City of Pittsburg looks to fill building

When Superior Industries announced that it was closing the doors of its Pittsburg facility, the first thoughts went out to the displaced workers.
The second thought then, went to the question “What are we going to do with this big building?” That's a question to which the city of Pittsburg, along with the Kansas Department of Commerce, has been trying to find an answer.
"Superior has really been a great help, and they got us the specs on the building pretty quickly after we asked them," said Mark Turnbull, Pittsburg director of economic development. "Their cooperation on this matter has really helped us in terms of moving forward."
And move forward the city has. Turnbull said the city had already put in a proposal for a business that could move into the facility, located in Pittsburg's industrial park.
"Obviously, we can't really talk about who it is at this point," Turnbull said. "But we have had some interest in that facility. We have put a proposal in to locate a business there, and it's a viable company. Of course, there's going to be a lot of competition there, but we're putting our hat in the ring."
Whatever business does move in will have plenty of space. Turnbull said the building boasted 500,000 square feet spread over 60 acres of land. The heights of the ceilings vary depending on the area, Turnbull said.
"There are some areas that are hallways and rooms that have fairly normal height ceilings and then you have warehouse area ceilings and things like that," Turnbull said. "There's a variety there."
Turnbull said the city would continue to push forward to fill the building.
"It's important to note that we have had interest already," Turnbull said. "And we're going to aggressively pursue businesses and companies to fill that space. It's an excellent facility, and we're going to do our best to fill it with a strong company that will make Pittsburg better."