monday, january 31, 2011epaper.indianagazette.com/docs/sections/110131.business... · 2011. 3....

Local manufacturing sector remains strong.

Monday, January 31, 2011

The Indiana County Chamber ofCommerce will celebrate its 100thanniversary next year.

This will be possible due to the hardwork, commitment, persistence andresults of those before us and thoseworking in our business communitytoday. Our peopleand work ethic arethe key to our manysuccesses.

The annual mem-bership luncheonlast month hostednearly 400 businessguests to hear aboutone of our county’smost promisingbusiness opportuni-ties — the Marcellusshale industry.

Tom Kiral also an-nounced the real-ization of the Windy Ridge Project —the culmination of several years ofwork and the birth of our next indus-trial business park.

The chamber ended 2010 on a highnote, and catapulted us into 2011. Weare definitely off to a solid and grow-ing start for the new business year.

For the last couple of years, youmay have noticed that they need toadd another page to our annual re-port to include all of our accomplish-ments.

I encourage you to make time toread the many success storiesthroughout our county. The list is im-pressive.

Non-Indiana natives offer an ap-preciation about the many benefitsthat Indiana County has to offer itsvisitors and residents.

This year will be an exciting year forboth the Kovalchick complex and theairport project. Route 422 is going totake more time. In 2011, we will learnmore about Marcellus shale and re-lated business opportunities.

In March, our community will rec-ognize a few of our outstanding busi-ness and community leaders at theLeader’s Circle 2011 event.

The chamber board will reach outto our members through our ContactVisitation program.

We will institute our chamber am-bassadors program to utilize retiredbusiness executives to volunteer toprovide services to our chambermembers. The chamber board will be

Monday, January 31, 2011

2 — Business Indiana, Monday, January 31, 2011

On the coverLEFT: Edwin Freeman ran a loom that makes net fencing at Kencove Farm Fence Suppliesnear Blairsville.

LEFT CENTER: Brian Martin is the lead painterat H&W Global Industries in White Township.

RIGHT CENTER: Pam Green welded a shieldthat will be fitted onto a Halliburton pickuptruck at Elkin Hi-Tech in White Township.

RIGHT: Diana Smith is among those atParagon Development near Heilwood whomanufacture cushioned insoles.

Photos by Gazette photographers Tom Peel and Jamie Empfield.

DOMINICPACCAPANICCIA

Inside 2011 off to

fast start

COVER STORIES■ The local manufacturing sector, like virtually everything else, took a hit withthe economic downturn. But economicleaders say the industry is showingstrong signs of recovery and evengrowth.

■ A look at the function of the IndianaCounty Manufacturing Consortium.Page 4

MORE ON MANUFACTURING■ Paragon Development stays a stepahead with new green insoles.Page 5

■ Electro-Mec flourishes under IPS.Page 6

■ Kencove Farm Fencing posts record sales.Page 8

County built on manufacturingBy RANDY WELLS

[email protected]

T he 1950s could be regarded as the goldenage of manufacturing in Indiana County.The decade saw a rapid expansion of

manufacturing activity in the county, withSeasonall Industries, Campus Sportswear,Robertshaw Controls and Fisher ScientificCompany among the major manufacturingemployers setting up shop in the county.

While the face of the manufacturing indus-try has changed and employment levels aredown from what they once were, economicdevelopment leaders say manufacturing isalive and well in Indiana County, and somefirms are attracting customers around theworld.

Estimates vary on how many manufactur-ing firms are in business in the county.

Dana Henry, president of the Indiana Coun-

ty Chamber of Commerce, has a list of 40-plusfirms in the county that he regards as manu-facturers.

The Pennsylvania Manufacturers Registerlists more than 60 companies that could beconsidered manufacturers.

And Mike Rempel, president of the IndianaCounty Manufacturing Consortium, a groupthat promotes local manufacturers individu-

ally and collectively, said that if using a moretraditional definition of manufacturer, thenumber may be closer 35.

Typically, Henry said, for a company to beconsidered a manufacturer, the firm must cre-ate or improve something.

Manufacturing in Indiana County today isclustered in smaller companies than it was afew decades ago, and Rempel estimates that2,800 people are now employed in manufac-turing in the county.

The county’s best-known manufacturers ofseveral decades ago, such as Fisher Scientificand Seasonall, were good for the county,Henry said.

“But they were corporate. They were guidedfrom a distance,” he said. “And the decision forthem to leave was made in a tower some-where.”

By contrast, Henry regards many of today’s

“THERE’S A confidence out there thatthe economy is stabilizing. Whenconsumers are more confident, theybuy things. Usually, that meansthings have to be made.”

Mike Rempel,president, ICMC

Continued on Page 3 Continued on Page 19

■ Reliant Holdings offers clients a way to improve their credit.Page 10

■ Piano Shop owner keeps baby grandsin tune.Page 11

■ Area nurseries say the sales ofChristmas trees held their own in 2010.Page 12

■ Chemical & Industrial Supply knowshow to clean up.Page 14

■ An upturn in stays at area hotels hasbeen a boon to the county’s touristbureau.Page 17

■ Who are our economic developmentleaders?Page 19

■ Deposits held at Indiana County bankshave more than doubled in the last 15 years.Page 22

■ The vision for the HighPointe officecomplex is close to being fulfilled.Page 24

■ Indiana County’s top 10 employers.Page 26

■ Owner GregFrailey has operated theSandwich Housein Elderton for25 years.Page 9

Business Indiana, Monday, January 31, 2011 — 3

manufacturing companies in Indiana Coun-ty as homegrown and locally managed.

“They’re here for the long haul,” he said. Rempel sees a manufacturing resurgence

happening in Indiana County.“It’s climbing back up. I can see it in our

own company,” said Rempel, who is also thevice president of administration at GorellWindows & Doors in White Township. Hiscompany benefited from last year’s federaltax credit to homeowners who made im-provements to boost the energy efficiency oftheir homes, and from aggressive sales ef-forts.

Rempel said more local manufacturingbusinesses are recalling workers and someare working some overtime.

“There’s a confidence out there that theeconomy is stabilizing,” he said. “When con-sumers are more confident, they buy things.Usually, that means things have to be made.”

Generally speaking, Rempel said, newmanufacturers have learned it’s difficult to

compete in commodities. They usually haveto specialize or gain an edge by offering bet-ter customer service or special skills. A goodexample is H&W Global, an industrial coat-ing services company in White Townshipthat in 2009 received AS9100 certification.AS9100 is a standardized quality manage-ment system for the aerospace industry, andmajor aerospace manufacturers and suppli-ers worldwide require compliance with orregistration to AS9100 as a condition of doingbusiness with them.

Many county residents may be unaware ofthe numerous products manufactured in In-diana County that are used in important ap-plications around the globe.

Some examples:■ Hose clamps manufactured by Breeze

Industrial Products in Tunnelton help holdtogether Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Boe-ing aircraft, Whirlpool dryers, Honda ATVsand personal watercraft, and John Deereconstruction equipment.

■ Every Penn State football team since the

1994 undefeated team has worn Ener-Gel In-soles, manufactured by Paragon Develop-ment, near Heilwood. The Denver Broncoswon two Super Bowls while wearing Ener-Gel Insoles.

■ Electro-Mec, an 83-year-old companywith 137 employees in White Township, builta 770-hp electric motor that propelled theFord Fusion Hydrogen 999 fuel cell car in2007 to a record speed of 207 mph. The carwas built to demonstrate the potential of fuelcell technology and the commercial viabilityof hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

■ Quintech Electronics and Communica-tions, a White Township-based manufacturerof radio frequency signal management andmatrix switching equipment for the broad-casting and communications industry, doesbusiness globally. And Quintech’s LTE 3000helps telephone companies test Long TermEvolution signals for 4G (fourth generation)cellular wireless standards.

■ Gorell Windows & Doors was recognized

County built on manufacturingContinued from Page 2

TOM PEEL/Gazette

SCOTT DUNCAN, left, and Josh Neeseworked recently on the underside of a trailerat Elkin Hi-Tech.Continued on Page 4

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Built on manufacturingBy RANDY WELLS

[email protected]

For the past decade, representa-tives from manufacturing compa-nies in Indiana County have beenmeeting once a month as membersof the Indiana County Manufactur-ing Consortium.

Mike Rempel, the group’s presi-dent, said the 19 members get to-gether for three main reasons.

The first is networking. Themonthly sessions give the mem-bers an opportunity to share news,tips, ideas and business.

A second reason for the consor-tium’s existence is to obtain grantfunding to promote manufacturingin the county and region. The Indi-ana County group is part of thelarger Tri-County Consortia ofmanufacturers in Indiana, Butlerand Armstrong counties. The Tri-County Consortia promotes andencourages each county’s manu-facturing consortium and helpsobtain state funding for trainingand education in the work force.

The third important function,Rempel said, is to promote workforce development to ensure thereare adequate skilled employees formanufacturing in years to come.

When many of today’s manufac-turing workers were young, they re-paired things themselves and builtmore things with their hands, Rem-pel said.

“We drove so many people to-ward college, (and now) there arefewer people going into the trades,”and today’s manufacturing workforce is aging, he said. “We need toreplenish it with young workers.”

So one of the consortium’s tasksis to educate youths about careeropportunities in manufacturingand encourage them to developand hone manufacturing skills.

Members of the consortium are:■ Ardiem Medical■ Breeze Industrial Products■ Cleveland Brothers Equipment■ Clark Metal Products■ Elkin Hi-Tech■ Gazette Printers■ Gorell Windows & Doors ■ H&W Global■ HMS Industries Inc.■ Homer City Automation■ Indiana Tool & Die■ J.J. Kennedy Inc.■ MGK Technologies■ Penn Machine Company■ Quintech Electronics■ Randall Industries■ Schroth Industries ■ Synergy Contracting Services■ Twin Pines Manufacturing

in 2010 by the U.S. Environmental Protec-tion Agency and the U.S. Department ofEnergy as the winner of the prestigiousEnergy Star Partner of the Year Award for aseventh straight year. Gorell is the onlycompany in the nation to be so honored inseven consecutive years. The companywon for its continued leadership in pro-tecting the environment through manu-facturing highly energy-efficient windowsand doors.

When asked what makes Indiana Coun-ty a good place for manufacturing, Rempelhad a ready answer: “The work force.That’s why people start companies here,”he said.

He was equally quick in identifying whatwould make the county even better formanufacturing: More transportation im-provements, particularly in the county’shighway system. Improvements to Route22 are helping, he said.

Even though Indiana County over thedecades lost several major manufacturers,other companies, in several instances,came in as replacements.

“I think we have a core group (of man-ufacturers) that is highly committed tothe industry,” said Byron Stauffer, execu-tive director of the Indiana County Of-fice of Planning and Development.“We’re going to hold our own and keepgrowing it.”

Of all the types of businesses that couldpotentially move into an area, manufac-turing is most preferable, Stauffer said, be-cause manufacturers generally pay higherfamily-sustaining wages and cause moreof a multiplier effect in “churning dollars”inside a local economy.

“We’re hopeful that manufacturing isone of the activities that happen out atWindy Ridge,” the county’s new businesspark being developed along Route 286east of Indiana, he said.

Continued from Page 3

Consortiumpools talent

JAMIE EMPFIELD/Gazette

LINE OPERATOR Brian Redd applied a conversion coating on aluminum as a pretreatment for painting at H&W Global.

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HEILWOOD — For more than 20years, Paragon DevelopmentCorp. has been softening thestanding, walking and running ofworkers, athletes and soldiers withits Ener-Gel Cushion Maxx in-soles.

Ron Gresko, Paragon’s directorof sales, said the company’s mar-keting strategy has been a simpleone.

“We send samples and say,‘Here, try these,’” he said. “If wecan get somebody to slip theminto their boots or shoes, we havea good chance” of adding them asa customer or retailer.

The marketing plan has worked.Some NFL teams and collegiatefootball and basketball teamshave made the Ener-Gel insolesstandard equipment for theirplayers. They’re popular withmany workers on factory floors.And supplies of the insoles havealso been sent to American troopsin Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a bit of fortunate timing,Paragon Development introduceda new product — the Ener-GelGreen Earth Insole — just as Wal-mart was placing an emphasis onmarketing “green,” environment-friendly products.

The Ener-Gel Green Earth Insoleis made with American-grownsoybeans that replace up to 40percent of the petroleum used inthe production of polyurethane.The result, according to the com-pany, is a new soy comfort foamthat is 10 percent lighter and gives25 percent more cushioning thanthe Cushion Maxx. The new Ener-Gel Green Earth Insole is friendlierto the environment and friendlierto human feet.

“In our opinion, it’s a betterproduct,” Gresko said.

Adding to the company’s greenendeavor is the fact that the newinsoles’ packaging is made withrecyclable paper and 60 percentless plastic and is printed withvegetable-based ink.

About 1,500 Walmart stores, in-cluding the one in White Town-ship, added the insoles to their in-ventory last fall. Sales have been“slow but steady,” Gresko said, andthe company hopes a couple moremajor retailers will soon beginselling the new and improved in-soles. The insoles are also avail-able at some smaller retail outlets.

As an added feature, the new in-soles are less expensive than theirpredecessors. Gresko said theCushion Maxx insoles (which arestill available online from thecompany and in a few Walmarts)are priced at $8.67. Walmart ismarketing the new Green Earthinsoles at $7.97.

At peak production times, about3,000 pairs of Ener-Gel GreenEarth Insoles are manufacturedweekly in Paragon Development’sbig green building along Route403 near Heilwood.

The manufacturing facility isnear the home of Gresko and hiswife, Gwen, who is the companyowner.

When they started the company,the Greskos chose the nameParagon (“model of excellence”)because it was their dream to de-velop products to help people.

The packaging of the Ener-GelGreen Earth Insoles proudly wearsthe “Made in America” label, andthat’s significant to the companyowners. Ron Gresko said he andhis wife have had offers to havetheir insoles manufactured inMexico or Vietnam, but they’vedeclined.

“(America) has lost so manymanufacturing jobs,” Gresko said.“It’s very important to us … to doour part to keep it here” to helpthe American economy.


Paragon Development keepsstep ahead with ‘green’ insoles

TOM PEEL/Gazette

JENNIFER PALOVICH, left, and Diana Smith packaged insoles recently atParagon Development in Heilwood.

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CENTER TOWNSHIP — Therehas been much continuity withthe change that came in 2008when longtime family-ownedElectro-Mec Inc. in Center Town-ship was bought by a South Car-olina-based power services com-pany.

Begun in 1927 in Punxsutawneyas Electric Motor Repair, Electro-Mec was in the hands of theGrube family for three genera-tions before its owners sold thecompany to Integrated PowerServices, of Greenville, S.C.

Though ownership changed,

the Indiana company is still man-aged by members of the Grubefamily, who oversaw operationsbefore the sale took place.

“The three (Grube) sons thatoperated and ran it are continu-ing to operate and manage Elec-tro-Mec,” said John Covington,senior vice president of market-ing for IPS. In fact, their influencehas grown, Covington added, be-cause Electro-Mec is now theleader of IPS’ Northeast region,which includes service centers inPhiladelphia and Washington, Pa.

“All decisions pertaining to thatregion are driven out of the Elec-tro-Mec service facility,” Coving-ton said.

The three in charge are JohnGrube, who is senior vice presi-dent of IPS’s Northeast region;Gary Grube, operations managerof Electro-Mec; and Dave Grube,general manager with responsi-bilities related to engineering andtechnology at the local business.

Electro-Mec is one of severalnew service centers that IPS haspurchased in recent years. IPS, aleading independent provider ofpower services, now owns 16 cen-ters around the United States.These service centers offer serv-ice and repair of electric motors,generators and mechanicalpower transmission parts.

According to the IPS website,other service centers are as faraway as Minnesota, Texas, Col-orado and Oregon. Companiesserved are in the metals, petro-chemical, mining, paper and ag-gregate/cement industries.

Several years ago, when IPS offi-cials wanted to expand and beganexploring purchase of Electro-Mec, they very much liked whatthey saw.

“We weren’t looking to buy afixer-upper,” Covington said in arecent telephone interview. “Elec-tro-Mec is a strong company, withstrong management. You look atthe capabilities that Electro-Mecbrings in Pennsylvania, West Vir-ginia, Maryland and parts of NewYork. They brought a deep under-standing of the undergroundmining, metals and power gener-ator industries.”

John Grube said that, in turn,his family recognized IPS’ expert-ise in the power industry. That iswhy, as the family reviewedprospective buyers, they decidedto sell to the South Carolina com-pany. “There was a synergy, anunderstanding of our businesswith them.”

Electro-Mec had other advan-tages to offer IPS, Covington said.Over the years, the company hadacquired specialized equipment— Computer Numerical Ma-chines — that allowed employeesto manufacture for clients preci-sion motor parts such as shaftsand bearing sleeves with a quickturnaround.

And Electro-Mec had a ware-house of new replacement mo-tors they sold to customers — aservice that IPS had not been ableto offer before its purchase of theplant. Covington said Electro-


Electro-Mec flourishesunder ownership of IPS

Submitted photo

DAVE TURK used a NEMA stator rewound at IPS Electro-Mec in Indiana.

Continued on Page 7

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Mec has long had a wide stockand is able to sell industrialclients replacement motors up to80,000 horsepower.

“It is all about serving the cus-tomer fast, with as high as qualityas possible,” Covington said.

According to Covington, therehas been little if any changes tothe management structure atElectro-Mec since IPS’ acquisi-tion. A building addition com-pleted shortly after the ownershipchange added approximately20,000 square feet to the plant,which now is 86,000 square feet.

Covington said that while Elec-tro-Mec’s acquisition gave defi-nite advantages to IPS, he be-lieves Electro-Mec has reaped re-wards for itself. Because of itslarger scope, IPS offered ad-

vanced technological resourcesthat Electro-Mec incorporatedinto its operations.

But more importantly, Electro-Mec now does business with theother 15 service centers under theIPS umbrella — business that itdid not have before the sale threeyears ago. For example, there isthe increased sales of Electro-Mec’s replacement motors tonearby IPS service centers.

“They are supporting Philadel-phia, Pittsburgh (center in Wash-ington, Pa.,) Cleveland,” Coving-ton said. “Electro-Mec, by beingthe leader of the Northeast re-gion, is trying to grow not only itsown facility but also its sisters inPhiladelphia and Pittsburgh.”

Both Covington and John Grubesaid that Electro-Mec’s new tieswith IPS’ other service centers

helped sustain business over thepast year or two, as the sour econ-omy hurt Electro-Mec’s sales withits more traditional clients in themetals and mining industries.

Grube said when Electro-Mecwas sold, 136 employees workedat his plant. With the economicdowntown in 2009 and part of2010, 10 workers lost their jobs.But Grube said conditions are im-proving again.

“The workforce is back to whereit was in 2008.”

Grube said there are no majorchanges planned for Electro-Mec’s future. There is just an ex-pectation of steady growth in itsrepair business and the sales ofreplacement motors.

“We are definitely expandingour geography and our marketshare,” Grube said.

Submitted photo

KEN HOWELL helped manufacture a motor shaft at the company’s plant inCenter Township.


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BLAIRSVILLE — In 1980, dairyfarmer Charles Kendall was search-ing for high-tensile fencing he hadbought previously and had goodsuccess with. But it was hard tocome by.

When he did find a supplier, hebought an entire truckload of thespecial high-tensile wire with aplan: He’d use what he needed andsell the rest.

That was the beginning of Ken-cove Farm Fence Supplies.

Today, the Burrell Township com-pany — named after the prefixKendall used for his Holstein herd— has everything needed to buildan agricultural fence, whether it’sto keep beef cattle inside a pastureor to keep pesky raccoons out of abackyard patch of sweet corn.

The company’s 55-page cataloglists wire, plastic-coated wire,woven wire, connectors, tighten-ers, insulators, electric fence ener-gizers, posts, gates, tools and more.

Kendall said his company origi-nally was oriented toward dairyfarmers, but it now stocks fencingfor all livestock.

A specialty fencing company likeKencove fills a niche because “thereare a lot of options” when it comes

to fencing, Kendall said. Dairy cat-tle, for example, don’t need as se-cure a fence as beef cattle. Horsesrequire a different enclosure thangoats.

“One person may need to keepdeer in, and another may need tokeep deer out,” said John Mc-Connell, general manager.

“We’re aware of the options avail-able,” Kendall said, and Kencove’sspecialists make suggestions aboutthe 1,100 products in stock that canbest fit a customer’s needs.

A significant portion of the busi-ness is with fence contractors whospecialize in fences for farmers.

“We own tooling, buy materials

and make it into finished prod-ucts,” McConnell said. A good ex-ample is electrified netting. It wasdeveloped in England, and Ken-cove purchased the factory thereand moved the looms to theBlairsville facility.

“It’s very nearly predator-proof”and ideal for protecting sheep,goats and pasture poultry, Mc-Connell said.

Customers can walk into theBlairsville store and buy what theyneed, or order by phone from thecompany’s catalog or by e-mailfrom the company’s website. Web-site sales are the fastest-growingsegment of the business, up 61 per-cent in the past two years.

“Each year we set a (website) goaland usually exceed it in October,”McConnell said.

Kencove’s website had more than

2 million page views and morethan 400,000 unique visits last year.

Products are shipped by com-mercial ground carrier and largeorders are shipped by contracttrucks. McConnell said the compa-ny sends out more than 200 trailertruck loads of products annually.Last year, the company shippedmore than 70 million feet of wire,enough to stretch from Pennsylva-nia to California and back fourtimes. Also last year, the companyshipped more than 5.1 millionmetal crimp sleeves, a little wireconnector that was one of the firstproducts offered by the company.

Kencove imports materials andexports finished fencing productsto 17 countries.

The firm has 35 employees at itsBlairsville location and at a distri-bution center in Earl Park, Ind.


Kencove posts record sales with farm fencing

By the numbers70 million: Feet of wire sold

in 20105.1 million: Number of crimp

sleeves shipped last year17: Number of countries

Kencove does business with61 percent: Growth rate for

Kencove’s website sales since2009

TOM PEEL/Gazette

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[email protected]

ELDERTON — For some, keeping a smallbusiness open in a small town can be chal-lenging, but for the Sandwich House, in El-derton, business has remained strong for thepast 25 years.

Greg Frailey, owner of the Sandwich House,said the secret to staying in business is “offer-ing good food at a good price in a comfort-able atmosphere.”

December marked 25 years for the restau-rant, and celebration plans are being madefor the spring.

Built more than 150 years ago, the buildingholds a lot of history, having once been afarmhouse, a dress shop and a dentist’s of-fice. Now the building is home to a restau-rant that serves customers in a “homey” at-mosphere and is decorated with many an-tiques that customers enjoy looking at, hesaid.

The house was updated through the years,with major renovations made in 1999. How-ever, he said the original woodwork is still in-tact.

Before Frailey took over the business in1991, his sister-in-law’s family owned and

operated it. But the restaurant has been partof his daily routine since his teenage years.He worked there evenings and weekendsthrough high school.

Even though Frailey has been working atthe Sandwich House for quite some time,

Frailey said each day is a new day for himand his five employees.

He said the restaurant sees many regularswho stop by often.

“My favorite part of the day is just talking topeople — a lot of customers become like asecond family, like the regular customers,”he said.

Popular items on the menu are hoagiesand many different homemade desserts andhomemade soups, made fresh every day.

“We try to have different soups each day,”Frailey said. “For someone looking for some-thing on the lighter side, they could chooseto order the soup instead of a full meal.”

Frailey described his business as havingmany options, and a great place for birth-days, anniversaries, retirement dinners andclub meetings.

“It is more than just a sandwich house,” hesaid. “We are going to keep on doing whatwe’re doing — offering good food, and keepon plugging away.”

THE present-day Sandwich House, left, and a photo of the building from the early 1900s.

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According to Bob Kane, founderand owner of Reliant Holdings, inWhite Township, the potentialclient base for his company is prac-tically unlimited.

Reliant Holdings provides prod-ucts and services to people who areunable to secure credit linesthrough banks or other traditionalsources. And, Kane said, the num-ber of people in America with nocredit or poor credit ratings is “inthe tens of millions.”

“It’s difficult to function in societywithout a credit card,” Kane said.“And it’s very expensive to have badcredit.”

A poor credit rating or lack ofcredit can, among other things, putmajor purchases out of reach,

block access to a home mortgageor raise health insurance costs.

A main cause of credit problemsfrequently is that people overex-tend themselves and borrow morethan they can repay. The situationcan develop suddenly through cir-cumstances beyond a consumer’scontrol, such as loss of employ-ment.

Kane said others experiencingdifficulty in getting credit may havepreviously had credit but didn’tmanage it properly, or they may beself-employed.

“We like to think we’re giving ourcustomers a vehicle to begin re-building credit,” he said.

From its headquarters along War-ren Road, Reliant Holdings issuesits own private-label credit card —the Horizon Gold Card — to thecompany’s clients.

“We have very relaxed credit un-derwriting guidelines” that consistbasically of verifying a client’s ageand Social Security number, Kanesaid. Credit lines are low forstarters, usually $100 to $500.

The Horizon Gold Card that is is-sued to Reliant Holdings clientscan be used to purchase merchan-dise from The Horizon Outlet, anonline store offering about 5,500items including household goods,basic electronics, clothing, shoes,jewelry and more.

“It’s a well-rounded selection” ofmerchandise that changes daily,Kane said.

There’s no interest charge on theHorizon Gold Card. Kane said plac-ing interest charges on peoplestruggling to establish or repairtheir credit standing would becounter to his business philosophy.

“We make our money throughthe sales of merchandise,” he said.“We do not do telemarketing.”Sales are strictly via the Internet.

“We market nationally,” Kanesaid. Reliant Holdings has cus-tomers in all 50 states and mayeventually have internationalclients.

Merchandise is first sent from awarehouse to the Warren Road fa-cility, and then shipped to cus-tomers by commercial ground car-rier.

With proper management oftheir credit card, clients can againmake credit purchases.

“We report that credit line to thecredit bureaus … and the otherbanks will pick up on the positiveactivity in their credit file,” Kanesaid.

In that way, Reliant Holdings andthe Horizon Gold Card help peoplewith no credit or damaged creditbegin to establish or re-establish agood credit rating.

Cardholders are charged amonthly fee ranging from $6.95 to$24.95. The fee entitles them to aselection of services, including un-limited access to their credit report;electronic monitoring of their ac-count as a safety measure; anemergency roadside assistanceplan; legal assistance; and a med-ical prescription savings plan.

“Our business is heavily regulat-ed,” Kane said, and the companymust comply with the federal CAN-SPAM Act that regulates the send-ing of e-mail marketing messages.

The number of current HorizonGold Card holders is proprietaryinformation, according to Kane,but the company’s business isgrowing, he said.

Reliant Holdings has 55 employ-ees.


Reliant Holdings offers a way to rebuild credit

TOM PEEL/Gazette

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By MIKE [email protected]

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP —In some form or another, Tim An-derson has been around pianospretty much all his life, either as areluctant performer when he wasa boy or as the owner of a busi-ness that rebuilds, repairs, refin-ishes and retunes grand pianos.

Anderson’s business, the PACountry Piano Shop in Washing-ton Township, deals especiallywith grand pianos made by thefamed Steinway & Sons, but healso works on other types ofgrand pianos.

Selling grand pianos that he hasrejuvenated is a business thatcomes and goes, he says, and hesupplements that income bydoing work as a technician forSteinway and at schools and col-leges in the Pittsburgh area.

He is a member of the SteinwayTechnical Assistance Team out ofNew York City and works with theconcert and artist division inPittsburgh.

In addition, he does furnituremaintenance for 70 grand andvertical Steinway pianos inDuquesne University’s Mary Pap-pert School of Music.

He is also a technical partnerwith the Creative and PerformingArts school in the Pittsburgh Pub-lic Schools and Seton Hill Univer-sity in Greensburg, both of whichare all-Steinway schools.

Growing up in McConnellsburg,Anderson was encouraged by hismother, a piano teacher, to spendtime at the piano honing his play-ing skills, something he resistedas a young man.

“I didn’t want to listen to her,”he said.

Instead, what interested Ander-son was the intricate mechanism(a Steinway grand piano, for ex-ample, has more than 12,000parts) that produces the piano’sdistinctive sound.

He got his first taste of what hasbecome his life’s work at what wasthen Mount Aloysius Junior College in Cresson, where he tooka course on piano tuning and repair and small business prac-tice.

Later, he worked at the Sohmerpiano plant in Connecticut beforemoving to Pittsburgh in 1986.There he did a mentorship withLeo Caffari, of Buena Vista, whohe says took him under his wingand showed him pin block re-placement and case refinishing.

Still, he says, a lot of what he

learned was in “the school of hardknocks.”

Anderson and his family relo-cated in 1997 to Indiana Countyfrom Pittsburgh, where he had lit-tle space for a piano shop. Spaceseems to be no problem now. Hishome and the adjoining pianoshop are located on a 3-acre sitealong Baker Road between FivePoints and Plumville.

Anderson credits his wife andher job with allowing him theflexibility to keep working at hisspecialty business.

His wife, Lisa, is a behavioralconsultant for the ARIN Interme-diate Unit.

His daughter, Shaina, attendsthe University of the Arts inPhiladelphia and his son,Zachary, attends Robert MorrisUniversity.

One disappointment, Andersonsaid, was his inability to land acontract to maintain the Steinwaypianos at Indiana University ofPennsylvania. He was involvedwith installing the pianos whenIUP became an all-Steinwayschool after the renovation ofCogswell Hall, but the mainte-nance contract went to someoneelse.

To this day, Anderson modestlydescribes himself as just an aver-age piano player, although he isquick to point out that his moth-er, wife and daughter are all ac-complished pianists and his sonis an accomplished vocalist.

“I’m just the tire changer,” hesaid.

Whatever the case, the work hedoes helps to keep the musicalive.


Business owner tuned into piano technology

TOM PEEL/Gazette

TIM ANDERSON rebuilds, repairs, refinishes and retunes grand pianos.

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1. Bob’s Tree Service, Jesse and Jarrett Buchlietner, Redding Road,Creekside

2. Carino Nurseries, Laura Carino, Camerons Bottom Road, Penn Run3. Chapman Tree Farm, Edward Chapman, Route 422, White Township4. Claybrooke Tree Farm, Edward Stewart, Moween Road, Saltsburg5. E-Mar Acres Tree Farm, Ron and Margie Mancabelli, Nowrytown

Road, Saltsburg6. Fleming’s Christmas Tree Farms, J.D. and Randy Fleming, Fleming

Road, White Township7. Flickinger’s Nursery, Thomas R. FLickinger, Route 85, Beyer8. Glenn Fleming Landscaping, James G. Fleming and Brad Fleming,

Pine Branch Hollow Road, Shelocta9. Goldstrohm Tree Farm, Samuel R. Goldstrohm, Hilty Road, Dayton10. Gregg Van Horn’s Tree Farm, Route 954, Creekside11. H.R. Rental Co., Ross J. Bricklemyer, Wadas Road, Indiana12. Howard Neal, Timblin13. Jim Reed, Dark Hollow Road, Indiana14. Johnston’s Nursery, Dave Johnston, Chambersville Road, Creekside 15. Musser Forests Inc., Route 119, White Township16. Myers Nursery, Ivan L. and Norma Jean Myers, Atwood Road,

Creekside17. Mytrysak Nursery, Dan and Sophie Mytrysak, Route 56, Homer City18. Paul D. Orr Sons, Gary and Mark Orr, Route 210, Rural Valley19. Peter Catanese, Fifth Street, Sagamore20. Strong Nursery, Ron and Edward Strong, Route 553, Penn Run21. Treasure Tree Nursery, Charles C. Flinn, Valley Road, White Township22. Willow Springs Nursery, Joe Kostryk, McCreight Road, Shelocta23. Wilson’s Nursery, Kimmel Road, HomeSource: Indiana County Tree Growers Association

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By HEATHER [email protected]

Overall, 2010 was a good year forIndiana County’s Christmas treefarmers.

Despite a late May frost that hurtthe Douglas fir crop the past twoyears and hungry deer ravaging theFrasier firs, most farmers thatGregg Van Horn has spoken withwere pleased with the number oftrees they sold.

“Every tree grower I talked toseemed happy with it. Even thoughwe did get frosted and couldn’t sellall our trees, we made up for it withanother species of our tree that thefrost didn’t hurt,” he said.

Van Horn, a Creekside tree grow-er and president of the IndianaCounty Christmas Tree GrowersAssociation, guessed that countyfarmers sold about 20,000 Christ-

mas trees both wholesale and to in-dividuals, though the associationdoes not collect any end-of-seasonstatistics, Van Horn said.

“We had a pretty good year,” hesaid. “It wasn’t any better than anyother year.”

J.D. Fleming of Fleming’s Christ-mas Tree Farms said that his num-bers were slightly higher than lastyear’s — and significantly higherthan he expected.

“We were bracing for a little bit ofa letdown on our sales, and we hada slight increase,” he said. “We werepleased.”

Fleming’s sells trees wholesalefrom their 30 different farms, andretail off their farms in the Indianaarea and off Route 22 at NewAlexandria. And if they don’t have aparticular variety of tree matureand ready for cutting, Fleming saidhe’ll buy it from another farmer.

“If I’m running short on my ownnumbers, I try to keep my whole-sale customers supplied with alltheir needs,” he said. “The last twoyears we’ve been short Douglas firbecause we’ve gotten frost on newgrowth both in 2009 and 2010, sowe went to other Pennsylvaniafarmers.”

An average 6- or 7-foot tree takesabout seven or eight years to grow,and Fleming said he generally hasnine varieties growing at one time.

Some trees face different chal-lenges. Douglas fir trees are espe-cially susceptible to a late frost, VanHorn said, because the frost killsthe new growth that comes in earlyMay, adding another year to thegrowing time.

Deer love the Frasier firs, andFleming said even hunting seasondidn’t help much to deter his battlewith the deer.

“I’m still seeing deer and rightnow is their prime feeding time,”he said. “They will eat a tree bare.”

Jim Kriston, manager at MusserForest Inc., said holiday shoppers,too, tend to prefer the Frasiers forthe feel, smell and needle reten-tion. Douglas firs are second, thenscotch pines.

“We hardly had anything left overthis year,” Kriston said.

Growing the trees he sells makesit easy to avoid waste, since he canleave the trees standing until justbefore selling.

Ron Mancabelli of E-Mar AcresFarm in Saltsburg said sometimeshe does have trees left, but they stillhave their uses. Some he gives toLoyalhanna Dam to drop for fishhabitats, others he uses to buildrabbit habitats on the farm, andothers he has chipped formulching.

By the 12th year of growing, heguessed 30 percent of his trees arestill in the field, about 8 feet tall.

And if all else fails, he can sellboughs for decorating mantles andwindowsills or making wreaths.

It’s that ability to recycle treesthat Van Horn touts as a reason tobuy real trees over artificial.

“(Artificial trees) put a big hurt onus but it’s kind of evened out now,”he said. “But people do seem to becoming back to the traditionalways.”

Mancabelli said studies showabout a third of people buy realtrees, a third buy artificial trees anda third don’t buy anything at all. Buthe’s seeing people return to realtrees after tiring of artificial trees.

Artificial trees have “definitely cutinto the real tree market. (But) as athreat from last year to this year tonext year, I don’t see that,” he said.

Yule sales bright for county’s tree growers

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By BILL [email protected]

Hand soap, rubber gloves, pizzaboxes and plastic champagneglasses are all under one roof atIndustrial Chemical & Supply.

Even a solution specifically forcleaning vomit can be found atthe decades-old wholesaler locat-ed on an alley behind Indiana’sPhiladelphia Street.

ICS provides the stuff that keepsplaces such as schools, nursinghomes and churches meetingpeople’s needs on a large scale.

“Anybody that wants to spendmoney, we’ll take it,” said ownerJim Crusan.

Between 45,000 and 65,000items can be found at ICS’s 9,600-square-foot warehouse at 55Foundry Ave., according to Cru-san.

Every Monday, ICS restocks itsshelves and every day of the weekICS’s three delivery trucks can befound throughout the region,heading as far away as Johnstown,Latrobe and Kittanning.

On the chemical side, ICS sup-plies cosmetic blends, mainlyfrom the Ohio-based SpartanChemical. Cleaners, degreasers,deodorants, disinfectants and in-secticides are among the offer-ings.

The tools to get the cleaningdone are also in stock, includingbrooms, mops, buckets, sponges,squeegees and paper towels. Forfood service, ICS offers productssuch as disposable utensils, cups,plates and bowls along with take-out containers, placemats andcoasters.

For the occasional customerwho visits the office, samples ofthese items — and their productnumbers — are secured to thewall outside the ICS office to easeordering.

Crusan worked as a heavy-equipment operator before start-ing ICS in 1974, spending fouryears — including two tours inVietnam — as a Navy Seabee andanother four years driving dozers,cranes and backhoes with theLocal 66 Operating Engineers.

“I always wanted to go into busi-ness for myself from the time Iwas a youngster,” he said.

He and a former partner openedICS in the old Greiner Bakerybuilding along Oak Street. (About25 years ago, ICS moved to its cur-rent location, which once housedBrookville Glove and a Penn Fur-niture warehouse.)

Crusan said the earliest chal-lenge was getting the knack ofsales calls. He credited his persist-ence in building relationshipswith luring customers to ICS.

“I like the people,” Crusan said. Customers choose ICS, he said,

because it’s locally owned and of-fers good service and prices.

ICS employs two other full-timeemployees and one part-timer.Within five years, Crusan hopes tosell the company and remain in asemi-retired role. Sitting in his of-fice, where he now spends most ofthe workday, Crusan said, “I’vedone everything in here.”


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ICS: Their businessis cleaning up

TOM PEEL/Gazette

JIM CRUSAN, owner of Industrial Chemical & Supply in Indiana, displayed some ofthe myriad products the wholesaler carries.

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Despite unfavorable weather con-ditions, a commercial building proj-ect at west Philadelphia Street andHeritage Run Road is progressing.

The project at the entrance to theHeritage Oaks housing developmentis a three-unit commercial condo-minium complex that will be the newhome of Kuzneski & Lockard Real Es-tate and the offices of Drs. BernardMarkowitz and Frank Zbignewich.The third suite is available for lease orpurchase.

The project will be known as Her-itage Court. Heritage Court LP is thedeveloper, and general partner isLMC Enterprises Inc., of Indiana. Tocomplement the neighborhood, thedevelopers designed the building toreflect a traditional residential look,rather than a more typical commer-cial-style building.

The building area is approximately

26,000 square feet, including theupper and lower level, and includeselevator access to all suites in thecomplex. Heritage Court has 67 on-site parking spaces. The project sitson 4.8 acres with the potential for ad-ditional development.

The developer expects the mainbuilding to be completed by earlyJune, with the interior office spaces tobe completed by late summer.

Kuzneski & Lockard was founded in1972 by Joseph A. Kuzneski. Original-ly, the agency provided both insur-ance and real estate services in theIndiana area. As the companyevolved, the insurance and real estateservices developed into two separatecompanies. The insurance companyretained the name of KuzneskiAgency, while the real estate portionwas purchased by Douglas W.Lockard in 2002.

Submitted photo

AN ARTIST’S rendering of how the front of the complex will appear when construction is completed.

Office complex expected to open this summer

By SAM [email protected]

B en Ward didn’t stay at a Holi-day Inn last night, but hemanages one. So he just

might know a thing or two aboutthe hotel business.

And what he knows is that 2010was a good year for his HolidayInn, along Wayne Avenue in WhiteTownship.

And for the other hotels in Indi-ana County, too.

He and the other hotelierslargely have the natural gas in-dustry to thank. As the industryramps up operations around thearea, it seems to be generatingdemand for hotel rooms.

Ward said that over the past fewyears, the industry has been a bigcontributor to room bookings athis hotel.

“I’m optimistic that the nextseveral years will be just as posi-tive,” he said.

So agrees Richard K. Miller,whose company, Summit Devel-opment Consulting Corp., is apartner developer of the Hamp-ton Inn & Suites in Burrell Town-ship.

The firm and its partner Hori-zon Properties Group LLC, alsohave developed other hotels insouthwestern Pennsylvania.

“Billions of dollars already havebeen invested by natural-gascompanies in Pennsylvania forthe Marcellus shale gas explo-ration. It has become a hot topicat our hotels,” Miller said.

“We have been around eco-nomic development for manyyears and have never seen any-thing that comes close to what weare now experiencing. We esti-mate the natural-gas industry tobe the most significant andsteady demand generator for ouroverall hotel business in the yearsahead,” he said.

The need for rooms also hasbeen good for the county, whichlast year collected $353,000through its lodging room tax, ac-cording to numbers reported bythe treasurer’s office and thecommissioner’s office.

It’s the highest amount the 3percent tax has yielded in the pastfive years, up from $199,240 in2006.

It means county hotels collec-tively earned at least $11.8 mil-lion on room rentals in 2010.That’s up from $6.64 million in2006.

The tax does not apply to feder-al and state employees on officialbusiness and to stays longer than

30 days. Of course, there isn’t a simple

correlation between the tax rev-enue and room stays. One factorto be considered is the number of

rooms for rent. In 2010, the county collected

the tax from seven hotels and 10motels and bed and breakfasts. Itlisted seven hotels and 12 motelsand bed and breakfasts in 2008.

Another thing to consider isthat increasing room rates alsopushes up the tax revenue.

Ward, however, said room ratesat his hotel have gone up “just abit” on a year-over-year basis. Hesaid he believes an increase in oc-cupancy is mostly responsible forthe increased tax revenue.

Whatever the reason, it’s allgood news for the Indiana CountyTourist Bureau, whose work isfunded through the lodging tax.

Penny Perman, the bureau’s ex-ecutive director, said the addi-


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Gazette

THE HOLIDAY INN in White Township is one of 17 hotels, motels, or bedand breakfasts in Indiana County.

“BILLIONS OF dollarsalready have been investedby natural-gas companiesin Pennsylvania for theMarcellus shale gas exploration. It has becomea hot topic at our hotels.”

Richard K. Miller,partner developer of the Hampton Inn & Suites,

Burrell Township

Continued on Page 18

tional revenue has allowed thebureau to market the county inways it hasn’t been able to affordin the past, such as through tele-vision advertising.

Perman also said the tourist bu-reau has been spending moneyon market research to get a bettersense of where visitors are com-ing from.

Shale gas aside, the local lodg-ing business is looking to IndianaUniversity of Pennsylvania’s Ko-valchick Convention and AthleticComplex to create additional de-mand for a hotel rooms.

Whether it contributes signifi-cantly in the short term remains

to be seen — a feasibility studynoted that the limited number ofhotel rooms in and around Indi-ana probably would impactbookings at the complex.

Recognizing this, the university,through its fundraising arm, theFoundation for IUP, plans to buildan upscale hotel next door.

But its development has takenlonger than expected as the foun-dation struggles to find a way topay for it.

The complex opens in Marchalong Wayne Avenue in WhiteTownship, and the foundationhoped to have the hotel open inthe fall.

The foundation is seeking a fi-nancial partner, and as it looks, itmight be beaten to the punch.

Miller said his firm is thinkingabout building a hotel in Indiana,revisiting plans it was putting inplace before the foundation an-nounced its intentions to buildthe hotel.

“We have recently been explor-ing our original hotel plans for atotally private development in In-diana, a project the universityonce requested we suspend inAugust 2006 while adopting a de-velopment plan to move forwardunilaterally in an earnest way attheir on-campus site.”

Those plans never came tofruition, though.

After he and his partner firmspent more than a year trying toreach a development agreement,the university, then under theleadership of Dr. Tony Atwater,ended the relationship.

Miller said it wasn’t that theycouldn’t reach an agreement, butthat the university kept changingthe terms of the agreement.

The university later announcedit would work with student hous-ing developer Allen & O’Hara, thefirm that developed the founda-tion’s Residential Revival.

But the status of the relation-ship is unclear. The universityhad said in the months followingthe announcement that it issearching for the right developer.But responding to a questionabout the hotel project, the uni-versity said the firm continues tobe engaged in predevelopmentservices for the hotel.

“The Foundation for IUP con-tinues to evaluate numerous as-pects of the hotel project, includ-ing ownership, financing, man-agement and operations.”

Room tax a boonto tourist bureau

18 — Business Indiana , Monday, January 31, 2011


JAMIE EMPFIELD/Gazette

THE HAMPTON INN in White Township is the area’s newest hotel.

By the numbers

Amount collected in 2010through the county’s room tax,

the highest in five years.

Minimum amount the county’shotels generated in revenue

last year, based on the lodging tax. That’s up from

$6.64 million in 2006.

Number of hotels, motels, andbed and breakfasts in 2010.

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updating and refreshing our goalsand the committee structure tosupport them. We are blessed tohave many entities and people,who fulfill their personal and pro-fessional responsibilities each daywith the purpose of making ourcounty a better place to live, work,raise and educate our children.They are all very deserving of ourgratitude and we have much forwhich to thank them.

Major projects take time, some-times years to realize. There hasbeen a great deal of work andprogress. The efforts of the cham-ber and our partners throughoutthe region work hard to ensurethat Indiana County capitalizes onthese opportunities.

I am excited about the qualityand character of the individuals onour board of directors. Sadly, BobMarcus and Mike Donnelly aretransitioning to ex-officio statusafter more than 20 years of serviceeach. Thank you both for all youadd to our leadership. We appreci-ate both Elizabeth Gregg and JoeReschini for saying yes to our re-quest to serve on our ExecutiveCommittee.

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Dominic Paccapaniccia is thechairman of the Indiana CountyChamber of Commerce.

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Downtown IndianaJay Knarr, main street manager949 Philadelphia St. Suite 200, In-diana(724) 463-6110downtownindiana.org

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IndianaCounty Centerfor Economic Operations

Dana P. Henry,contact1019 PhiladelphiaSt.(724) 465-2662,(800) 626-2662www.indiana-countyceo.com

Indiana County Chamber of Commerce

Dana P. Henry, president1019 Philadelphia St., Indiana(724) 465-2511www.indianapa.com/chamber

Indiana County Development Corp.

Jim Wiley, president801 Water St., Indiana

Indiana County Manufacturing Consortium

Mike Rempel, Gorell Enterprises1380 Wayne Ave., White Township(724) 465-1887Ellen StarryGorell Enterprises138 Wayne Ave., White Township(724) 465-1801www.tricountymfg.org

Indiana County Small Business Incubator

Ron Moreau, director5 Robertshaw Center, IUP(724) 357-2179www.eberly.iup.edu/incubator

Indiana County Tourist BureauPenny Perman, executive director2334 Oakland Ave., Indiana(724) 463-7505www.visitindianacountypa.org

IUP Government Contracting Assistance Program

Ron Moreau, director630 S. 13th St., Indiana(724) 357-7824www.eberly.iup.edu/gcap

IUP Small Business Institute (SBI)

Steve Osbourne, director314 Eberly College of Business &Information Technology, IUP(724) 357-5760

Office of Planning and Development

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TOP LEFT: Kenn Hinick, ofWindber, representing thethe Jimmy Stewart Airport,displayed a flight simulator.

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Estimated total deposits in all Indiana County bank branches.

June of… Deposits (estimated) Branches

2010 $2,105,642,000 34

2009 $2,123,011,000 33

2008 $1,962,706,000 34

2007 $1,978,548,000 34

2006 $1,942,821,000 36

2005 $1,809,064,000 36

2004 $1,689,100,000 35

2003 $1,636,969,000 35

2002 $1,451,626,000 35

2001 $1,408,795,000 35

2000 $1,325,689,000 35

1995 $1,019,125,000 38

Deposits, by the numbers

Rankings of county banks, by market share, as of June 2010

Bank Deposits Branches Market share

S&T Bank $1,023,194,000 12 48.59%

First Commonwealth $498,743,000 9 23.69%

Indiana First Bank $223,104,000 4 10.60%

PNC Bank $169,091,000 3 8.03%

Marion Center Bank $122,952,000 3 5.84%

1st Summit Bank $36,379,000 1 1.73%

First National Bank $32,151,000 2 1.53%Source: FDIC (www.fdic.gov)

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Deposits at county banks remain on upward trendBy JASON L. LEVAN

[email protected]

Indiana Countians appear to begood savers.

The amount of money stashedaway at Indiana County banks hasmore than doubled since 1995, ac-cording to records kept by the Fed-eral Deposit Insurance Corp.

About 15 years ago, total de-posits were estimated at$1,019,125,000; in June 2010, theywere reported at $2,105,642,000.And the amount of deposits hasrisen every since 1995, except fortwo — 2007 to 2008 and 2009 to2010.

The figures — reported by theFDIC every June — include allmoney kept in bank branches byboth individuals and businesses,

in all types of savings and checkingaccounts.

J. Eric Renner, executive vicepresident for retail and small busi-ness services at Indiana-basedFirst Commonwealth Bank, saidthat, while it’s hard to say with cer-tainty, with an aging population

here and economic volatility,many people may prefer safer,more liquid accounts.

“There’s some retirement moneybeing converted to traditional de-posits,” such as checking, savingsand money markets, Renner said.

Though rates are low, there is lit-

tle or no risk of losing principal, hesaid.

First Commonwealth in the pastfew years has become more ag-gressive in Indiana County, espe-cially with small and medium-sized companies, Renner said.

“We’ve done a better job of work-ing with local businesses,” he said.

The bank has also made an effortto encourage clients who mayhave money saved elsewhere toconsolidate their money at FirstCommonwealth.

Total money market accountsare up sharply in the last threeyears, from $37 million to $700million, Renner said.

The bank has recently made amarketing push into the Pitts-burgh area with its retail products.Renner called the bank’s growth

there “robust.” But deposits in Al-legheny and neighboring countiesdo not count toward the total de-posits here, even though the bankis based in Indiana.

The rise in deposits is somewhatcounterintuitive considering thecounty’s steadily declining popu-lation.

But, as Renner notes, enrollmentat Indiana University of Pennsyl-vania has been on the rise, andmany students who may not befactored into the population countare nonetheless saving money inlocal banks.

“It’s a good thing for IndianaCounty,” Renner said.

Representatives from Indiana-based S&T Bank and Indiana FirstBank were unavailable for com-ment.

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ABOUT THREE YEARS after the Highpointe office complex opened, it is 80 percent occupied.

By HEATHER [email protected]

W hen construction was fin-ished on the $8.1 million,63,000-square-foot office

complex off Indian Springs Roadin White Township in 2007, therewas just one tenant ready to lease6 percent of the complex.

Now, three and a half years later,the HighPointe complex is nearly80 percent occupied, and devel-opers are crediting the buildingwith helping keep Consol EnergyInc. in Indiana.

“With my fingers crossed andknocking on wood, I’m delightedwith how it’s working out,” saidJim Wiley, president of the Indi-ana County Development Corpo-ration that owns the building.

“We got some very nice compli-ments from the Consol executiveswho came to Indiana … about thebuilding, the type of building, theappearance of the building, and Ithink that one of the reasons thatthey stayed here is that they weremore than satisfied with the facil-ity and the accommodations.”

Plans for HighPointe originatedin the early 2000s, when countyofficials including Byron StaufferJr., executive director of the coun-ty Office of Planning and Devel-opment and the DevelopmentCorporation, worked with the lateCongressman John Murtha to de-velop a high-class office facility tobring specific corporations intothe county.

The first company backed outjust before the Development Corporation was ready to breakground, Wiley said, and the second company also backed outbefore the building was complet-ed.

Stauffer said plans were shelvedfor a couple of years, until thearea was listed as a Keystone Op-portunity Zone, making taxbreaks possible for companiesmoving in.

“We had attracted about $4 mil-lion in grant funds on an $8 mil-lion building; it was either, do wewalk away from it or do we put alittle faith in it and roll up oursleeves?” he said.

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County officials, commission-ers, chamber of commerce mem-bers and officials from IndianaUniversity of Pennsylvaniaworked together to get the jobdone, he said.

State Sen. Don White helped se-cure grants for the project, andStauffer said some of the fundscame through former Gov. EdRendell’s Redevelopment Assis-tance Program.

“It was an educated risk, a cal-culated risk,” he said.

Occupancy permits were grant-ed in 2007; Dedicated Distribu-tion Services was the first tenant,and Environmental Land Survey-ing and Solutions also took upresidence at HighPointe. DDS hassince closed.

When Superior Wells bought thebuilding that housed a branch offormer Dominion Resources, theyturned to the new complex for of-fice space.

Stauffer said that when Domin-ion hired a commercial real estatefirm to find a new building, theysaid to look around Indiana first,but to look outside the county ifthey couldn’t find anything suit-able.

They signed a 10-year lease atHighPointe.

“We consider that project,where Dominion moved into thebuilding, as a job-retention proj-ect,” he said.

And when Consol Energy Inc.bought Dominion’s Appalachianexploration and production busi-

ness last year, Stauffer and Wileyboth agree the building may haveplayed a part in Consol’s decisionto not only keep an office in Indi-ana, but to double the space.

“If they didn’t have HighPointe,would they have doubled theirlease space here and broughtthese additional professionals in?I can say with utmost confidence,absolutely not,” Wiley said.

Stauffer said the fact that Do-


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minion already had that 10-yearlease probably played a part inConsol’s decision to keep an of-fice in Indiana.

“I don’t mean to speak for Con-sol, (but) conceptually whenConsol purchased (Dominion)they could have relocated thebuilding down to Southpointe. …Having that building and having along-term lease in a quality facili-ty certainly boded well for us incompeting to keep those jobs andthat expansion,” he said. “Youcould make that leap pretty easi-ly.”

Stauffer said HighPointe is thekind of building “that representstheir brand, represents the type ofentity they are.”

Craig Neal, Vice President ofOperations for Central Pennsyl-vania, said Consol’s local branchhas expanded from 42 employeesto 67, and has office space nowfor over 100.

He said CNX Gas would haveexpanded regardless, but not nec-essarily here.

“(HighPointe) has been a very

key building for us,” he said. “Wewould have expanded; the ques-tion is where.”

The building also houses IUPResearch Institute Business andTechnology Group.

And Stauffer stressed that all thecompanies housed at HighPointehad outgrown their previous lo-cations or had their previous lo-cation sold.

“One of the goals was simplynot to relocate companies fromone landlord to another, to us, wedidn’t want to necessarily go afterother businesses,” he said.

Back at the beginning of theproject, Wiley said it was a sort of“build it and they will come” situ-ation. And with Indiana’s positionin the Marcellus shale, it madesense to have a high-class officebuilding to lure the related indus-tries to the county.

“Indiana County is literally thedead center of the Marcellusshale play, from New York to Ten-nessee. You can’t get a better loca-tion than Indiana County,” Wileysaid. “It’s physically the greatestplace to be.”


“WE HAD attracted about $4 million ingrant funds on an $8 million building; itwas either, do we walk away from it or do we put a little faith in it and roll upour sleeves?”

Byron Stauffer,Indiana County Office of Planning and Development

HighPointe visionalmost fulfilled

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of Marble, Granite,Travertine, Limestone

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We have affordableCUSTOM GRANITE

COUNTERTOPS, too!

Complete Professional Installationfor Kitchen and Bath

valueAt our Wood-Mode showroom,

a professional designer will createa design to perfectly fit your lifestyle!

CORK & BAMBOO FLOORING AVAILABLE

50% OFF KABINART ALL WOOD CABINETRY

+ Extra Textured+ Heavy Plush Carpet+ Padding+ Installation

Mannington Laminate • Tile • HardwoodYour

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If It Snows...Snowflake SaleGoing on Now!

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Affordable Interiors


Day of Dance® for Your Health is powered by Spirit of Women® , anational network of hospitals and healthcare providers across theUnited States that ascribe to the highest standards of excellence inwomen’s health, education, and community outreach.

February 26, 2011 • dayofdance.comBring your friends and family to dance, learn simple ways to stay healthy,

enjoy music, and participate in health screenings.

Time: 10a.m. - 4p.m.Location: Indiana Mall

Admission Fee: FNo registration required!

REE

For more information:Call the Institute for Healthy Livingat 724-357-8088.

Web: www.indianarmc.org

Join Us: Free health screenings,educational sessions,and cooking demonstrationswill be offered throughoutthe day!

2334 Oakland AvenueIndiana, PA 15701-3396

monday, january 31, 2011epaper.indianagazette.com/docs/sections/110131.business... · 2011. 3....

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