It’s another round for City Brewery in Westmoreland County.
A year after taking 255,587 square feet of space at the Regional Industrial Development Corp.’s Westmoreland Innovation Center in East Huntingdon, City Brewery is expanding again.
The company is adding another 111,500 square feet in the innovation center and extending its initial five-year lease to 2033.
“We appreciate the partnership with RIDC and are pleased to expand our operations within their facility close to our brewery operations,” plant manager Kyle Briggs said in a statement Tuesday.
In announcing the extension, RIDC said the brewery will add more than 20 jobs as part of the expansion, which is to begin next month. That’s on top of the 50 to 60 jobs anticipated when it moved in last year.
The RIDC space supplements the company’s operations at the former Rolling Rock brewery in Latrobe, where it makes beer, other malt beverages and ready-to-drink cocktails on a contract basis.
City Brewery has been using the RIDC facility, site of the former Sony plant, for warehousing and distribution operations. As part of the latest expansion, RIDC will be making improvements to lighting, dock areas and electrical work.
“City Brewery has made such significant strides in the growth of their business since they became a RIDC Westmoreland tenant,” RIDC President Don Smith said. “The advanced manufacturing hub we’ve created here in partnership with Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation has restored activity to a site that historically was a great manufacturing engine for the community.”
City Brewery has more than 1,800 employees in the U.S. It also has facilities in La Crosse, Wis.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Irwindale, Calif.
RIDC has been partnering with the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. in redeveloping the 350-acre former Sony plant. It is owned by the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority.
It currently houses more than 1,000 employees. Tenants include Intervala, Siemens, DNP IMS America, Cenveo, and Westmoreland County Community College.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation also is working with RIDC to build a new 3-mile autonomous vehicle test track and other facilities adjacent to the plant.
In addition, the defunct Argo AI operated a 40-acre test track at the site that involved a network of roads to simulate city and suburban driving conditions. It also maintained a research and testing facility there.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: January 24, 2023, 4:10 p.m.
Updated: January 25, 2023, 11:44 a.m.
