WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — An aluminum plant in Lycoming County is set to reopen in October under new ownership.
JW Aluminum in Williamsport closed its doors in January. Now the 274,000 square-foot, fully equipped warehouse and factory on Trenton Avenue has been bought by an Orlando-based company known as AA Metals. The Williamsport factory will soon be home to Chance Aluminum.
"I expect to continue the products that JW Aluminum produces before, and we are going to add more products to fully utilize the productivity of the machinery," said Dr. Jack Cheng, owner of AA Metals.
This is Cheng's first and only aluminum manufacturing plant in the United States. His company produces aluminum coils that are used for building and construction.
Cheng says he is excited about what Williamsport has to offer.
"When I come to Williamsport, this is my third time, every time I come here I like Williamsport more than before. So I think this is a really good facility to expand on," said Cheng.
"We are really excited to be able to work with them. Just the vision that they've got to see this facility repurposed and reused and see a lot of growth," said Jason Fink, head of the Williamsport Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.
Cheng says he is looking into bringing back many of the employees that worked for JW Aluminum. The goal is to create 100 new jobs over the next 12 months.
Cheng met with Fink to talk about bringing work opportunities to the area.
"My goal is to not just produce aluminum foils, but we can bring a lot of jobs to the Williamsport area and we can generate more revenue and provide more of a positive impact to the local community," Cheng said.
"This is the type of employer that we want to see coming into our market, somebody who pays very strong competitive wages and great benefits package," Fink added.
Officials with Chance Aluminum say that they hope to have the plant up and running by October.