Hall Industries Plans $11.8M Move to Grove City
GROVE CITY, Pa. – An $11.8 million investment is bringing Hall Industries Inc. and new jobs to an old 468,000-square-foot industrial building here.
Hall Industries, based in Ellwood City, plans to streamline its operations at the Cooper Industrial Commons building at 180 Lincoln Ave. The company says it will invest more than $11.8 million at the site, retaining 184 jobs and creating 57 jobs over three years.
Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf announced the project Friday.
“This expansion will not only redevelop and bring new life to an underutilized brownfield site, but also will bring new, good-paying jobs to communities that have recently experienced displacement within the manufacturing industry,” Wolf said.
The company said it intends to renovate the Cooper Industrial Commons building, which once housed the long-defunct Cooper Bessemer Corp., install new machinery and equipment and provide employee training. Hall Industries supplies machined components, fabrications and assemblies, primarily providing services and support for the aviation industry.
The late Harold G. Hall founded the family business in 1966 in Pittsburgh. It grew through acquisitions and moved its headquarters and operations to Ellwood City in 1978.
Today Hall Industries operates three plants in Ellwood City, sites at the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia airports and in Canonsburg, Pa. Outside of Pennsylvania, Hall Industries operates plants in South Carolina, Florida, New York, Alabama, Virginia, and in the Czech Republic.
“While certain operations will be streamlined to the new facility, the company’s existing Pennsylvania facilities will remain open,” according to the the governor’s office.
As part of the $11.8 million project, Hall received a funding proposal from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development that included a $114,000 grant for workforce training, a $723,000 Pennsylvania First grant, and $2.65 million in loans through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority.
“We would like to thank Gov. Wolf and his team for helping us secure this facility that will continue to function as an economic generator for years to come,” said Hall vice president of operations, Tony Kaper, in a statement. “The Governor’s Action Team worked tirelessly to provide us with aid to recruit, train, and retain the talent to fill this facility. Penn Northwest Development Corp. was vital in helping work through all the issues that come with buying such a unique property. We also wish to thank the borough of Grove City and the Mercer County commissioners for their support.”
“This project checks all the boxes,” said Rod Wilt, executive director of Penn-Northwest Development Corp.
Hall Industries will “reuse a brownfield site, bring new employment and hire a number of employees from Mercer Forge, which is closing down. It’s a long-standing company that has the resources for significant private investment and the state is coming in with matching dollars,” Wilt explained.
“It’s a textbook case of economic development 101.”
Wilt, named CEO of Penn-Northwest in September, credited the agency’s vice president of business development, Gary Dovey, “who has been working on this transaction since the summer of 2019,” he said.
Among the hurdles that Hilt said Dovey had to overcome were environmental issues.
“Under the leadership of Jonathan Hall and Tony Kaper, Hall Industries decided that ‘Making It In Mercer County’ was the best deal for its expansion,” Dovey said in the governor’s announcement of the project. “In partnership with our local team and Hall’s corporate leadership, we spent countless hours working to get this transaction across the finish line.”
Image: Hall Industries
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