CHARLEROI, Pa. — Sources familiar with the sale confirm a company is in the process of buying the former Corelle Brands Glass Plant, with plans to reopen it as an industrial glass facility by the end of the year.
“Everybody said, ‘Oh, it’s dead now. Charleroi’s dead. They lost Corelle, they’re dead.’ Well, guess what…we are still alive,” said Mayor of Charleroi, Gregg Doerfler. “That’s all we’ve ever been known for is glass. So for it to continue, even though it’s not Pyrex or whatever, to know it’s still a glass factory is an amazing thing.”
Sources said the new owners plan on investing 10’s of millions of dollars into renovating the plant.
The news comes just over three months after the plant closed its doors after 132 years, leaving hundreds out of work. The Mayor tells us he still remembers the devastating phone call he received with the news.
“I was like, what are you talking about? She was like, ‘They’re closing us, they’re closing us. You’ve got to help us! You’ve got to help us!’ she was crying on the phone,” said Mayor Doerfler.
Daniele Byrne was on the other end of that phone call. She’s the vice president of Local Union 53G. She said she’s still waiting for details on the potential sale.
“We took our little severance that we got, but…nobody has contacted anybody from the union,” said Byrne. “I talked to the president today, and she said no one contacted her either about the plant opening up.”
Byrne and her husband both lost their jobs due to the closing. She said the plant workers were like family and that she would go back in a heartbeat.
“If they called me tomorrow, I would go back,” said Byrne.
Sources tell Channel 11 they are currently doing soil and environmental checks at the plant and will be looking to rehire over 250 workers soon.
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