Work at former Jeannette Glass site to get check by state, local officials

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Work at former Jeannette Glass site to get check by state, local officials

Renatta Signorini | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 3:54 p.m.

Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review

Hard hats sit atop shovels before the groundbreaking at Jeannette Glass in Jeannette last week. (Trib photo)

Nearly four months after they broke ground on the site , state and local officials will visit the former Jeannette Glass plant Friday to outline the ongoing demolition and remediation work.

Work is set to be completed at the end of November under a $478,000 agreement with AW McNabb LLC of McKees Rocks.

“That contractor has, over the last 30 days, really ramped up operations,” said Jason Rigone, director of the county's Industrial Development Corp.

Meanwhile, a consultant is testing the soil to determine the next step in the $6 million project, he said. The project is being funded in part by state and local dollars.

Patrick McDonnell, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, will join local officials Friday at the defunct glass plant. An accidental fire was extinguished there Wednesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Vance Phillips said pallets and insulation materials ignited when demolition crews were using torches to remove metal from inside buildings. Firefighters used about 300 feet of hose to reach the area because of the amount of debris at the site, Phillips said. They had it under control within 40 minutes.

“Logistics getting to the site with the debris was a problem,” Phillips said. “There was a lot of smoke, but there were no injuries.”

The IDC bought the 13-acre property in 2012 for $305,000 at a tax sale. Years of court challenges over the validity of the sale filed by New York businessman Abraham Zion stymied development plans. Zion purchased the factory for $4 million 1983 and let it sit dormant for decades. He died in 2016.

After the state Supreme Court upheld the sale, the parties reached a settlement last year that allowed the county to take over in September 2016 . A groundbreaking ceremony was held in late May.

Workers with AW McNabb have been removing asbestos-contaminated pieces of buildings for much of the summer and then razing the structures .

“They've completely demolished a number of buildings in the front of the property,” Rigone said.

The property is littered with remnants of glass production, much of it contaminated with asbestos.

Future phases include removing building foundations and footers, excavation, compacting soil, planting grass, extending utilities and building a road. The project could be completed in late 2018.

Officials expect that once other businesses occupy the site, it will generate an estimated $150,000 to $250,000 in annual property taxes and create as many as 160 jobs.

Staff writer Paul Peirce contributed. Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@tribweb.com or via Twitter @byrenatta.

Details

A century of history

• Jeannette was once was dubbed the "Glass City" because it was founded on glass manufacturing that expanded to seven companies. The city was later named for the wife of a glass company partner.

• 1887: Jeannette Bottle Works opens and becomes the Jeannette Glass Co. a year later. It produces handmade bottles, then jars and items ranging from automobile headlamp lenses and dishware.

• Early 1900s: Jeannette is the first company to produce sheet glass, an innovation later adopted by the entire glass industry.

• 1920s: The factory is converted into a pressed glass operation and produces Depression glass dinnerware and kitchenware in 14 collectible patterns from 1928-38. It becomes the largest window glass plant in the world and the largest pressed glass operation in America. It produced more glass in various forms than any other place in the United States, according to government statistics.

• 1950s: The company brings in Cameo Glassware to produce milk glass in different patterns and shapes. After World War II, it purchases the McKee Glass Division of Thatcher Glass Manufacturing.

• 1970: The company is renamed Jeannette Corp.

• 1983: Production ends.

SOURCE: "History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania"

Monsour update

Site preparation work at the former Monsour Medical Center along Route 30 in Jeannette is complete, and the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. will begin seeking requests for proposals soon.

The county's land bank purchased the parcel for $15,172 at a 2014 tax sale after it closed in 2006 following a series of failed health inspections.