COURTDALE, Luzerne — Take a ride along the South Valley Expressway through Hanover Township, Nanticoke, and Newport Township, and you'll see these warehouses from major companies.
Farther down the highway, heavy machines are making room for more, giving developers and local leaders a chance to celebrate that more are on the way.
"The singular vision of this historic partnership is to transform idle land marred by the cruel hand of the anthracite era into a new economic landscape where there are new job opportunities," said State Sen. John Yudichak.
Northpoint Development, based in Kansas City, Missouri, is the partner in this case with Luzerne County and believes these additional warehouses will mean a lot for our area, especially those jobs.
"$20 an hour plus overtime, you're making more than $40,000, $45,000 a year in salary and then obviously benefits on top of that, so it's a big game-changer for everybody here in the community. And as we looked at higher, you know, probably over 1,000 jobs between these two buildings, maybe even more on a good day. And to add to our track record and what we've already done, I think that's going to have a huge impact on this community," said Brent Miles, Northpoint Development.
School districts nearby are hoping this means a future for many of their students.
"It allows our students who are going to the world that work to make a decent wage. They can go right from high school, right up to some of the warehouses and take a position in a warehouse," said Greater Nanticoke Area Superintendent Ronald Grevera.
Developers with Northpoint tell Newswatch 16 a big reason that they continue to build warehouses in this part of Luzerne County is because of the South Valley Expressway.
"Major investment that's been happening on the South Valley Parkway really opened up this area for us. It opened up this mine-scarred land for us to invest, you know, over a billion dollars of capital now into the area," said Miles.
Developers say if it wasn't for an investment like this, the 7,000 jobs that came along with all the warehouses in the Nanticoke area would not have been possible.
"Infrastructure is the first step of economic development."
There is no word yet on what companies might be setting up shop in those two warehouses, but developers say that based on their track record, at least one is likely to be a Fortune 500 company.
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