In addition to residential housing data, the Chester County Planning Commission tracks the county’s completed non-residential construction on an annual basis.
Last year, Chester County saw an addition of 961,413 non-residential building square feet through 39 various projects. This included a mix of retail, restaurant, office, institutional, and industrial buildings – with institutional and commercial uses accounting for the majority of the new square footage.
Uwchlan, West Whiteland, and Upper Uwchlan Townships had the highest amount of non-residential growth in 2020, with more than 100,000 square feet added in each municipality. Top projects included Upper Uwchlan’s 183,717 square foot expansion to the 101 Gordon Drive property (which serves as the headquarters for USSC Group – a company that makes special seats for military vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances), as well as West Whiteland’s 128,885 square foot Church Farm School expansion.
Overall, Upper Uwchlan Township and West Chester Borough added the largest amount of commercial square feet in 2020, while West Whiteland and Uwchlan Township added the largest amount of institutional square feet (as well as major projects). Additionally, Uwchlan Township was the only municipality with industrial development completed in 2020.
Other major projects in 2020 included the Eagleview Lot 1C in Upper Uwchlan Township (113,000 sq. ft.), Uwchlan Hills Elementary School in Uwchlan Township (81,969 sq. ft.), CHS Exton LLC Business Park in West Whiteland Township (76,240 sq. ft.), the 44 West/Mosteller office and retail building and the Barclay Friends Senior Living expansion in West Chester Borough (48,085 sq. ft. and 33,936 sq. ft.), the Downingtown Stem Academy in Downingtown Borough (31,796 sq. ft.), and East Goshen Elementary School’s building addition in East Goshen Township (25,013 sq. ft.).
To learn more about the county’s 2020 non-residential construction data, including municipal data and development information, visit https://chescoplanning.org/LandUse/NonResConstruction-20.cfm.