CRANBERRYTWP — The 327-acre Cranberry Woods office park is fast becoming a premier office park in Western Pennsylvania thanks to the efforts of its primary tenant and owner, Mine Safety Appliances Co., and its partner the Trammell Crow Co.

The park, since its groundbreaking in the late 1990s, has brought in a host of tenants, including Verizon and Danieli Corp., an Italy-based company providing plant operation solutions for the metals industry, and first-class amenities such as the Regional Learning Alliance educational center, a full-service Marriott hotel and a new restaurant, Hereford & Hops.

MSA first bought the site in 1983 for its new research and development and electronics manufacturing facilities.

In the 1970s, the company had considered buying land in Hampton Township, but resistance from residents led to the company settling on the property in Cranberry and Marshall townships.

Of the 327 acres owned by MSA, all but 21 acres is in Butler County.

The first MSA building, its Instrument Division, was constructed in 1985, followed by the second building a year later — the John T. Ryan Research Laboratory.

Nothing changed on the property for about 15 years. However, in the spring of 1998, the ideas of building a corporate business park emerged.

Dennis Zeitler, chief financial officer at MSA, said the company realized the Route 228 property was a "very viable business location."

The company had first considered selling off the property and having outside developers build the park.

But, as Zeitler pointed out, then other uses such as large retail that may not have been compatible with their current operations could be built.

Thus, the partnership with Trammell Crow Co. began with the intent to build a Class A office park, said Zeitler.

Trammell Crow, based in Dallas, Texas, is a building management, brokerage and real estate development firm.

The company didn't have an office in the Pittsburgh area until it partnered with MSA. Currently, the firm operates a branch in the Cranberry Woods office park.

James Murray-Coleman, construction and development for Trammell Crow, said the master plan for Cranberry Woods was completed in 1997 and construction on the first office building began a year later.

The first 120,000-square-foot building opened in December 1999.

"It was totally a (speculation) building; and it filled up right away," said Coleman.

The second building, a 107,000-square-foot facility, was built in 2001, and is fully occupied by Verizon.

The third office building, also a 120,000-square-foot facility, was built in 2002.

McKesson Automation, which provides complete and integrated solutions to automated medication-use processes, occupies about 75 percent of that building. Other tenants include Sky (Bank) Financial and Kronus, a company that specializes in business time management solutions.

Cranberry Woods, late last year, was approved by the Cranberry Township supervisors for its fourth office building, similar in size at 107,000 square feet.

Construction on that building is expected to begin this spring.

In the next eight to 10 years, Coleman said, six to eight new office buildings are projected for Cranberry Woods.

"These people want to be here at this location, in these quality buildings," said Zeitler. "These are good employers that have high employee retention."

While constructing the office buildings, MSA and Trammell Crow also began to look at ways to add amenities to the office park.

The developers were able to partner with Winegardner & Hammonds of Cincinnati, which developed the Marriott Pittsburgh North hotel near the main entrance to Cranberry Woods.

The hotel features 295 guest rooms, four luxury suites and 13 meeting rooms with 15,000 square feet of space. It also features the River City Grille & Lounge.

"It took awhile to get done, but they have done a beautiful job," said Zeitler, who added that the Ohio company was the only group that believed it could make a full service hotel work. Other companies only wanted to build a "mini-hotel" at the site, he said.

Several years ago, Slippery Rock University came to the park looking for an opportunity to build an educational mall, which now has become the Regional Learning Alliance.The $12 million, 76,000-square-foot educational facility, which opened two years, is the home to 18 higher educational institutions offering courses and full programs that are geared for non-traditional students.The Regional Learning Alliance, the only building in Cranberry Woods to be entirely in Marshall Township, also provides a host of amenities for business and corporate training classes and seminars.Rounding out the development at Cranberry Woods is the new 16,200-square-foot Hereford and Hops restaurant.The restaurant, complete with its own brew pub, offers patrons the unique opportunity to cook their own steaks. Other traditional steak and seafood dishes are also a part of the menu.