Gentlemen, start your engines! Your economic engines, that is. The news earlier this week that Shell has made the commitment to move ahead and build an ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA has, as we knew it would, set the region buzzing (see Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go! and Shell PA Cracker Plant Project a Lot Bigger Than First Thought). With the decision now made, those in the real estate community are salivating over how that decision will reverberate throughout the region. There is now an effort underway to lure manufacturers in Texas and along the Gulf Coast area to consider setting up in the western PA (and eastern OH and northern WV) area instead–to take advantage of being that much closer to the biggest market in the country–the East Coast. One real estate pro says commercial real estate for up to 150 miles away is likely to be impacted by the decision to build the cracker plant in Monaca…
