Part of the area was the former Saint-Gobain plant property.
- Erik Johnson
243 ACRES ANNEXED
WICHITA FALLS (Times Record News) - The city council voted Tuesday to annex 243 acres effective next month.
The annexation addresses land generally east of Allendale Rd. and south of Kell Blvd., including property owned by the North Texas Rural Rail Transportation District and Pitts Sand and Gravel Inc., as well as what was the Saint-Gobain Vetrotex property.
This excerpt below was published last year regarding the shut down of the materials plant.
- Erik Johnson
Saint-Gobain announced Monday afternoon that it is closing the Saint-Gobain Vetrotex America plant in Wichita Falls, leaving 720 employees out of work, along with the loss of a $4.3 million monthly payroll.
Since the Wichita Falls operation is the only stand-alone operation within the group (the High-Performance Materials Sector of Saint-Gobain), it was deemed economically unfeasible to keep it in operation, a company official said.
Olivier Duval, the director of strategy for the group, said Saint-Gobain sold its reinforcement and composites businesses to Owens-Corning late last year, but the Wichita Falls plant was excluded from the sale for anti-trust considerations, which he said was the major factor that led to the decision to close the closing the 787,000-square-foot plant that sits on 330 acres on the west side of Wichita Falls.
"As Saint-Gobain is no longer in the reinforcements and composite business, it is not economically feasible for us to keep the plant running as a stand-alone operation."
He also said, "We made the decision reluctantly. We did not have an alternative."
Duval said Saint-Gobain had been trying to find a buyer for plant since July 2006. But despite months of effort and negotiations with several prospective buyers, it failed to reach "an economically viable agreement, which would assure the future of the plant."
He also said, "It was Saint-Gobain's sincere hope, but many months of effort have not resulted in a happier outcome for Saint-Gobain Vetrotex America and its employees."
Ron Lane, president of the Wichita Falls plant, said they began telling employees of the decision to shut down Monday morning. Because of the number of shifts, he said it could take the rest of the week to inform all employees of the layoffs.
He said it will be a "progressive shutdown" beginning in June and that the actual closing will be completed in the third quarter of 2008.
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