Charleroi councilman claims glass plant will reopen, but other officials cannot confirm
The former Corelle Brands LLC glass plant in Charleroi, which produced Pyrex bakeware until it closed in April, could be reopened this year with a foreign producer, according to a Charleroi official.
Councilman Larry Celaschi claimed in an email to fellow borough officials Thursday that negotiations with a potential buyer for the former Corelle Brands plant have been underway and that a deal to buy the plant could be reached in a month or so, pending environmental studies at the glass plant site long owned by Corning Inc.
Core samples have been taken at the site of the 132-year-old plant, according to Celaschi, who identified the prospective buyer as Sediver. The new buyer would employ about 250 workers, stated Celaschi.
The brief email from Celaschi, who is running for reelection on the Republican ticket, did not identify any source for his claim that the sale of the plant is near.
Celaschi could not be reached for comment Friday.
Sediver is a global manufacturer of electrical glass insulators for the high-voltage electric transmission grid.
Spokespersons for U.S. Sens. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, and Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, did not respond to a request for comment. McCormick made a campaign stop in Charleroi in September , when members of the United Steelworkers were holding a rally to protest the closure.
A spokesman for the state Department of Community and Economic Development could not be reached for comment. Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman, chairman of three-member board, could not be reached for comment.
Celaschi did not tell borough officials anything about the source of the information, but it has generated a lot of publicity and speculation, said Joe Manning, borough manager.
“I can’t verify anything,” Manning said.
Celaschi’s email caught Charleroi officials off guard, said Council President Kristin Hopkins-Calcek.
“I can’t verify it. I can’t validate it. We can’t find any information … if it’s from the Trump office or the security guard,” Hopkins-Calcek said.
Celaschi will not reveal his source, despite repeatedly being asked, Hopkins-Calcek said.
Celaschi should have discussed it with his fellow council members and council could have issued a statement, Hopkins-Calcek said. The two borough officials had clashed over statements when Corelle Brands announced in September the glass plant would be closed.
James Watt, a staff representative for United Steelworkers, which represented union workers at the plant, said Friday he had not been able to confirm the information released by Celaschi.
The glass plant that had about 300 employees in June 2024 was closed in April after Corelle Brands had moved glass production of the Pyrex bakeware from Charleroi to a sister plant in Lancaster, Ohio. The initial announcement in September called for the closing of the plant at the end of the year. It was delayed again as production equipment was moved to the Ohio plant.
Centre Lane Partners V LLC, a private equity firm that acquired Corelle Brands and the Charleroi plant in March 2024, said in a July 22 filing in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh that Corelle Brands and the Charleroi plant “were a failing or flailing firm before the acquisition.” Centre Lane Partners’ filing was in response to the Pennsylvania attorney general’s legal battle last October to seek an injunction to prevent the plant closing on the grounds it violated federal antitrust rules because the Lancaster, Ohio, plant makes baked glassware. A federal judge in November ruled that Centre Lane could proceed with the plant closing.
If Celaschi is correct in identifying Sediver as the prospective new owner of the Charleroi plant, the facility would be in the hands of another private equity firm like Centre Lane.
Private equity firm Blackstone Inc. announced last October that it had acquired SEVES Group of Luxembourg, the parent company of Sediver. Blackstone, which has an infrastructure and energy division, has $1 trillion in assets under its management, according the company’s website.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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