Operations are in the former Camp-Hill complex just over the fence from millsite occupant Stericycle — or Healthcare Waste Solutions, as the plant still is known nearly two years after Illinois-based Stericycle acquired Cincinnati-based HWS.

On the other side of Stericycle is the Locust Street crossing, one of two that still exist alongside the McKeesport flyover ramp. The other is at Center Street, while in Duquesne another access to that millsite is a Grant Avenue crossing.

“Jobs are up in both parks, and we are working with a few prospects that would add additional jobs,” the RIDC management said.

Maury Burgwin, president of the Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce, said he heard third-hand that “an entity around the McKeesport area was looking at the Maglev building,” which closed when the company went bankrupt.

The RIDC officials said they have “a prospect about to close on land to build a new facility, and the guarantee of immediate access in or out of the park was a key selling point.”

“I am very supportive that they have done this with the flyover,” Burgwin said. “It's an important element to making those properties marketable.”

After a quiet November 2009 opening for a ramp from Route 837 into the former Duquesne US Steel millsite, an Oct. 21, 2011, ribbon cutting celebrated McKeesport's ramp.

“The flyover ramp is the final step in reclaiming the former millsite for economic development,” state Sen. James Brewster, a former McKeesport mayor, said.

Mayor Michael Cherepko hopes development will come in the form of “high-paying manufacturing jobs,” but said, “we pretty much are not looking to close any door.”

Recently, McKeesport and Duquesne were awarded up to $210,000 from the gaming-fueled Allegheny County Community Infrastructure and Tourism Fund to update zoning and subdivision codes.

“Mayor Cherepko and I decided we would like to have all the zoning be the same as far as construction and grading and all that goes with that,” Duquesne Mayor Phil Krivacek said. “Some of that money will be used for an overlay for a commercial zone.”

Patrick Cloonan is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161 ext. 1967, or pcloonan@tribweb.com.