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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; With this week&rsquo;s announcement that Colorado-based Ball Corp. has chosen to bring 230 good paying jobs to the region, John Augustine, president/CEO of Penn&rsquo;s Northeast, said Northeastern Pennsylvania is open for business in the manufacturing industry.
				&ldquo;This project is exactly how a regional partnership should work.&rdquo; Augustine said. &ldquo;The support and collaboration between Penn&rsquo;s Northeast, our partners and community officials to assist in bringing Ball to our region was exceptional, and it shows exactly how it&rsquo;s done.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;In addition, these will be some of the highest paying jobs we have ever announced in 20 years for the county,&rdquo; Augustine added. &ldquo;The wages are fantastic, and this is one of the best projects we&rsquo;ve ever been a part of &mdash; especially on a former manufacturing site (Techneglass) that was torn down and many people lost their jobs. Now we have a great new opportunity to put people to work with good paying jobs.&rdquo;.
				Scott McCarty, a Ball Corporation spokesperson, said Ball looked at a number of possible sites for its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
				&ldquo;We chose Pittston in large part for its geographic and transportation advantages and the warm welcome we received from local, county and state officials,&rdquo; McCarty said. &ldquo;We look forward to being part of the Pittston and Northeastern PA community and thank everyone in Pittston, Luzerne County and the state of Pennsylvania who worked so hard on making this project a reality.&rdquo;
				McCarty said Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) supplies innovative, sustainable aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 18,300 people worldwide and reported 2019 net sales of $11.5 billion.
				Augustine said Ball Corp. will create more than 230 new, great-paying, full-time jobs in Northeastern Pennsylvania at its new aluminum beverage packaging plant at the Interstate Distribution Center located in Jenkins Township.
				The site is the former Techneglass facility that went out of business and was torn down.
				&ldquo;A new facility was constructed recently, and we are thrilled that an amazing company has decided to locate there,&rdquo; Augustine said.
				Ball Corporation plans to acquire the 1,078,799-square-foot industrial building and retrofit the facility to create a multi-line sustainable aluminum beverage packaging manufacturing operation.
				The project will generate more than $16 million in new employment payroll for Northeastern Pennsylvania and has pledged to invest approximately $360 million into the project over multiple years. Production is set to begin in mid-2021.
				County pleased
				Luzerne County Manager David Pedri said he was thrilled to hear the news about Ball Corp. coming to the county.
				&ldquo;National and international corporations are now seeing what we have always known here in Northeastern Pennsylvania &mdash; that we have a dedicated and hard working workforce who are ready to take their companies to the next level,&rdquo; Pedri said.
				Rachel Hawk, marketing director for Penn&rsquo;s Northeast, agreed, adding, &ldquo;Northeastern Pennsylvania&rsquo;s great labor force, work ethic, location and proximity to major cities, make this a solid business choice for Ball Corporation. We wish them all the best and look forward to their creating hundreds of new quality jobs for the region.&rdquo;
				Hawk and Augustine thanked everyone who partnered with Penn&rsquo;s Northeast to help bring this project to the region &mdash; Pittston Area School Board; Pittston Area Superintendent Kevin Booth; Jenkins Township supervisors; Rep. Mike Carroll; Sen. John Yudichak; Pedri and Luzerne County Council; PA-DCED & GAT, including Robert Watts and Brent Vernon. 
				Previously known as OI-NEG and Owens-Illinois, Techneglas was built in 1968 off Route 315 to manufacture television face plates, the thick glass coverings on picture tube televisions. In its heyday in the mid to late 1990s, more than 2,500 people were employed there. It closed in 2004 and was transformed into a warehouse, distribution and manufacturing center.
				Bala Cynwyd-based IDC Property LP purchased the Techneglas property from Pittston Industrial LLC for $5.2 million in January 2013, and the site at 140 Industrial Drive was renamed the Interstate Distribution Center, county property records show.
				The original structure and its 170-foot-high silos were demolished in 2014 and 2015 to make way for new development.
				For more information about job opportunities at the Jenkins Township plant or at other Ball locations, visit Ball&rsquo;s careers site, <a href="https://jobs.ball.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://jobs.ball.com/</a>.
				State support
				On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf praised the project, which was coordinated by the Governor&rsquo;s Action Team, a group of economic development professionals who report directly to the governor and work with businesses that are considering locating or expanding in Pennsylvania.
				&ldquo;Ball Corporation has a longstanding presence in the international marketplace, and Pennsylvania is pleased with the company&rsquo;s commitment to expand its manufacturing facilities in the northeast,&rdquo; Wolf said. &ldquo;This project will inject much-needed revenue into the region, create new, high-paying jobs, and provide a lasting impact on the surrounding community.&rdquo;
				Ball received a proposal from the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for up to $2 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Project (RACP) funding to be distributed upon the creation of the new jobs, $400,000 in funding for workforce development training, and may be eligible for the Manufacturing Tax Credit Program and a Qualified Manufacturing Deduction.

Ball Corp. deal: ‘How a regional partnership should work’