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4/29/2014 is <br /> Print This Article <br /> NSG-Pilkington selling glass plant, 185 acres <br /> Jason Campbell <br /> jcanipbeff@mantecabufletin.com <br /> 209-249-3544 <br /> Apt-l 29, 2014 <br /> LATHROP - The NSG-Pilkington float glass manufacturing plant is for sale. <br /> On Monday a representative from DTZ - a global firm specializing in high-dollar <br /> sales - confirmed that the 185.59-acre facility will be available for purchase once <br /> the property is finally vacated. <br /> The company's San Francisco-based office will be handling the logistics behind <br /> the transaction. <br /> Production of float glass was halted in January and 43 employees were laid off in <br /> early March. The remaining 45 employees will be tasked with shipping glass and <br /> operating the distribution end of the business until September when the facility <br /> is expected to close for good. <br /> The property is actually comprised of three separate parcels but will be combined <br /> in the sale. The facility opened as the Libbey-Owens-Ford glass plant in the 1962 <br /> and made automotive glass components until New United Motors Manufacturing <br /> Inc. - the Fremont-based that was jointly operated by General Motors and Toyota <br /> - closed in 2010. <br /> It is currently owned by Japan-based Nippon Sheet Glass and still bears the <br /> name of English company Pilkington which bought the facility from LOF. <br /> One of the major contributing factors to its closure was a tightening of air quality <br /> standards by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District - it affected <br /> seven valley glass plants total - that would have required a $100 million <br /> overhaul for the installation of new equipment. Initially NSG said that they would <br /> move forward with the renovations, but those never came. After five or six years <br /> of working with the district, and with a Jan. 1 deadline looming, the company <br /> announced that they would be ceasing operations back in November. <br /> Earlier in the year they were slapped with a $200,000 fine by the California <br /> Department of Toxic Substance Control after it was discovered that the company <br /> had mishandled hazardous waste over a period of six years. According to court <br /> findings, the company was guilty of offenses like improperly storing hazardous <br /> waste and illegally dumping hazardous waste. <br /> 1/2 <br />