The new Nationwide building will change the skyline of Downtown Washington, and, some predict, the fortunes of the area.

Everywhere you look, Downtown Washington is a work in progress. This is made especially evident by the seven-story Nationwide Centre building currently under construction on Beau Street.

Soon to become a mixed-use development called The Crossroads, the $18 million Nationwide building is just the first phase of a plan that will eventually revamp three city blocks.

“We had the county seat of Washington decaying before our very eyes,” recalls Washington County Commissioner Bracken Burns, noting that Jack Piatt and his son Lucas, of Millcraft Industries Inc. in Cecil, have stepped up to the plate and spearheaded the development of the area.

“The Nationwide building is the anchor of the project, and that’s going to be a tremendous boon to the downtown area in terms of bringing employees and customers into the city, which will have a ripple effect on [the city’s economy],” says Burns.

According to Lucas Piatt, Millcraft’s vice president of real estate, the Nationwide building will bring 625 employees into the city of Washington. And after it’s completed in November of this year, there will be plenty of places for them to live, shop, dine and play.

Backed by Governor Rendell and the Washington County Redevelopment Authority, the $100 million project will introduce residential lofts and townhouses, retail shops, an 84-room “boutique” hotel, two parking garages, a 500-seat outdoor amphitheater and office space into the city. And that’s just for starters.

“It’s one of Rendell’s pet projects,” says Piatt, adding that the governor pledged $21 million for parking lot, streetscape and infrastructure improvements for the city. “He likes to support the third-class cities that have been hurt by the closing of the steel mills, and he wants to focus on this type of urban development.”

Rich Cleveland of the Washington Redevelopment Authority says that negotiations have been finalized to build the first parking garage, which will contain 812 spaces at a cost of $12 million, and construction will begin in April for completion by November. “At some point near its completion, there will be notification of the opportunity for people to lease monthly space in the garage on a first come, first serve basis,” adds Cleveland.

Piatt points out that Washington & Jefferson College will also benefit from the development, and plans are being made to relocate the campus bookstore in the downtown area. “The college has a new president and CFO,” he says. “They’re easy to work with, and they understand urban development. It’s all part of the blueprint for collaboration on an agreement with the city and the college to increase the tax base and create an atmosphere that’s conducive to economic development.”

According to Cleveland, The Crossroads will give the city and the school district an opportunity to generate new revenues that will help in their annual budgets.

“It’s a great revitalization and economical development opportunity,” he says, “that gives the city the possibility to experience growth and capitalize on the other developments happening outside of the city limits.”