Progress continues on the massive redevelopment of the former U.S. Steel site. On Wednesday, the Falls Township Supervisors voted unanimously to grant preliminary and final land development approval of the second phase of the NorthPoint Development project, which includes the construction of warehouse buildings four, five and six.
Supervisors Brian Galloway and John Palmer were absent from the board’s meeting, which had to be rescheduled from its usual third Monday of the month because of Presidents Day.
Each structure will be more than 1 million square feet, for a total of 3.1 million square feet in all. The buildings will be constructed on 188 acres of land situated at the southeast corner of Old Bordentown Road and South Port Avenue in the Keystone Trade Center.
The board authorized phase one of the development last year, which includes construction of the first three warehouse buildings. Building three is under construction currently, according to Falls Township Engineer Joseph Jones.
Jeremy Michael, NorthPoint’s director of development, said he hopes to have the first tenant occupying space by year’s end. Michael said he anticipates breaking ground on the buildings for phase two this year, with completion in 2023.
The overall development is expected to continue for another five or six years, according to Michael, with some full-time jobs available this year and more “ramping up” next year.
Throughout the course of the redevelopment, NorthPoint intends to construct up to 15 million square feet of warehousing, creating between 5,000 and 10,000 new jobs. The project would be conducted over multiple phases with construction of 20 or more state-of-the-art industrial warehouse buildings for various Fortune 500 companies.
The developer will invest $1.5 billion into the transformation of the site. In all, NorthPoint will spend an estimated $40 million to $45 million to remediate the site.
