Croda plans new manufacturing at old BJ Services site in Lamar Township
LOCK HAVEN, PA – Croda purchased the massive BJ Services site in the Bill Garbrick Sr. Lamar Township Business Park in June of this year and Tuesday evening Croda plans for the site were approved by the Clinton County Planning Commission.
Mike Kalp, Croda project manager, detailed those site development plans for the planning board. He said four of the existing buildings at the 38-acre site will be utilized; he said since the site is already developed, those four can be repurposed to help speed the project to fruition; three other buildings not in use initially. The site office building will be used for that purpose; one for production manufacturing, one as a warehouse; and one for storage.
Kalp said the site will allow Croda to expand its manufacturing locally, noting inventory produced at the company’s Draketown site will remain there and “other manufacturing companies acquired” by the international firm will located at the Lamar Township business park; he said the new products are in the “health care and life and animal sciences.”
Kalp said Croda wants to move the project as soon as possible. He said it is now in the design stage and the company has a “very aggressive schedule.” Ideally, he said, operations could begin in late 2022 but more likely in early 2023.
He did not offer any employment estimates or disclose any project cost information.
Planning commission board approval was unanimous. As noted by commission chairman Terry Murty, the Croda plan was something of a “remodel” first approved by the planning commission for a prior tenant a decade ago.
Mike Flanagan, President/CEO of the Clinton County Economic Partnership, thanked Croda for its additional investment in the community. The company earlier this summer observed a ribbon-cutting for its expanded operations along the Draketown Road.
Croda last July had announced a major acquisition, Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc. which has been operating at one site in Alabama. An announcement at that time said Avanti makes lipids used in delivery systems for complex therapeutic drugs.
