So far, partners Ron Sabatino and Jason Zadeh have 911 acres of largely undeveloped land assembled through 18 different acquisitions, a quirky name from an old map, and a vision for a $1 billion mixed-use development in Cecil Township.
Now, with full municipal approvals and a new zoning designation established for the site, the Columbus, Ohio-based partners in R&J Properties are ready to launch Cool Valley, a development that could eventually host 2.25 million square feet of office space, as well as additional retail space and 1,400 homes designed under a new urbanist strategy.
The project is significant for both its size — Zadeh and Sabatino said the development is projected to create between 10,000 and 14,000 new jobs — and its location near the existing Southpointe business park, which enjoys an occupancy rate of more than 95 percent.
R&J’s early marketing for Cool Valley calls for a variety of different office types, ranging from office and flex space to light industrial. The plan’s residential component calls for apartments, live-work townhouses, condos and single-family houses. The first phase is expected to include a 300-acre parcel of office development fronting Interstate 79. The company is working with a variety of lenders, some national, to finance the project.
It’s a plan R&J has been working on for a long time, slogging though more than a dozen meetings with Cecil Township and Washington County. Sabatino said he first began to consider such a development 10 years ago when he was developing buildings at Southpointe and sees it as a complement to the quickly maturing business park in Washington County. He expects the project will take another decade to complete.
Cool Valley is able to push forward with the project after working closely with Cecil Township to write the guidelines for a new Interstate Highway Planned District designation under which the 911-acre property is now zoned. Sabatino, who declined to disclose how much he paid for the property, said the new zoning designation allows building heights of 120 feet, instead of 60 feet in Cecil’s regular zoning.
The rest of the zoning changes should allow Cool Valley to integrate a variety of uses within the same plan, with greater density and a host of other new urbanist-oriented standards.
“It really is the principles of urban thinking in a suburban environment,” Zadeh said. “It’s to create a sense of community. That’s what you work to achieve.”
GATHERING PUBLIC SUPPORT
Cool Valley is Sabatino’s largest development project in a 30-year career, and a project he acknowledges has required — and will require — much public support.
Bill McGowan, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Washington, expects a similar level of public-private partnership as his county demonstrated with Southpointe. Perhaps the biggest difference, he said, was that R&J owns the property, whereas the property for Southpointe was owned by the county and sold to private developers.
McGowan sees a $5 million to $10 million public expense in establishing the roadwork the project will need, not including the cost of adding utilities. While he acknowledges it’s a time of difficult budget deficits at nearly all levels of government, McGowan expects there will be opportunities to tap public monies through Tax Increment Financing, state and federal grants, and revenue generated by the Meadows Racetrack and Casino.
“It will be a challenge for all aspects, and we’ll attack it from all aspects,” said McGowan, who described the project as much-needed. “I think it’s very high on the priority list as far as the county goes. It’s going to be a needed site to keep creating jobs and bringing more companies into Washington County.”
The greenfield development comes at a time when Lucas Piatt, a principal of Canonsburg-based Millcraft Industries, the original developer of Southpointe, has publicly stated it would no longer pursue greenfield projects, noted Court Gould, executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh, which advocates for smart growth policies.
Gould expects a new greenfield development seeking public funds could face resistance, given the region’s large number of municipalities with ample underutilized property, including Washington.
“In this environment of high fiscal constraint, it will be much harder to obtain government support for greenfield development at a time when we have such an extraordinary debt burden to maintain and support that which is already in place,” he said, pointing out the region continues to face long-term population decline.
DEMAND FOR URBAN SUBURBIA
Yet, Sabitino sees a development opportunity that will meet the preferences of a market seeking a new suburban ideal.
“It’s clear that this is a desired alternative to Downtown Pittsburgh,” he said.
Dan Adamski, a resident of Cecil Township and regional director for the Pittsburgh office of Jones Lang LaSalle, who has represented many companies involved in exploring the Marcellus Shale for natural gas, sees immediate overflow demand from companies that can’t find space in a Southpointe development more than 95 percent occupied. Several Marcellus Shale exploration and development companies already have moved into Southpointes I and II, tapping out the amount of available space in those locations.
Cool Valley already is being described as “Southpointe III” for the way it will complement its predecessors, Adamski said.
“In everybody’s mind, it’s going to be the same park,” he said. “I truly believe that anybody who puts a building up there now will have half of it leased before it’s completed.”
Adamski said the project is located between Southpointe and the well-off community of Peters Township, which should benefit its retail component.
“Any company looking to put a headquarters in western Pennsylvania will have to consider it because of the amenities and the access,” he said.
As the national economy improves, Zadeh sees economic strength here that will help drive his firm’s ambitious project.
“We, frankly, think the timing is right,” he said. “Western Pennsylvania and Washington County are experiencing a wave of growth that is really unlike what we’ve seen in other rust belt or Midwestern cities.”
