More than 130 dignitaries were on hand on October 29 to help executives from Greiner Packaging open its first U.S. manufacturing plant in a Mericle building at 225 Enterprise Way in CenterPoint Commerce & Trade Park West in Pittston Township, Pennsylvania.
The company plans to hire 128 workers over the next three years at the plant, which makes premium plastic packaging for the dairy and food industries.
The grand opening included a ribbon cutting, plant tours, music by New York City jazz band Hayes Cavanaugh, traditional Austrian cuisine, and the inflating of the company’s hot air balloon.
Speakers included the President of the Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce Jerry Champi, Director of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s Northeast Regional Office Harry Forbes, Deputy Director of the state’s Office of International Business Development Wilfred Muskens, Pennsylvania Senator John Yudichak, Mericle Chief Operating Officer Lew Sebia, and Greiner Group’s Global CEO Axel Kühner.
During his remarks, Champi said, “Today is a wonderful day for Pittston Township and Northeastern Pennsylvania because we are celebrating the grand opening of the first United States manufacturing facility for one of the world’s premier packaging companies.”
Champi added, “Greiner Packaging’s decision to make its high quality premium packaging products here means that more than 100 family sustaining jobs are being created and it shines a spotlight on Greater Pittston as an excellent location for manufacturing companies.”
The building selected by Greiner Packaging was constructed on speculation as part of Mericle’s ReadyToGo!™ Program. Mericle COO Lew Sebia said, “Having the building ready at the right time played an important role in bringing Greiner Packaging to Pittston Township.”
“For more than 50 years, Greiner Packaging has been one of Europe’s leading manufacturing companies and we are just thrilled to have the company as one of our tenants,” added Sebia.
“We found very skilled people here,” Kuhner said after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Any knowledge we needed we found here in the region.” He said Greiner has invested $17 million in the 113,871 square foot space.
Greiner Packaging International is one of the leading companies in the European packaging industry. The company registered annual sales of Euro 513 million in 2013 (including joint ventures). This represents more than one third of the total sales of the Greiner Group. Greiner Packaging International employs 3,426 workers at 34 locations worldwide.
Since 2007, Mericle has developed 25 buildings in CenterPoint totaling 6 million square feet. Close to 40 companies which together employ 4,500 workers are park tenants.
Greiner Packaging International was represented by Brandon Podolski, JD and Adam Burgess of the Southfield, Michigan office of real estate consulting firm Plante Moran CRESA and by Matt Marshall of the real estate brokerage firm CRESA Philadelphia.
Founded by Robert K. Mericle, Mericle Construction Inc. self-performs virtually all aspects of development and construction, using its own in-house personnel, Mericle Construction is better able to control costs and fast track delivery schedules to meet its clients’ needs. It fashions itself as a throwback to the “master builder” of old when experienced craftsmen self-performed all aspects of the construction process.