Judge halts demolition of Homer City plant over contract dispute

Demolition at the site of a planned $10 billion project with a 4.5-gigawatt natural gas-fired plant near Homer City that would power a data processing center has been halted.

Frontier Industrial Corp. of Buffalo, N.Y., was granted a preliminary injunction by Allegheny County Judge Philip A. Ignelzi. It prevents Homer City Redevelopment LLC, the owner of the 3,200-acre former coal plant property, from having any demolition work done or removal of scrap material. The demolition is being done by Independence Excavating Inc. and Independence Demolition Inc., both of Brecksville, Ohio.

The judge said Frontier would suffer irreparable harm if the Independence companies were permitted to do the work. As of now, only Frontier can be involved in the demolition, Ignelzi said in his July 3 injunction.

A date has yet to be set for a hearing on the preliminary injunction against Homer City Redevelopment and the two Independence companies.

Leland Schermer, a Pittsburgh attorney representing Frontier Industrial, could not be reached for comment.

Charles Pugh, a Cleveland attorney representing the three defendants, declined to comment.

Frontier Industrial claimed in its seven-count lawsuit it filed July 1 against Homer City Redevelopment that it had breached its September 2024 contract with Frontier when it barred the company from entering the property on June 18 and hired Independence to take over the work.

Frontier said it believes Homer City Redevelopment was prompted to switch contractors to get tens of millions of dollars in incentives to quickly finish the demolition and paid millions to Independence to do the job at “breakneck speed.”

Frontier claimed in its 250-page lawsuit that the developer terminated the contact without cause, even after the Homer City Redevelopment notified Frontier on June 13 that it had no such intention.

Frontier said, however, that the developer had allowed Independence workers and equipment on the site.

Homer City Redevelopment is accused of conspiring with the Independence companies.

“It kicked Frontier to the curb,” according to the lawsuit.

The Independence companies are accused in the lawsuit of interfering with Frontier’s exclusive rights to conduct the demolition under its 2024 contract and joining with Homer City Redevelopment in preventing Frontier from gaining access to its property — namely the scrap and recoverable materials.

Frontier had a contract to pay Homer City Redevelopment $1.14 million for the exclusive rights to the scrap material, in return for Frontier demolishing the structures.

Frontier claimed in the lawsuit that it took extensive preparations to demolish the coal plant smokestacks, one of which was the largest in the nation and the hardest part of the job.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damage. The value of the scrap and recoverable material can not be determined at this time.

Frontier said that it had a contract with Kovalchick Corp. of Indiana, to purchase scrap material removed from the plant.

The coal-fired power plant, owned by Homer City Generation LP, closed in 2023 after 54 years in operation. The power plant was operating at a diminished capacity and the company said the decision was the result of low natural gas prices, a spike in the cost of coal and tightening environmental regulations.

Indiana County saw the potential for a big economic boost when Homer City Redevelopment announced in April it planned to redevelop the dormant site into the largest natural gas-fired power plant in the nation to provide power to the computerized data processing center that would be the largest in the state.