Westmoreland municipal authority opens new garage, office building in New Stanton

Just months before it is required to vacate office space in Hempfield, the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County moved into a nearly $10 million building on its New Stanton campus that will be home to its water distribution system.

The new 41,000 square-foot building, officially opened Wednesday, will replace the space the authority occupied in Hempfield following the purchase of the township’s sewer authority in 2016. Terms of that deal required the county authority to vacate the Hempfield facility by July.

“Originally, we were going to build a new sewer garage, but we decided that, since water is our larger group, it would be better to move them in here,” said Brian Hohman, the authority’s business manager.

Nearly 130 water distribution and engineering staff will relocate from a secondary building behind the utility’s glass enclosed headquarters to the new multi-use facility located at the rear of the New Stanton property. The building will house individual offices as well as a 30,000 square-foot garage where equipment will be stored.

Hohman said there is room to add on to the new facility if needed.

The sewer division, which had been spread out among several facilities, will take over office space left vacant by the water staffers and will now be housed under one roof.

Construction of the new building cost about $5.5 million, with another $2 million spent to prepare the site for construction and nearly $2.5 million to light, pave and furnish the new facility.

Construction of the new building was completed in late March.

The authority has about 320 total employees who oversee a water system that services more than 121,000 customers in five counties and sewer service to nearly 30,000 customers.