Armstrong’s Lancaster Plant Shifting to Residentia

Lancaster, PA, April 21--Armstrong, according to the Lancaster New Era, has begun converting the residential flooring section of its Lancaster floor plant into the only section of the plant. The newspaper cited a company spokeswoman. The action follows the company's November announcement that it would phase out production of commercial flooring there by May 2006, cutting 450 jobs at the century-old complex. The newspaper said that to accomplish the change, Armstrong is building a new main entrance and parking lot off Dillerville Road, to serve the residential section of the plant, said Dorothy Brown Smith. The current main entrance and parking lot are off Liberty Street, near the commercial flooring section. To make way for the new 192-space lot, Armstrong is razing several unused buildings, she said. Their size was not immediately available. Armstrong also is moving its memorial garden, which honors American soldiers who served in the nation's 20th and 21st century wars, to a site near the new entrance. Armstrong expects to have the new entrance, new parking lot and memorial garden relocation completed in August or September, said Smith. The company said in November it would spend $8 million to convert the plant into residential-only production, mostly to give the residential section its own, separate utilities. When the transition is completed, the Lancaster floor plant will have 250 employees in 350,000 square feet of buildings on 20 acres. The plant now has 66.5 acres and 2.65 million square feet of buildings, New Era files show. Armstrong, the Economic Development Co. of Lancaster County and Franklin & Marshall College are studying whether the college could use the section of the plant being closed and other sections closed in earlier years.