Additive manufacturing site announced for Pittsburgh Airport Innovation Campus

Officials from the region on Friday said the worldwide epicenter for the burgeoning industry of additive manufacturing will be on 195 acres of land in Findlay and Moon owned by Allegheny County Airport Authority adjacent to Pittsburgh International Airport.

Dubbed Neighborhood 91 — a riff on Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods — it’s the first development on the Pittsburgh Airport Innovation Campus.

“The ability to make Pittsburgh a world leader in additive manufacturing is right under our feet and all around us,” said Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis, as she stood on the site of the new development.

Additive manufacturing is the process of using 3D printers to make things.

The airport is partnering with the University of Pittsburgh. On Friday, they announced the anchor tenant of Neighborhood 91 would be Arencibia, a Lehigh County-based firm that recycles argon, helium and neon that’s used in the additive manufacturing processes.

The idea behind Neighborhood 91 is to provide a place where all of the entities involved in additive manufacturing can locate. The companies expected to join Arencibia will benefit from their proximity to each other and their proximity to the airport, said Joe Arencibia, the company’s general manager.

Neighborhood 91 will also produce its own power using a microgrid to generate electricity from natural gas drilled at the airport. The grid is separate from the one announced Oct. 18 that will power the airport itself.

Arencibia is expected to be up and running at the site by the end of 2020, according to airport authority spokesman Bob Kerlik.