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American Textile Expanding to City's Industrial Park
By Staff Reports
The Tube City Almanac
September 20, 2018
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Tube City Almanac photo)
A Duquesne-based manufacturer of bedding sold in stores around the country is expanding into McKeesport.
American Textile Co. has signed a lease for a 98,000-square-foot building in the Industrial Center of McKeesport, located on the site of the former U.S. Steel National Works.
The deal was announced Thursday by the non-profit Regional Industrial Development Corp., which owns the industrial park. American Textile will be using a building at 200 Center St. formerly occupied by Steel City Products.
An RIDC spokeswoman said Steel City Products, an auto parts distributor, has moved elsewhere.
“As our pillow business continues to grow, we need this additional space to cover growing demand,” Lance Ruttenberg, American Textile's chief executive officer and president, said in a prepared statement. The company expects to add 30 employees at the McKeesport location.
Founded in 1925 in Pittsburgh, American Textile makes pillows, mattress covers and other products sold in more than 40,000 stores, including Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target and Macy's, according to published reports, as well as through Amazon.com and Overstock.com.
The privately held company also licenses the Sealy and Tempur-Pedic brand names for certain products.
American Textile also operates facilities in Utah, Texas and Georgia, as well as in several foreign countries, employing more than 1,100 people worldwide. About 250 of those employees work in Duquesne, at another RIDC industrial park located on the site of the former U.S. Steel Duquesne Works.
McKeesport Mayor Mike Cherepko said that over the past year, there has been an increase in activity at the city's RIDC industrial park, which is also home to Pure Penn, a medical cannabis growing and processing operation, as well as People's Gas, Duquesne Light, Consolidated Power Supply and the Consortium for Public Education.
Dish Network, which once operated a large call center at the industrial park, recently returned with a much smaller facility.
Cherepko said the city is happy to welcome American Textile to McKeesport “as we continue to bring a variety of businesses into our economy.”
RIDC President Don Smith said American Textile's continued growth in the Mon Valley “speaks to some of the region’s valuable assets: availability of a talented workforce to fuel expansion and proximity to national transportation and distribution networks.”
American Textile has expanded several times since moving to Duquesne in 2002. In 2006, it added 83,000 square feet to its existing 107,000-square-foot building. Last year, the company received a $1.5 million grant to begin remediating another 100,000 square feet for possible future expansion.
“American Textile's commitment to the Mon Valley is extraordinary," Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said Thursday. "I have no doubt that their achievements in Duquesne will be replicated across the river in McKeesport.”
Originally published September 20, 2018.
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