Athletes who compete in everything from soccer to pickleball could have a 45,000 square foot indoor facility for use in Penn Township, if a developer’s plans go through.
“I think the area needs something like this,” said Samuel DiDio of Penn Township, owner of PT Commercial Court LLC of Saltsburg Road, Penn Hills, the corporate name under which he is developing the facility.
The facility, designed with a 75-foot ceiling, is proposed for a site along the Trade Yard near the Penn Township Public Works garage.
DiDio said he hopes the building – which is expected to cost between $5 million and $8 million – will be available to teams in just over 12 months, during the winter of 2023. The site will have approximately 250 parking spaces in Penn Township and Manor Borough, according to plans.
With its location near Route 130 in Harrison City and the planned slide ramp that would connect the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Route 130, DiDio said the site would be convenient for people from surrounding communities.
Penn Township commissioners gave preliminary approval to DiDio’s plans on Tuesday.
Before the commissioners give final approval to the land use plan, township officials want the developer to get approval from Manor for all structures in that municipality.
It must obtain a permit for its pollutant disposal system and comply with the township’s stormwater management plan. He will also need a ground disturbance permit to work on the site, which has woods and brush.
The Penn Township property is zoned for industrial commercial use, while the Manor Borough section of the property is zoned for light industrial use, according to township documents.
DiDio, whose property PT Commercial purchased from Leukhardt Family Partnership for $500,000 in May 2021, also plans to build a three-story, 40,000-square-foot multi-tenant storage unit on the Manor portion of the property.
DiDio also operates a multi-tenant storage unit at Plum and Surplus Assets Management Corp., a 26-year-old company that supplies spare parts and equipment to the nuclear power industry.
Joe Napsha is a staff writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Joe by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
