A tentative agreement has been reached to sell the former Christy Park Works to a company in India, reports Forbes magazine and other sources.
Pittsburgh-based Reunion Industries, currently operating under federal bankruptcy protection, has agreed to sell its CP Industries division to Everest Kanto Cylinder Ltd. for $64.25 million.
It's Reunion's second attempt to sell CP Industries; a deal last year with a private-equity firm in Florida was not completed.
This sale must be approved by federal regulators and bankruptcy trustees.
CP Industries manufactures seamless containers for holding gases compressed under high pressure. Its customers include makers of alternative-fuel vehicles, NASA, the U.S. Navy, and others in the transportation and aerospace industries.
The Christy Park plant, which opened in 1897, was once part of U.S. Steel's National Tube Works. Located along Walnut Street south of the 15th Avenue Bridge, the facility spans 600,000 square feet and employs more than 100 people.
CP Industries calls itself the world's largest manufacturer of seamless pressure vessels. Though Reunion is in bankruptcy, published reports indicate that CP is profitable and had $40 million in revenue last year.
Everest Kanto, based in Mumbai, was founded in 1978. Its other manufacturing plants are in Aurangabad, Tarapur and Gandhidam, India; and Jafza, Dubai. It currently has no U.S. manufacturing facilities.
According to a press release issued by Reunion, no layoffs are planned in the city: "The buyer is committed to employing all of the existing employees and intends to operate and grow the business at its present facility."
An Indian news website this week quoted a "senior Everest Kanto official" as saying that although not all details of the acquisition have been worked out, no immediate changes are planned in Christy Park.
"At this point we cannot give details on revenues, profitability, or production capacity since we are under the non disclosure period," the unidentified source told DNA India. "All I can say is the company is profitable. CP Industries makes jumbo cylinders and it makes great sense for us to acquire a company which is a global leader in the segment."
The Asia Pulse news service quotes Everest Kanto's chairman and managing director, Prem Khurana, as saying that acquisition of CP will allow his company to capitalize on the "robust global demand" for compressed natural-gas storage systems.
During Black History Month, the News had a lot of neat stories about local people of note.
Here's a nice profile by Stacy Lee about 77-year-old city resident Al Kimber, who served in the U.S. Army's last so-called "Buffalo Soldier" unit --- a regiment of all African-American soldiers.
Kimber, reports Lee, had only two weeks left on his tour of duty in 1950 when his unit was shipped from Japan to Pusan, South Korean, to defend the city from the North Koreans.
"All the white troops were in Northern Japan," Kimber tells Lee. "We were not allowed to fraternize. It was strictly segregated except for a few white officers. The white officers were bitter because being assigned to an all-black outfit was a form of punishment. Some were very nice, though. They came from every state in the United States. The officers from up North were always better with getting along with the black troops than the Southern gentlemen."
The story was in last Tuesday's paper; it's worth seeking out.
. . .
Those Darn Catholics!: A recent letter to the editor in the News from a North Huntingdon resident alleged that Serra Catholic High School won the WPIAL football and boys' basketball titles this year because it recruited students to play sports.
It's a perpetual charge levied against Catholic high schools. And it could be the case that Serra's been recruiting.
But if they're recruiting, why have they been recruiting so many bad student athletes for all of these years?
Because for most of my life, Serra's football and basketball teams have stunk out loud.
And it's not like something changed this year. Serra's athletic director and men's basketball coach have each been there more than 20 years. I had both Bill Cleary and Bob Rozanski as teachers, for goodness' sake. (It's not true that Mr. Cleary had a complete head of hair before I was in his class, but I'm sure I didn't help lower his stress levels at all.)
So c'mon, people. Don't take this accomplishment away from this group of kids, or their coaches. How petty can people be?
. . .
Continuing Decline of Western Civ. Dept.: I've said it before, I'll say it again: The Mon-Yough area is not in need of its own Mensa chapter.
City police have nailed a ninth-grader at McKeesport Area High School who called in three bomb threats this week, writes Raymond Pefferman in the Daily News. The suspect is currently making new friends at Shuman Center.
I have a vague memory of being 14 years old, and I did a lot of immature, stupid, annoying things. (And if you've been reading the Almanac, you know that I haven't changed much.)
But I can remember discussions around the lunch table that pretty much concluded that calling in a bomb threat was the lamest form of prank.
So I can't put myself in a mindset that would think calling in repeated bomb threats was funny or in anyway subversive ... not to mention that back in "our day" no one had caller ID, and a phone trace was complicated.
Calling three times is pretty much the height of stupidity; after the second threat, he had to know they'd be watching the phones. This turkey even left a voice mail for the cops to use as evidence against him.
This is a good time to remind everyone that opinions expressed at Tube City Almanac are not those of any organization, any member of my family, or any employer.
Are we clear? Good.
Because someone just gave West Penn Allegheny Health System a $19 million "F-U":
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has purchased the former Palace Inn in Monroeville and plans to turn it into a health center.
UPMC announced today that it has closed on the sale of the building on Mosside Boulevard, paying $18,975,000 ...
The new UPMC adult outpatient facility will include outpatient clinics, diagnostic imaging services such as CT scans, X-ray, ultrasound and mammography, an ambulatory surgery center, an urgent care center and physician offices. (Post-Gazette)
The Palace Inn at the intersection of William Penn Highway and Route 48 is just about within sight of Forbes Regional Hospital, which has held a near monopoly on hospital care in Monroeville since opening in 1978.
He might as well keep drawing customers to the bar with those signs because his food doesn't make a bold statement. My hamburger and fries came plopped on a layer of tin foil spread across a plastic serving tray. The food wasn't so hot.
Pardon this temporary service interruption. Normal service should resume Wednesday.
I've been out of action since Saturday with the flu. Hell, I was so delirious on Monday that I dreamed that Jay Jabbour was running for office again.
Update: I like to think I'm a little better than this guy when I'm sick.
(Probably not much. But a little. Besides, since I live alone, there's no reason for me to whine and pout ... there's no one to get any sympathy from.)
(Tip of the Tube City hard hat: Gene Weingarten.)
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