HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A developer started work on a project it hopes will bring hundreds of jobs to the area.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the project site in Nanticoke Thursday afternoon.
Work is underway at the Hanover 9 Industrial Park.
Community leaders from all over Luzerne County gathered to make what they see as the next big step in economic development for Luzerne County.
Northpoint Development from Missouri is building another industrial park in Luzerne County.
The company already has two big parks in the Hanover Township area
The Hanover 9 Industrial Park is its latest project.
"Here in the south valley, we have assembled an outstanding public/private partnership, a partnership between Northpoint Development and Luzerne County, a partner that is writing a new economic success story that unmatched, unmatched anywhere in Pennsylvania," said state Senator John Yudichak (D) Luzerne County.
The project is set to be built in Nanticoke and Hanover Township near Luzerne County Community College.
Plans for the Hanover 9 Industrial Park call for three buildings. Northpoint says one of them has already been leased to an e-commerce company.
When all three buildings are finished, they are expected to bring more than 1,500 jobs that will pay an average of $41,000 a year.
"It's affecting the unemployment rate, but maybe more so here, it's affecting under-employment, people that work fast food or retail jobs $8 or $9 and getting jobs in the $14, $15, $16 an hour with benefits, tuition reimbursement, those kinds of benefits for their family," said Brent Miles Northpoint Development vice president.
The name of the company that's expected to move into the first building at Hanover 9 has not yet been announced.
Two of the three buildings planned for the industrial park should be completed by this time next year.