Manufacturer Combining Operations at Speculative West Chester Building

Nov 23, 2016

Polymet Corp., a manufacturer of high-performance wire, is leasing more than half of a roughly 139,000-square-foot speculative industrial building in West Chester Township.

Polymet signed a long-term lease for nearly 91,000 square feet of space in the building at 7401 Union Centre Blvd. The building is scheduled to be completed early next year.

Port Union E is a nearly 139,000-square-foot industrial building. Polymet will move into about 91,000 square feet of space next year when the building is complete.
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Port Union E is a nearly 139,000-square-foot industrial building. Polymet will move into… more

COURTESY CBRE

Becknell Industrial, a privately held real estate firm specializing in the development, management and ownership of industrial properties nationwide, is developing the industrial building. Known as Port Union E at Union Centre, it has 28-foot clear height, 14 docks that are expandable to 24, two drive-in doors and parking for 110 cars. The site is 4 miles from Interstate 275 and 3.5 miles from I-75.

Polymet is consolidating two of its West Chester operations at the new Port Union E location. Bill Mosier, president of Polymet, said the new location will make the company more efficient and provide additional room for future growth.

Robert Bunton, vice president with CBRE, represented Polymet in the deal. Jeremy Kraus, vice president with CBRE, represented Becknell.

Kraus said the new building’s wider column spacing, higher ceilings and more sustainable features all made this location attractive to Polymet.

“This will be a more modern, more functional facility for them to continue to grow their business,” Kraus said.

Polymet produces high-performance wire, which is used to repair or protect components that face high temperatures, corrosion, metal-to-metal wear and other deterioration. The company got its start in the aerospace industry, creating a proprietary hot extrusion process that produced the first small-diameter solid welding wire from extremely hard nickel- and cobalt-based alloys — a concept once thought impossible.

Port Union E has about 48,000 square feet of space remaining. Kraus said there has been a lot of interest for the space.