Sealed Air Corp. to stay in tech park

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Lamendola

A Schenectady County manufacturer with 100 employees will retain operations in the Glenville Business and Technology Park, local officials announced Thursday, after receiving economic development incentives.

Sealed Air Corp. has signed a new seven-year lease at its 300,000-square-foot facility with park owner, The Galesi Group. Galesi will make $2 million in upgrades to the company’s plant. The Metroplex Development Authority will provide a $100,000 grant toward the effort.

Loss of Sealed Air Corp. would have been hard felt, Gillen said. Sealed Air is in the same park as Super Steel, which announced earlier this month it was shutting its Glenville plant and laying off its entire work force of 175 employees by April.

“In this economy, we are fighting to keep every job and every company we can while continuing our efforts to attract new jobs and investment,” Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen said. “This is important. They are a major firm.”

Local officials have been working to keep Sealed Air in the county for the last six months, Gillen said. “Their lease had expired and had a search firm looking at other sites in and out of the county and the state,” he said. “This company has a strong order book and there was a competitive threat here.”

The $2.1 million will add fire sprinklers, make changes to the production line and other improvements to the building to help reduce the company’s insurance costs, Gillen said. Sealed Air is not receiving any other economic development incentives.

The plant is in the old Navy Depot buildings, which have been retrofitted over the years for various companies in the industrial park off Route 5.

Earl Booth, supply chain coordinator for Sealed Air, said Glenville offers the company an “ideal place for our employees to live and work and we are grateful for the assistance we have received from Schenectady County in helping us maintain our business in this region.”

Sealed Air has operated a manufacturing plant in the county for more than 17 years. The company produces packaging and other materials for the food, industrial and medical industries and for consumer applications. It operates 100 manufacturing plants and has operations in 51 countries.