Mar 11, 2023 3 min read

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Stalled by supply chain issues, the Fort Cherry Development District project is rolling again.

Imperial Land Corp. is developing the industrial park in Robinson Township, Washington County, and has sold its first property there – a 20-acre tract to Burns Scalo Real Estate for $2 million. The Green Tree-based realty firm plans to construct a 195,000- to 200,000-square-foot building for light industrial use along Fort Cherry Road.

“We settled the deal on Jan. 31,” said Brian Temple, president of Imperial Land Corp., a Moon Township-based real estate planning company. The firm oversees the Fort Cherry Development District, which encompasses 875 acres of reclaimed strip mine and underserved land near the Midway exit of the reasonably new and strategically located Southern Beltway, and near the Allegheny and Washington county lines.

The 13-mile-long beltway makes travel to Pittsburgh International Airport and the Shell Chemical cracker plant more convenient, which could entice industrial, warehouse and distribution firms to locate in the budding business park. Temple also pointed out that Fort Cherry Development District is within a day’s drive for 165 million people – population and labor force combined.

Burns Scalo’s lot is near the entrance of the Fort Cherry Development District. Imperial Land Corp. plans to build a road through there, Campus Boulevard, to connect with other parcels, with a spring completion planned.

”With the new road, the corridor will be ripe for development,” Temple said. “There is currently no top quality Class A industrial space available in the sub-market, with demand outstripping supply.”

The Burns Scalo lot is one of three tracts that are planned for phase one of the project. Work on that phase began last June and, according to Temple, is a $3.2 million investment. He said most of the utilities are in place and Campus Boulevard has to be paved. Plans for the other two lots, he said, call for a 100,000-square-foot structure and one in the 200,000-square-foot range.

Temple said “we did have a deal” on one of the other lots there, but the potential buyers backed out because of a downturn in building.”

He said that a year ago, his company “had planned to be completely done with phase one by fall 2022. But we hit a little speed bump getting materials. We got delayed, but we’re still moving forward.”

For 15 years, Imperial Land Corp. has been involved with a similar project – one that isn’t far down the road, literally. Findlay Industrial Park, a 400-acre development, sits off the Westport interchange of the Findlay Connector. That park has more than 1.9 million square feet under roof, with nine businesses operating there.

Temple has been with Imperial Land Corp. since 2012 and has been its president for two years.

From 2000 to 2012, he was the community development director for North Fayette Township, and was instrumental in developing the Pointe at North Fayette. Temple also has been on the planning commission and board of supervisors in Mount Pleasant Township, Washington County, his home municipality, and on multiple development boards in the state.

He is a lifelong Hickory resident whose latest project hits home.

“The Fort Cherry Development District is essential to Washington County,” he said.