Distribution Center

Now that it's done, it seems like a simple, sensible idea - send sewage flow that would ordinarily go to an overburdened treatment plant to one with excess capacity. But even though this good idea was accompanied by some grant assistance from the State of Maryland, it took more time than most expected for the Hagerstown and Washington County governments to agree. We hope that Tuesday's dedication will be the first step toward a future in which the first thought of every local elected official is: How will what we're planning benefit every county resident?

WILLIAMSPORT - Rust-Oleum Corp., which makes rust preventive paints and coatings, is leasing more warehouse space near Williamsport. Rust-Oleum has signed a lease with BPG Properties Ltd. for 100,000 square feet at Interstate Industrial Park, according to a Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission press release last week. BPG Properties, the real estate investment manager for Berwind Property Group, acquired the building in January 2005, according to the release.

A RadioShack store in Washington County will be one of the nearly 500 stores to feel the brunt of the electronic retailer's latest financial turmoil. The store on Tandy Drive, off Western Maryland Parkway, is expected to close by the end of the summer, RadioShack officials have announced. A total of 480 stores will close by Aug. 1, said Jessica Study, a company spokeswoman. Eight other stores in the Tri-State area, including two Hagerstown stores, will remain open, Study said.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - American Fibertech Corp., doing business as Industrial Pallet Corp., and the Franklin County Area Development Corp. will renovate a building on Carlisle Street in an expansion project that will bring in 51 jobs over the next three years, according to state Sen. Terry Punt, R-Waynesboro. Punt secured a $466,000 loan from the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority to be used toward the project, the total cost of which is pegged at more than $1.5 million, according to a news release from Punt's office.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com GREENCASTLE, Pa. - The building housing the World Kitchen Inc. distribution center in Antrim Township has changed hands, but an official with the company said Tuesday that the center and its 350 jobs are staying put. WKI Holding Co. Inc. of Reston, Va., sold the 1 million-square-foot building and 134 acres of land to Matrix Antrim Partners LP of Cranbury, N.J., for $21.7 million on Sept. 7, according to a deed filed with the Franklin County Register and Recorder's Office.

daniels@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - As many as 150 workers could be employed at the former Lowe's distribution center at 914 S. Burhans Blvd. in Hagerstown by early 2006 as Texas-based Builders FirstSource ramps up production of its residential building product lines at the site, a company official said Thursday. Douglas Schweinhart, president of the company's Atlantic Group division in Frederick, Md., said a crew of about 30 workers began manufacturing wall panels at the site about two months ago, but the company delayed the announcement because of a pending public stock offering.

The Brown-Forman Corp., based in Louisville, Ky., will sell substantially all of its Lenox, Inc. holdings, including its distribution center at 16507 Hunters Green Parkway in Hagerstown, to Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Department 56 for $190 million, the company said in a press release issued Thursday. Pending federal approval, the sale is expected to be concluded in six to eight weeks. In February, the company announced it was exploring several options for its Lenox holdings due to flagging sales in the industry.

WILLIAMSPORT - A Philadelphia-based real estate investment group has bought the former Lenox distribution center, said Art Pasquarella, chief operating officer with BPG Properties Ltd. BPG Properties is looking for a tenant or tenants for the 167,780-square-foot building, Pasquarella said. Industrial Lane Investors LLC, c/o Berwind Property Group, bought the 16604 Industrial Lane building for $5 million on Feb. 7, according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation Web site.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Variform, a company that produces vinyl siding, plans to move its Williamsport distribution center to the old Corning/World Kitchen plant in Martinsburg, a few miles from its existing production plant, a Variform official said. A press release issued Wednesday from Gov. Joe Manchin's office said 50 jobs will be created as a result of the expansion. Jeff Kratzer, manager of Variform's existing Martinsburg plant, declined to say whether the jobs held by Williamsport workers will be moved, or whether the expansion involves creating new jobs.

julieg@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Business has been going so well for The Home Depot's Your "other" Warehouse, that the company created more jobs than initially announced, company and economic development officials said Tuesday. The plumbing distributor employs more than 350 people at the distribution center in Hunter's Green Business Center, Your "other" Warehouse President Tom Bromley said in a telephone interview from his Baton Rouge, La., office. The hiring might not be done yet, Bromley said.