First Quality Picks Lock Haven for Expansion
186 New Jobs Expected
LOCK HAVEN – Local officials are hailing Tuesday’s announcement that First Quality Tissue has selected its Lock Haven site for installation of a third tissue machine.
The announcement from First Quality’s Great Neck, NY headquarters ends months of speculation as to whether the local effort to add the third machine would be successful.
Employees at the plant in Castanea Township were told of the corporate okay for the new machine yesterday.
First Quality has some 1,700 employees at its various Clinton County facilities. The new project is expected to add another 184 jobs, as well as approximately $300 million in investment.
Mike Flanagan, chief operating officer for the Clinton County Economic Partnership, welcomed the news and noted the cooperative effort of local officials to bring the project to the county:
“This is great news for our greater community and we thank First Quality for its continued investment in our county. We had a lot of people and groups work hard to make this a reality. Our elected state officials – Rep. Hanna, Sen. Scarnati and Sen. Wozniak – worked hard for the $3 million state grant to assist with a new road access, and Castanea, the county commissioners and the Keystone Central School district all approved a tax break proposal for the anticipated project. The Governor’s Action Team was there every step of the way, as well as SEDA-COG’s joint rail authority. We look forward to this project becoming a reality.”
The county commissioners were equally upbeat, Jeff Snyder calling the announcement “a great day for Clinton County.” He noted while it will take two years to bring the project to fruition, there will be jobs provided while site work is carried out for the new machine.
Fellow commissioner Joel Long said the announcement was another sign the county “is going in the right direction.” He said other projects within the county are being looked at.
The formal announcement from Great Neck:
“First Quality Tissue, a privately held leading manufacturer of ultra-premium towel and tissue, is pleased to provide the following update on its various capacity expansion projects.
The company announced earlier this year its commitment to two additional TAD paper machines. The company has selected its Lock Haven, PA facility as the location for the second TAD paper machine and is in discussion with the state of PA and the local community to finalize details. Startup date for this line is expected to be December 2016.
The first of the two TAD Machines is destined for Anderson, SC. Construction is in progress and a startup date of November 2015 is expected. The addition of these two machines will provide the company with the needed scale and the flexibility as well as the leadership to meet the demand of its customers and the market for ultra-premium tissue and towel products. The company is also very excited about its Atmos technology paper machine in Anderson SC and will be announcing its startup date next quarter. This technology will enable the company to expand its premium line of product offering beyond tissue and towel.
Since inception, almost eleven years ago, First Quality Tissue has been committed to providing ultra-premium tissue and towel products to its customers in the United States, Canada and select International locations.”
The Tuesday announcement came after all three applicable Clinton County taxing bodies had given their okay for a tax abatement program to further the local effort to attract the third paper machine.
The Castanea Township supervisors, the county commissioners and the Keystone Central School Board earlier this fall had given their approval to the plans. All three taxing bodies gave their support for First Quality participation in LERTA, a real estate tax abatement program used as an incentive to further commercial/industrial growth.
