Jul 24, 2025 By Paul Paterra 4 min read

A prospective buyer apparently has been secured for the recently closed World Kitchen plant in Charleroi, and that company is pledging to invest in refurbishing the facility and restoring many of the jobs that were lost.

Sources close to the transaction said plant owner Anchor Hocking struck a deal to sell the plant to an entity whose identity is being withheld for now, but the source said the company is involved in “industrial grade glass.”

The new buyer plans to invest about $25 million to refurbish the 132-year-old plant and restore more than 250 jobs, the source said.

“It won’t be an exact one for one because the glass is slightly different, but most of the jobs that were lost will be back in full,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The hope is for the deal to be finalized by the end of September and the plant operational within the next six months.

The prospective buyer has had environmental inspectors at the site recently, which has piqued the interest of borough officials and residents.

Charleroi Councilman Larry Celaschi, who has ties to the plant that once employed his grandfather, was elated by the news Thursday.

“I’ve got a big smile on my face,” Celaschi said. “I’m 65, and I’ve never attempted a back flip, but I’m so happy that I can go in my front street and try. I still think about the work force and what happened and the emotions tied into them losing their jobs. I’m never going to lose that. If any one of them can get rehired, that’s a blessing. This is a cool day for Charleroi.”

State Sen. Camera Bartolotta said she had heard rumors but was not aware of any confirmed sale and was hesitant to get the community’s hopes up.

“These people have been through hell in that town,” she said Thursday afternoon. “I would love for that to happen. We need it. I’ve heard things before and things have fallen through. Let’s be cautiously optimistic, and I will do everything in my power to make sure we pave the way so whoever wants to be in that plant will be able to do it quickly and be able to put people back to work. That’s the goal that we all have.”

When contacted Thursday, Daniele Byrne, vice president of United Steelworkers 53G, which represented workers at the Corelle Brands plant, was not aware of any potential sale but did say she would “absolutely” return to work at the plant.

Byrne and her husband worked at the plant for at least 35 years.

The last Pyrex products at the World Kitchen plant were produced April 10, a day marked with the final blow of the plant’s lunch whistle, sounded for 132 seconds to mark 132 years in operation in the Mon Valley. An American flag flown on the pole at the Eighth Street entrance was taken down and replaced with a flag commemorating those 132 years.

A total of 270 employees were impacted by the closure.

The borough and plant employees fought to keep the plant open from the time the announcement was made in September 2024 that operations would be moving to an Anchor Hocking plant in Lancaster, Ohio. The closure was delayed three times for various reasons.

The plant opened in 1893 as MacBeth-Evans Co. Ownership has changed hands numerous times in its history. New York-based Centre Lane Partners was the owner of the plant at the time of its closure, following its acquisition of the appliances division of Instant Brands. Anchor Hocking is a company under the Centre Lane umbrella.