Jeannette cryogenic plant to be fully operational by summer

Construction of Elliott Group’s $60 million cryogenic pump test stand is on schedule and is expected to be completed this spring, according to spokeswoman Christy Bash.

The facility should be in full operation this summer, she said.

Crews have been working through the winter at the former site of the Jeannette Glass factory as the testing facility along Bullitt Avenue begins to take shape. Some landscaping was added this week to serve as a buffer between the site and nearby homes.

Bash said staffing and training will be conducted closer to the start date. The testing facility and expanded manufacturing operations building cryogenic pumps and expanders will add about 130 jobs to the company’s Jeannette workforce.

Ground was broken at the 13-acre site, about 1.5 miles from the company’s U.S. headquarters in the city, in December 2019.

That came after years of no movement at the site from Abraham Zion of New York, who bought the property after the factory closed in 1983, leaving it dormant for decades.

The Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. purchased it for $305,000 at a 2012 tax sale. Progress was hampered by years of legal challenges from Zion. He died in 2016 and a settlement was reached that year, allowing the county to move forward with a multi-million dollar project to clean up the remnants of glass production and asbestos contamination amid dilapidated buildings.

The majority of that project, funded by state and local dollars, was completed in 2018. The property was sold to Elliott Group in October 2019 for $600,000, according to deed records.

Elliott Group is one of few companies in the world that make cryogenic pumps and expanders. Elliott, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tokyo-based Ebara Corp., supplies compressors and turbines for liquefied natural gas plants.