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Businesses in almost every city neighborhood are now eligible for low-interest loans, tax breaks and outright grants after the expansion of McKeesport's "Enterprise Zone" designation.

The zone, previously restricted to Downtown and Walnut Street, now encompasses:

• Grandview Avenue


• Versailles Avenue


• Eden Park Boulevard


• O'Neil Boulevard


• Lincoln Way


• the 10th Ward, and


• part of Long Run Road (state Route 48).

Those streets comprise most of the business districts in the city.

In addition, Enterprise Zone benefits --- previously restricted only to so-called S- and C-corporations --- are now available to almost all kinds of businesses, including "mom-and-pop" stores, sole proprietorships, and limited partnerships.

That allows everyone from major industrial firms to small, independent companies to take advantage of state financial assistance.

The changes took effect July 1.

McKeesport, Duquesne and Clairton have had designated "Enterprise Zones" since 1996. Development in the three local Enterprise Zones is coordinated by Chuck Starrett at the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Duquesne.

Bethany Budd Bauer, community development coordinator in McKeesport, says communities are required to renew their Enterprise Zone status periodically.

McKeesport officials originally tried to have the entire city declared an enterprise zone, she says. The state Department of Community and Economic Development, which grants the Enterprise Zone designation, turned down the idea, saying that too many residential areas would have been included.

Still, Bauer notes, the Enterprise Zone now includes all of the city's major streets and commercial, industrial or mixed-use areas, including the Christy Park area and neighborhoods around McKeesport Area High School and Penn State University's campus.

"It doesn't go into the side streets, just the main corridors," she says. "But because of the university being located down there, I wanted businesses to be able to take advantage of the program."

Enterprise Zone benefits are generally restricted to capital improvements, and are not intended for ongoing costs, like meeting payroll.

But stores and other companies are allowed to apply for grants of up to $500,000. They can also get state tax credits covering 25 percent of any improvements they make, up to $500,000 per year.

In addition, several state agencies will provide financing below market rates to businesses who are expanding or locating in an Enterprise Zone.

"In some instances there are tax credits available for purchasing new equipment or expanding and improving buildings," Bauer says. "There are also low-interest loan programs, but there are job creation requirements."

Although residents and homeowners don't directly receive Enterprise Zone benefits, Bauer says they do create jobs and put vacant properties back onto the tax rolls, which helps the entire city.

Local businesses that have already taken advantage of Enterprise Zone programs include:

• Book Country Clearinghouse, which relocated last year to the old Potter-McCune Co. warehouse on Walnut Street;


• Steel City Products, which is expanding its distribution facility at the RIDC Industrial Park on the old National Works site; and


• Columbus, Ohio, based Huntington Bank, which built a new office on Fifth Avenue near UPMC McKeesport Hospital to consolidate two former McKeesport National Bank branches Downtown.

. . .

For more information about the Enterprise Zones in McKeesport, Clairton and Duquesne, call Chuck Starrett at (412) 469-8744.