Credit: NorthPoint Development
The Falls Township Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting next week to review a sketch plan for a potential $1 billion-plus redevelopment of the massive U.S. Steel site.
The meeting, which will be held virtually on Monday, December 7 at 7 p.m., will have industrial developer NorthPoint Development present a sketch plan for the roughly 1,800 acres of the U.S. Steel site and Keystone Industrial Port Complex that the company will be purchasing for an undisclosed sum.
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Settlement for the site is planned for the coming weeks.
LevittownNow.com broke the news of the sale in July.
According to a public notice, the Board of Supervisors will consider a master plan approval agreement for the site; consideration of a resolution recognizing the Morrisville Municipal Authority as the owner and operator of the U.S. Steel Corporation potable water, raw water, industrial wastewater, and sanitary sewer facilities, the developer of the wastewater treatment facilities serving the site, and the provider of all water and sanitary sewer related utilities; consideration of an agreement between Falls Township and AGH Enterprises for trash cleanup on or near township-owned roadways.
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The property NorthPoint Development will be buying includes numerous industrial and manufacturing companies and the deep water international port and terminal that is operated by Kinder Morgan. U.S. Steel and a handful of other companies will continue to own and lease sites within the property and maintain their operations. Most of the land is available to be redeveloped.
At the special meeting, NorthPoint Development will bring forward a plan for several buildings. Additional plans are in the works.
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The developer plans to construct new warehouses ranging in size from 200,000 square feet to up to 2 million square feet on open space at the property. Some buildings could be as high as 100 feet if needed. NorthPoint Development also plans to refresh roadways and rail lines, Jed Momot, the chief strategy officer for firm, told the Falls Township Planning Commission in late October.
A sketch plan submitted to the township in recently shows as many as 19 proposed new buildings.
The project – termed the Keystone Trade Center – has the potential to add 5,000 to 10,000 jobs and 15 million square feet of new warehouse space, with a total investment cost of $1.5 billion, according to an early master plan made public.
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No companies have been announced as tenants for the proposed project, but NorthPoint Development has worked with major national and international companies to construct warehouses and distribution facilities.
“Our vision is to create a Class-A industrial park and completely redevelop what is out there today,” Momot said in October.
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The proposed redevelopment would be one of the largest projects on the East Coast.
Elcon Recycling Services had planned to build a controversial proposed hazardous waste materials plant on a portion of the land. The company pulled out in July after years of efforts.
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The U.S. Steel site has the third largest property tax assessment in the Pennsbury School District.
The site first opened in 1952 as the U.S. Steel Fairless Works complex. It was the site of a large steel mill, a coke (fuel used in the steel making process) production plant, steel making and forging operations, a powerhouse, and chemical plant. By the 1970s, more than 5,000 people worked at the site. As the years wore on, U.S. Steel slashed thousands of positions and in 2001 closed the majority of the site. The company still finishes cold-rolled steel products made at western Pennsylvania plants for use in the automotive, home construction, appliance, and metal building industries at the facility. By 2009, about 100 U.S. Steel employees worked at the facility as the company continued demolishing buildings that were unused.
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The development of the U.S. Steel Fairless Works complex was a massive benefit for the Fairless Hills and Levittown developments.
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