Jeannette's St. George Crystal sold for $2.75 million

The owner of two area glass plants is buying the closed St. George Crystal Ltd. plant in Jeannette for $2.75 million, but the future of lead glass-making at the facility remains uncertain.

"We acquired the assets and saved it from liquidation, to insure ... if at all possible, restarting it, " said William Kelman, owner of L.E. Smith Glass Co. of Mt. Pleasant and Kelman Bottles LLC at the the former Glenshaw Glass Co. factory in Shaler.

Kelman submitted the winning bid for the 11.6-acre property at a Westmoreland County Sheriff's auction today.

"We can not assure anybody that this facility will restart," Kelman said. "We don't want to give them (former employees) false hope."

Before making any decision on the fate of the plant, Kelman said his management team will do a thorough review of operations, and look at all options. He declined to predict how long that review, which he said will include a lot of analysis, might take.

The purchase will include the manufacturing facility, warehouses and machinery.

Some of the operations appear to be a good fit with his existing glass businesses, Kelman said, but there may be some duplication.

For example, St. George Crystal has a machine shop and the company probably does not need a machine shop at all three of its glassmaking plants, Kelman said.

Kelman is buying the company through his real estate company, DRE III Ltd. Partnership. He will use a combination of equity financing and debt financing, and received financial support for the purchase from both local and national banks, he said.

St. George Crystal was being sold at a sheriff's auction because its principal lender, MTGLQ Investors L.P., of Randlett, Utah, was awarded an $8.03 million judgement in May. The glassmaker defaulted on a 2005 loan and a federal court appointed a receiver to oversee the operations.

St. George Crystal, which produced six percent lead glass crystal products such as giftware, tableware, bowls, chandeliers, and glasses, had as many as 150 employees in the summer of 2007, but workers were laid off as financial problems mounted.

The company shut down is glassmaking furnace in February, resulting in the layoffs of about 32 of 84 employees. Inventory was sold and there were just a handful of workers maintaining the facility in recent weeks.