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We would like to welcome two newcomers to the Luzerne County business community.
On Wednesday, we learned that Lincoln, Nebraska-based e-commerce company Spreetail.com will occupy a new 610,000 square-foot building along Kosciuszko Street in Nanticoke, across from Luzerne County Community College.
The previous day, we learned that Border Concepts Inc. (BCI) has decided to open a new distribution center at 319-329 Enterprise Way in CenterPoint Commerce & Trade Park West, Pittston Township.
Both moves represent growth and new jobs for the community.
Established in 2006, Spreetail.com offers home, garden and backyard products online. Its new $40 million fulfillment center is tentatively expected to open June 1. The company will hire 50 employees this year and expects to employ 120 by 2021, and plans to start fulfillment team members at $16.50 per hour.
BCI, a top supplier of lawn and garden products throughout the United States, is leasing 38,563 square feet in a multi-tenant flex building developed and owned by Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services. The firm expects to create eight new jobs.
Taken together, they’re boosting a sector of our local economy which has grown significantly in recent years, providing stable employment for many individuals and families in Luzerne County.
In the case of Spreetail.com, they’re also the second tenant announced for Missouri-based NorthPoint Development’s 322-acre Hanover 9 Industrial Park, which falls in both Nanticoke and Hanover Township.
Chicago-based True Value Company said in February it will occupy most of a 1.4 million square-foot distribution center also under construction and set to open this fall. Two more buildings are planned at the site, which has become accessible due to the new South Valley Parkway, officials said.
At a Thursday ceremony announcing Spreetail.com’s arrival, Sen. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, said: “Welcome to the Hanover 9 business site, where an unprecedented economic development story is unfolding at a breathtaking pace right before our eyes.”
Yes, yes, yes.
And such projects have come about thanks to the work of many hands, from private developers to political leaders.
We would like to say a few special words for one of them.
Nanticoke Mayor Nicole Colatosti-Mackiewicz praised her predecessor, the late Rich Wiaterowski, for putting in long hours to secure the project.
Wiaterowski, 45, died late last year after a battle with leukemia. We’d like to think he would be pleased and proud to see the project coming to fruition for the benefit of the community he served so well.
— Times Leader