Glass outlets open in Mount Pleasant at former Lenox plant
MOUNT PLEASANT — It wasn't the original plan but it sounded like a good one: buy the empty Lenox Plant and turn it into an outlet where different glass companies and manufacturers could compete.
And it worked to perfection.
On Friday afternoon, under sunny skies, many dignitaries and representatives celebrated the official opening of the Mount Pleasant Glass Center and the grand opening of the Jamestown Crystal Outlets.
In late 2001 Lenox Corp. announced that it would no longer be able to operate the glass plant in Mount Pleasant. January of this year was the last time the plant would be in operation.
According to John Skiavo, president and CEO of the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland (EGC), when the heard was released, his company and the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation (WCIDC) immediately began to look for companies throughout the world that would be interested in purchasing and reopening the facility.
The reason for their desire to keep the facility operating was two-fold. They didn't want 158 people who had been employed by Lenox to lose their jobs, and they wanted to continue utilizing the skills of those workers to their benefit.
But finding someone to purchase the facility wasn't to be.
So, they bought it themselves, with the cooperation of the Lenox Corporation, and formed a partnership in the ownership and reopening of the facility, said Skiavo. The reopening took the form of an outlet for glass manufacturers to sell their wares and a place where glass manufacturers could still produce their product.
Lenox agreed to keep their outlet store in the facility, giving other glass companies a reason to move their interests to the property. This opportunity led to the Jamestown Crystal Outlet.
According to Bob Rifenburgh, president and COO of St. George Crystal in Jeannette, the name for the outlets was after Jamestown, Va., where glass was first made in the United States.
“This is our first outlet and we hope that more will follow,” said Rifenburgh.
“I think this is extremely important for two reasons,” said state Sen. Allen Kukovich, who was on hand for the event. “First it shows the county's resiliency. When Lenox closed it was not a good situation, but they immediately came up with the idea to replace it with this, which has brought back some job opportunities.
“Second, we do have a glass heritage and it's important for us to maintain that heritage and sustain hope for community moral,” he added. “I think this is extremely important.”
Westmoreland County Commissioner Tom Balya said the outlet and the glass center were examples of a public and private entity stepping together to fill a void (the loss of Lenox) for the good of the county and the region.
Westmoreland County Commissioner Tom Ceraso said the idea was to keep, maintain and increase the jobs in this facility.
“I think it's great that in Westmoreland County we can get things like this done, but there are no egos,” said Ceraso. “Everybody shares in the credit.”
State Rep. Jess Stairs and Mount Pleasant Township Supervisor Regis Adamrovich, are both just glad to see the facility being used for something and not just sitting empty.
“They're going to continue to find tenants to continue the glass-making tradition with the skilled workers in the area,” said Stairs. “I think it's very important that it just won't be a warehouse sitting empty.”
Although the outlet facility is not located in the Borough of Mount Pleasant, Michael Tabita, president of Mount Pleasant Borough Council, is happy to see the progress.
“Anything good for our area is good for us,” said Tabita. “This will bring traffic through our town, which will benefit us.”
The outlet houses in the facility to date include Early American Candle, L.E. Smith Glass, Lenox Outlet, O'Rourke Hand Cut Crystal, Rolf's Cut Crystal and Glassware, St. George Crystal, Toscany Classics and Youghiogheny Art Glass.
Also, Glassautomatic, Inc, is the first machine cut glass manufacturer to take space in the facility.
