The original item was published from February 16, 2016 2:13 PM to January 8, 2021 9:28 AM
Two years ago, Verizon Wireless moved out of a building in Cranberry Woods which had been used to house one of its call centers over the previous ten years. At the time they left, I remember there was considerable hand wringing and anguish, driven by a belief that the loss of such a major corporate resident would do irreparable damage to Cranberry’s economy.
Yet somehow, the sky didn’t fall. Verizon, like every other company, has evolving needs. And over the course of its time in Cranberry, those needs changed. However that doesn’t worry me. In fact, if the business environment here were static and never-changed, that would be a source of much greater concern.
During my 25 years in Cranberry, I have seen lots of companies arrive, expand, merge, divest, upsize, downsize, move laterally, and do just about everything else you would expect in a dynamic economy. That’s normal. And it’s not just the business-to-business giants and technology companies here. The same thing applies to our retail community; stores come and stores go. Markets change. And new companies step in to capitalize on the opportunity.
For decades, our Board has worked to make Cranberry the sort of community that businesses of all sorts – but particularly technology firms and knowledge-based companies – would find attractive. That includes creating appealing work sites, convenient highway access, an educated workforce, rapid access to Pittsburgh International, and a strong consumer market as well as a premier residential community.
We thought it was only a matter of time until another capable company would move into the space that Verizon vacated. Now we’ve learned that one has, in fact, leased that building.
The company is Genco, a division of FedEx, which describes its business as a third-party logistics provider. That involves handling merchandise returns for hundreds of vendors and hundreds of thousands of customers throughout North America.
We are delighted to welcome Genco to Cranberry Township. Its decision to come here further confirms the vision of our Board and the hard work of our staff in making Cranberry one of the nation’s premier business communities. It is also a tribute to MSA Safety which concurred in that vision and worked to create this outstanding, world-class business park.
I would love to hear your thoughts about our growing business community. You can reach me at
Jerry.Andree@cranberrytownship.org