Lighthouse Electric opens new plant at former Brockway Glass site in Canton Township
Company also utilizing former Ross Mould building in downtown Washington
It was a homecoming of sorts for Lighthouse Electric with the celebration of its sprawling new manufacturing plant built at the former Brockway Glass site in Canton Township, along with its corporate headquarters moving into the old Ross Mould building in downtown Washington.
The company has had several locations over its four decades in operation, starting on East Maiden Street in the city and most recently a manufacturing plant near Canonsburg and its headquarters in Southpointe.
But the opportunity to return to its roots in the Washington area was a cause for celebration Tuesday that touted a public-private partnership to convert the dilapidated Brockway Glass property into a brand-new industrial park that will bring close to 100 jobs to the location.
“We are excited to be in this new place. The company is building and growing,” said Anton Mikec, who is Lighthouse’s owner and a board member. “But it’s not about the building. The building gives you a place to work. It’s all about the people.”
Hundreds of workers and dignitaries gathered outside the new plant on Hickory Street in Canton Township near the Chestnut Street exit to Interstate 70 for a special “wire-cutting” ceremony, where company and government officials wielded giant cutters to slice through an insulated metal wire to officially open the location. The building has been operational for 30 days, but the company is still working to finish the 100,000-square-foot manufacturing plant, with work underway to construct a second 65,000-square-foot building on the same property.
The plant will specialize in fabrication and kitting production for electrical components that can be manufactured at the plant and then shipped to construction sites across the country. The off-site assembly at the plant will allow for easier builds at construction sites, whether it be pre-assembled rigid frameworks to streamline electrical connections or for underground conduit systems. The company said it will also assemble and test load centers, power centers, pre-wired panel boards and modular electrical skids.
The Mikec family started Lighthouse in 1984 and has expanded to regional offices in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Va., in addition to its headquarters and plants in Washington County. Many of the speakers at Tuesday’s ceremony talked about how the Canton Township plant will help the region lead the way in helping to construct data centers that are quickly becoming the hubs to host artificial intelligence technology that is growing by leaps and bounds.
Ryan Bandel, who is Lighthouse’s president and CEO, said it’s fitting that their new manufacturing plant is on the site of the old Brockway Glass, which made glass jars and other items more than a century ago.
“We’re sitting on sacred ground. The sacred ground of makers,” Bandel said before turning his attention to Lighthouse’s work to help power new data centers to create technology for the future. “That’s the sacred moment, to power those buildings on.”
The ceremony was as much of a celebration for Lighthouse Electric’s new locations as it was acknowledgement of the hard work over at least the last decade with the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Washington and developer Crossgates Management Inc. to find a new use for the Brockway site, which had become an eyesore for motorists passing along I-70 just a few hundred feet away. To do that, numerous government entities worked together, whether it be federal and state environmental regulators due to the site’s “brownfield” designation or the state and county grants to help make the location suitable for development.
“This is such a prime example of people coming together and making partnerships work,” Washington County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman said about the cooperation between the federal, state, county and municipal governments to help spur private development. “Tear down (the Brockway Glass factory), build something new and then get the hell out of the way.”
Just as important, though, is to ensure Washington County is leading the way in new technological development and manufacturing to build new data centers for the impending AI revolution.
“We’re poised to take these jobs back,” Sherman said about what he hopes will be a manufacturing rebound for the county. “We’re ready to go.”
The speakers also acknowledged the importance of repurposing the Ross Mould site on South Main Street in Washington, where Lighthouse plans to have its corporate headquarters and eventually could turn the nine-acre property into another manufacturing plant with as many as 300 new jobs available.
“This project will be a heart transplant for the city of Washington,” said state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll. “Lighthouse could’ve taken this project anywhere, but they took it home to Washington County.”
Washington Mayor Jojo Burgess said he expected up to $50 million in new investment for the former Ross Mould location, which already has new signage announcing that Lighthouse has moved into the property on South Main. He hoped it would lead to more economic development in the city with an influx of new jobs.
“Now these industries are being transferred back to Washington,” Burgess said. “We’re going to be the technology hub of AI.”
Bob Griffin, who is executive director of the Redevelopment Authority, added that it is fitting the company is returning to the city not far from where it all began on East Maiden Street.
“It’s a game-changer for the city of Washington,” Griffin said. “Welcome back to our beloved 15301 (zip code).”