FARRELL Construction company seeks to build plant in city

Barnes/Miles wants to erect 25 homes over three years.
THE VINDICATOR
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- A Pittsburgh-based construction company planning to build highly energy-efficient homes here also wants to build a manufacturing plant in Farrell and move its corporate office here.
Emmett Miles, chief executive officer of Barnes/Miles Global Community Development, said the homes it wants to build are manufactured by Insulspan, a Michigan-based company, but he wants Barnes/Miles to build its own plant here.
"That's my plan," he said Wednesday, noting the plant would cost about $3 million and employ between 50 and 150 people, producing all of the structural insulated panels needed to erect the home shells.
Randall Williams, city economic development director, told city council this week that Barnes/Miles is looking for a three-to-five-acre site to build the plant.
"I'd like to build in Farrell. Farrell needs a shot in the arm," Miles said. "We're going to do everything we can to plant ourselves in Farrell."
That includes moving corporate offices here, he said.
Initial plan
Miles and his partner, Lamar Barnes, first approached city council in May with a plan to build 25 homes, telling officials that the $2.1 million project would be done in three phases over three years.
The initial plan was to build the first five homes in a $365,000 project on sites owned by Southwest Gardens Economic Development Corp., a local community-based development organization, but the company is now also looking at vacant sites the city has available.
Winning financial support from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for the home building project is crucial, and the company is seeking $165,000 in PHFA help.
Its first application was rejected, primarily because the project called for building the homes on sites scattered around the city.
PHFA wants to see houses built in concentrated areas instead, Miles told city officials last month as he asked for help in finding more acceptable sites.
"The city has been excellent with that," Miles said Wednesday, predicting that sufficient building locations should be in place in time for the next PHFA funding period in December.
What's being done
Barnes/Miles is erecting a model home at Spearman Avenue and Union Street.
"It's in production now," Miles said, referring to the structural insulated panels for the building being made in Michigan.
Barnes said in May that the two- and three-bedroom homes the company will build will cost between $70,000 and $80,000 each, but a plan to secure various public financial assistance grants could cut the actual sale price to between $25,000 and $35,000, making them available to low- and moderate-income families.
Miles said building a manufacturing plant here will give the company better time efficiency and direct control of the product.
Funding for the plant would come primarily from private investors, but the company would also look at local economic development assistance programs for money, Miles said, adding that he hopes to have the plant under construction by March.