Developers Association Honors Cranberry Business Park Building

NAIOP, the national association of commercial real estate developers, has recognized a recently completed building in the Cranberry Business Park by awarding it the Speculative Office award for excellence.

This is the third time an office building in the park has been honored.

Home to Tollgrade Communications and PLS Logistics Services, the 70,000 square-foot structure is part of a campus-like complex with a dozen buildings along 180 acres on Unionville Road.

When fully developed, the park is expected to have about a million square feet of building space, according to Richard Donley, whose Chaska Property Advisors is the park's developer.

About 3,000 people are employed by companies in the Cranberry Business Park and the demand for flexible, high-end office space throughout the township shows no signs of abating, according to a statement from Cranberry Township. As a result, two more flex-space buildings are being planned for the park's remaining undeveloped sites.

Skyrocketing Job and Business Growth

While job growth has slowed in much of the nation over the last few years, the Pittsburgh area has fared better than most areas. Last year, , according the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Between March of 2010 and March 2011, Butler County had a 4.2 percent rise in employment, almost all of which took place in Cranberry Township, according to township officials.

Less than a decade ago, employment in Cranberry totaled 10,500, according to the township. This year, it hit 18,500. About 28,000 people currently reside in Cranberry and projections show the population to reach 32,000 by 2030. Among the leading job sectors in Cranberry are professional, scientific and technical services, retail trade, manufacturing, health care and wholesale trade.

Between 2000 and 2011, Cranberry issued new commercial construction permits for almost four million square feet of office, retail, hotel, industrial and restaurant space. 

From 2001 until last year, the combined value of commercial and residential construction in Cranberry exceeded $1.3 billion.

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