US Steel sells land that once hosted integrated mill complex

Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. says it has sold the property that hosted its former integrated steelmaking complex in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. The company’s CEO says the sale of the “non-core real estate asset” will help fund its purchase of Arkansas-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker Big River Steel.

Upon selling what is now called the Keystone Industrial Port Complex for approximately $160 million, U.S. Steel President and CEO David B. Burritt comments, “This non-core asset sale delivers on our strategic commitment to extract incremental value from our attractive portfolio of real estate assets. The proceeds from this transaction further enhance our strong cash position, supporting our decision to fund the purchase of the remaining Big River Steel equity with cash on hand.”

U.S. Steel, which has adopted “Building a more sustainable future” as a slogan, has been investing in scrap-fed EAF capacity by expanding its ownership stake in Big River Steel and by installing a 1.6 million-tons-per-year EAF in Fairfield, Alabama. That site also used to host an integrated steelmaking complex.

The buyer of the Fairless Hills property is NP Falls Township Industrial LLC, an affiliate of Riverside, Missouri-based NorthPoint Development LLC. The acquired 1.4 million square feet of industrial space and approximately 1,800 acres of land includes an inland deep-water port.

U. S. Steel says it will continue to operate its hot dipped galvanizing line at the Fairless Hills site, which is what remains of the once-sprawling integrated steelmaking complex in eastern Pennsylvania.