The former George Westinghouse Research and Technology Park in Churchill is being sold at auction.
The property was once going to house an Amazon warehouse, but the company scrapped those plans in March 2022.The warehouse plan drew ire and a court challenge from some community members who fought against the project. Amazon had earned borough approval to develop the site, but backed out for unspecified reasons.
The future of the vacant 133-acre site, located just off the Churchill exit of the Parkway East, has since been unclear. Proponents of Amazon moving in maintained that Churchill needed the tax revenue.
Beaver County-based Hostetter Auctioneers is now accepting bids on the property on behalf of Carnegie-based Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate, which owns the site.
Nicole Deluca, managing partner at Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate, said the auction opened about three weeks ago. There have not been any bids yet, she said, but a variety of developers have shown interest and are in the “due diligence” phase of considering a bid.
“The amount of interest has been pretty big,” she said. “We’re excited to see what developers will come in.”
Though Amazon had planned to use the property for a commercial warehouse, other developers are eyeing the property for a variety of potential uses, Deluca said. She declined to offer specifics about what those other uses could entail.
“There’s a lot of interest from a lot of people that will do something completely different,” she said.
Deluca touted the property’s location about 10 minutes from Downtown Pittsburgh and its size as key factors that should appeal to potential buyers.
“It’s a good piece of property,” she said.
Sealed bidding is slated to end on May 17, according to Hostetter’s site.
Deluca declined to estimate how much money the sale could generate.
The site includes six buildings with a combined 900,000 square feet of building space, 2,200 parking spots, green space and a pond.
During 50 hours of public hearings on the Amazon warehouse proposal, officials had said taxes would have included between $600,000 and $660,000 annually in property taxes to Churchill, plus between $2.3 million and $2.5 million for Woodland Hills School District. Churchill is one of 12 municipalities within the district
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Related:
• Churchill residents protest potential Amazon development
• Churchill Council approves application for controversial Amazon warehouse
• Amazon drops plans for Churchill warehouse
Julia Felton is a TribLive reporter covering Pittsburgh City Hall and other news in and around Pittsburgh. A La Roche University graduate, she joined the Trib in 2020. She can be reached at jfelton@triblive.com.