WENDELIN HOUSE INC. Company plans to buy building in city

The galvanized steel product company pays an average of $36,000 per year.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Availability of a prime building is luring a western Pennsylvania steel company to the city.
Wendelin House Inc. of Ambridge, Pa., plans to buy the former Allegheny Steel Distributors building and its equipment at East Federal Street and Andrews Avenue.
Wendelin, a distributor of galvanized steel products, plans to invest $2 million into buying the building and $1.3 million in new machinery and improvements, according to city documents.
The company also would move about $287,000 in machinery to the city and carry about $3.6 million in inventory.
Jobs
The move would bring 20 jobs into the city, and the company plans to create 30 new full-time jobs within three years. The jobs would pay an average of $36,000 per year plus benefits.
City council will have on its agenda next week a 10-year 75 percent tax abatement on real and tangible personal property for Wendelin.
The building will allow the company, with $40 million annual sales, to double sales, according to city documents. The incentives will help finance the growth, the company said.
The good condition of the former Allegheny building made a move to the city attractive, said Wendelin President Chip Kennedy.
He declined to comment further until the deal is done.
Allegheny closed operations about four years ago and the building had been used as warehouse space, said city Finance Director David Bozanich.
Made improvements
But Allegheny made improvements before it left, such as overhauling the cranes and the heating system, he said. Bozanich called the facility state-of-the-art.
The city also spent about $100,000 in the mid-1990s improving sewer service to the building, said Jeffrey L. Chagnot, city development director.
Bozanich said Wendelin is in position to expand in the city in the future.
"We think it's a company with a very high growth opportunity," he said.
rgsmith@vindy.com