PITTSBURGH-Consol Energy Inc. will relocate its corporate headquarters from Upper Sainte Clair to a 35-acre parcel in Southpointe II, a 217-acre mixed-use development in Canonsburg in Montgomery County. It plans to break ground late this summer for two office buildings: a four-story, 300,000-sf structure shaped to provide an aerial view of the company's "C" logo; and a 50,000-sf building for Consol's subsidiaries.

The estimated construction cost for both is $50 million. The state provided a $1.6-million incentive package from the Department of Community and Economic Development and the Governor's Action Team to retain Consol in Pennsylvania. The funding consists of $500,000 in opportunity grants, $214,000 in job training assistance funds and $952,000 in job creation tax credits. In a statement, Gov. Ed Rendell says, "Consol Energy is the largest coal producer east of the Mississippi and one of the largest exporters of coal in the US," and the expanded headquarters will create at least 476 new jobs within three years.

Among the other locations the company considered "were sites in Northern West Virginia and a 1,600-acre parcel--the Zeidiker site in Washington County--that we own," a Consol spokesman tells GlobeSt.com. "The Southpointe II site offers great access, and the Zeidiker land is not nearly as far along. It has no infrastructure in place." He also says, "we're not developers." Plans for the Zeidiker site include light commercial, office and a golf course, and he says Consol will partner with a developer on that project, but no timeframe has been set.

Of the Starpointe II location, J. Brett Harvey, Consol's president and CEO, says in a statement, "the construction of our new headquarters reflects both the optimism with which we view the energy business and our commitment to this area." The spokesman says most of the company's large mining companies are in Southwestern Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia. The new buildings are expected to reach completion in summer 2008.

Consol's headquarters is currently located in an 186,000-sf building on Washington Road in Upper Sainte Clair, across from South Hills Village in Allegheny County. According to published reports, it sold that facility and the surrounding 29 acres a year ago to a subsidiary of the Birmingham, MI-based Corvus International for $13 million. It continues to occupy the space under a lease agreement with Corvus.

Southpointe II is a master-planned extension of the 589-acre Southpointe mixed-use community that contains office, light industrial, multifamily and single-family housing along with a hotel and golf course. The extension's plan calls for additional office space, plus retail and residential components and a hotel.