New Ventures Center (Parks Bend Farm and Industrial Park)

New Ventures Center sits on eighty-two acres of what was once the Parks Bend dairy farm and Parks Bend Industrial Park. Two barns, one gambrel roofed and the other gable roofed, adjacent to a pair of silos, mark the site of the original farm to the north. This type of development, called a small business incubator, is proliferating in the rural counties closest to Pittsburgh, where land is relatively inexpensive and access to major highways is available. Charles L. Desmone and Associates designed the large cement-block and corrugated-steel building to blend with the rural landscape. While larger in scale, the basic elevations are similar to a barn, including the silo-shaped element on the facade that houses a metal circular stair. The exterior mimics board-and-batten siding in steel, reminiscent of agricultural rather than industrial buildings. Parks Bend Industrial Park has received numerous architectural commendations at the local, state, and national levels.