REDEVELOPMENT STUDY
Cranberry Township, PA
HOW CAN A SUCCESSFUL SUBURBAN COMMUNITY KEEP ITS COMMERCIAL CORRIDORS THRIVING WELL INTO THE FUTURE?
SUMMARY
Cranberry Township in Butler County, PA, has been the fastest growing of Pittsburgh’s large suburbs since 2000, with its population growing by 40% and the number of jobs growing by 91%. It is also among the region’s highest-income communities, one of its youngest in terms of median age, and has a rapidly diversifying housing stock. At its core is a successful suburban commercial district at the nexus of I-79 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike—one of the most accessible locations in the region.
While all of these advantages and superlatives might lull a typical community into complacency, Cranberry Township is thinking ahead. In 2023, it hired czb to help it study the township’s commercial core and to understand what it might mean to reposition the core over time to remain competitive in a region with nearly 450 local jurisdictions. The result is a redevelopment study that arms Township leaders with information to guide community discussions about the core’s future and provide proper grounding for long-range planning processes.
A vision to guide an alternatives discussion
The centrality of Cranberry Township’s commercial core to the future of the entire community meant that any conversation about the core had to be tethered to a sense of Cranberry’s wider vision. Early in the process, czb spoke with Township leaders and stakeholders to understand what makes Cranberry tick and sets it apart from other Pittsburgh exurbs. The Township’s commitment to high development standards, quality of life, and a growing interest in diversified housing were among the characteristics expressed by the Township’s recent history and its current momentum. These were translated into vision components and planning principles to apply towards thinking about future development in the commercial core.
Understanding redevelopment in a high-performing market
Shifting from 20th century suburban commercial patterns to a more intense and mixed-use form of development that would achieve the community’s emerging vision will not be an easy task—especially when the real estate that would have to be redeveloped is performing perfectly well as is. Therefore, if the Township wants to accelerate redevelopment before the market would do so on its own, it must be prepared for the costs of intervening to lead the market.
In the finished Redevelopment Study, czb provides a broad understanding of what it would take to lead the market in the direction of connected, mixed-use centers within a high-performing suburban commercial market. In doing so, the study conveys the risks associated with accelerating redevelopment, as well as the risks associated with waiting.
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