Oct 30, 2019 4 min read

Race Track Road Management LLC (Chapman Properties) recently applied for Local Share Account money to help in the development of the 152-acre Southport Business Park development off Tanger Boulevard and behind Racetrack Road.

The company is seeking $850,000 in LSA funds for phase one of the development, which will focus on infrastructure that would allow access to the site. South Strabane Township supervisors agreed last week to sponsor the grant application.

According to the application, the total cost of this phase is $4.7 million, part of which includes the land acquisition cost of $1.95 million. Another $1 million of the total was an RACP grant awarded to the development of the land in 2017. The rest of the total was funded privately, according to the application.

Chapman CEO Tony Rosenberger said the first phase will establish utilities like sewage, water, gas and electric, as well as provide for land clearing, grading and paving.

“These are the parts necessary to get to the site so the development can take place,” he said.

The application states that phase one will “create 14 acres of shovel-ready building pads and public streets” within the C-3 zone (commercial/light manufacturing). The two public streets to be built with cul-de-sacs will eventually be connected in a later development phase, according to the application.

Those building pads will be “capable of sitting three office buildings totaling 240,000 square feet of floor area with associated parking,” the application states.

“At completion it is intended that the buildings constructed will service businesses such as health care, financial, pharmaceutical and biotech,” the application states.

The plan says the potential businesses will require between 850 and 1,200 employees. Construction is expected to create an average of between 20 and 40 jobs.

The design phase started this month and is expected to be completed by January, according to the application. However, Rosenberger said Tuesday that they can’t really start the project until “some zoning changes take place” in South Strabane Township.

Negotiations between Chapman and the township have been ongoing for nearly two years, when the supervisors refused to make the Tanger Boulevard a public road, blocking plastics manufacturer Ensinger Inc. from developing on part of the 152-acre site. Chapman then sought compensation for the loss of their deal with Ensinger in a 2017 petition filed in court.

“There is a lot of remorse in looking backwards over the things that went awry,” Rosenberger said. “We’re finally working toward solutions, not more problems. In our case, we’ve tried to be a partner with the community. We want to be a positive resource to the township.”

Last month the township entered a preliminary development agreement with Chapman to try to resolve the litigation. The agreement includes making the boulevard a public road, as well as dividing the land into two zones: 86 acres of C-3, and 66 acres of a potentially newly created R-5, which will be high-density residential with some commercial use.

Rosenberger said Chapman and the township are very close to finalizing the development plan.

“Probably by the end of November we’ll be on to the next step, which will be submitting grading plans and excavation work,” he said.

According to the application, the hope is to have phase one completed by November 2020.

“The first goal is to get the utilities to the site and get it opened up so we can market the property,” Rosenberger said. “Phase two will be an equal or greater investment that will continue the infrastructure into the rest of the land.”

He said that interest in the property will determine what phase two looks like. Overall, the total development of the 152-acre property is expected to be a $50 million to $100 million investment, he said.

“We don’t make $1 until a building is in place and we’re bringing jobs to the marketplace,” Rosenberger said. “Until then it’s just more investment. We’ve invested a lot of time and money in proving to this community that we are not that four-letter word that people often associate with developers.”

The township is hopeful the development of the property will lead to an increased tax base. Township manager Brandon Stanick said last month that “given the uses allowed in the C-3 and the uses planned to be allowed in the R-5,” there’s potential for an increase in property tax as well as earned income tax for the township.