Published Wednesday, December 4, 2002
draws interest of developer
Herald Business Editor
Just a month after state Route 18 was expanded to five lanes, Hermitage has gotten nibbles on prime commercial property.
Last week, Akron developer Cedarwood Development Inc. met with city officials about creating a commercial development on 75 acres along the newly widened highway. Owned by the Kraynak family, the vacant land sits next to Stupka Motors Inc., and Wal-Mart has long been rumored to be interested in settling one of its supercenters at the site.
Gary Hinkson, city manager, said he and Marcia Hirschmann, the city's planning director, met with Frank Licata, a representative of Cedarwood, and members of the Kraynak family for about an hour.
Licata was out of the office Tuesday afternoon and wasn't available for comment, a secretary at the company said. A message left with a member of the Kraynak family wasn't immediately returned.
No nitty-gritty details about proposed plans were discussed, Hinkson said.
"They talked about the potential for multiple buildings and out-parcels on the Route 18 site," Hinkson said. "The discussion centered on requirements for the city's zoning ordinances and time frames if the property should be developed."
While Cedarwood indicated it has talked to Wal-Mart about the location, there is no commitment in hand, Hinkson said.
"We were told nothing has been signed," he added. "Basically, this was a fact-finding mission on their part."
Zoning would not be an issue for a retail development at the location; all of the land is commercially zoned. But if multiple buildings were constructed at the location, traffic patterns within the site, along with requirements for a traffic signal on Route 18, would have to meet Pennsylvania Department of Transportation approval, Hinkson said.
If there were plans for creating a subdivision within the site, that also would require additional information from the developer. But Hinkson said Cedarwood didn't submit any plans for a development, nor did the company give any indication it would do so in the future.
Hinkson said he didn't have a feel if Cedarwood would proceed with a development. He noted that over the years, the land has generated inquiries from a number of developers seeking information from the city concerning zoning to sewerage requirements that led nowhere.
Then again, he noted that this was the first time a developer had sought a face-to-face meeting with the city about the land.