A local developer is one step closer to breaking ground on a industrial park on the west side of Warren.
BVK, Inc. President Ruzhdi Bakalli said Kessel Construction, Inc. of Bradford has been selected to build the two 12,000-square-foot manufacturing buildings on the former G.G. Greene site along Pennsylvania Avenue W..
Construction is set to begin during the week of July 16, and should be completed by the end of the year, Bakalli said on Monday.
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An architect’s rendering of what the buildings will look like on the BVK property
on Warren’s West Side.
"With these two new buildings we are hoping to attract businesses so we can create new jobs in Warren area," Bakalli said in an email. They are for general manufacturing jobs. They are exclusively for manufacturing industry."
No business is lined up to use the site, but Bakalli said he is "optimistic that soon after the buildings are completed they will be occupied."
Bakalli said last December he was in preliminary discussions for the development of the proposed Central Water Treatment plant, but said the site was not dedicated to the plant.
"One way or another, I'm going to develop the site to create jobs for the community," he said in December.
In April, Bakalli said he was moving forward with constructing the industrial park and the site would not be the home of the proposed Central Water Treatment plant.
BVK had been awarded $1.5 million in funds from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program to develop the wastewater treatment plant in Warren by former Gov. Ed Rendell, but it was terminated by Gov. Tom Corbett.
As a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, BVK has been awarded other grants to develop the site, including $172,500 for environmental clean-up at the site in April 2010; and $310,823 in a infrastructure grant in November 2010 to improve and expand rail sidings.
Tim King of Northwest Energy Resource Group, the entity that proposed the treatment plant, said in May the treatment plant is still in the works.
"The need for treatment of water from the oil and gas industry is an ever increasing and pressing environmental issue that needs to be addressed," he said. "Warren is one of several sites identified and under study for development across the state that we are focused on. We will continue our work to bring a solution to the vital water treatment issue facing the industry."