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March 11, 2010

Opening of center creates 250 jobs

Home Depot needs workers for two shifts for distribution and office positions.

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
Jerry Lynott on Facebook | @TLJerryLynott on Twitter

PITTSTON TWP. – Home Depot will hire 250 workers for its new distribution center scheduled to open this summer.

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The Home Depot distribution center is hiring 250 people to work in the facility this summer. A job fair will be held next week at the massive new center in Pittston Township.

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

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Apply in advance

Applicants for the 250 jobs at the new Home Depot distribution center must first apply in order to be granted an interview at the job fair next week at the facility at 300 Enterprise Way in the CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park West. Go online to http://careers.homedepot.com or visit the career kiosk in any Home Depot store.

The job fair will run from noon to 4:30 p.m. March 19 and from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 20 at the facility in Pittston Township.

The 465,600-square-foot facility is nearly complete and located in the CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park West off Oak Street.

The hirings are the first of several hundred expected during the next few years, said Jennifer King, a Home Depot spokeswoman.

“This site is part of a larger program to improve our supply chain, making it easier for our stores to keep the right products in stock when our customers need them,” she said in an e-mail.

Workers are needed for two shifts and for general warehouse and office positions. A job fair is scheduled for next week at the center.

King said the home improvement retailer does not discuss wages. Employees will be offered benefits including medical and dental insurance, a 401k plan and bonuses.

The center, estimated to cost between $10 million and $11 million, is one of nearly 20 rapid deployment facilities the company is rolling out nationwide this year, according to King. Products will be trucked in and shipped out in a quick turnaround time to resupply more than 100 stores in the Northeast.

Last April, Gov. Ed Rendell announced $1.35 million in tax credits and grants to bring the center to the park developed by Robert Mericle. The developer pleaded guilty in September to charges connected to the juvenile justice scandal in Luzerne County and is awaiting sentencing in federal court.

Jim Cummings, vice president of marketing with Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, said the center sits on a 51-acre site. The building has 19,000 square feet of office space and 170 dock doors for tractor-trailers.

“It’s the first building in CenterPoint West,” he said. There are 18 buildings in the two sections of the park and they have a combined total of more than 5 million square feet of space.

In the park’s east section, Home Depot’s competitor Lowe’s built a 1.5 million-square-foot distribution center.