Charleroi glass plant poised for revival

Driving the news: Sources did not disclose the name of the prospective buyer, but said the company plans to invest millions to renovate the factory.

Flashback: Anchor Hocking announced the factory's closure last year citing a planned consolidation of operations back to Central Ohio and ultimately shuttered it this spring.

• "It's an incredible gut punch to the community. It's devastating emotionally," Charleroi Borough manager Joe Manning told KDKA in April.
• A federal judge ruled late last year that the plant's closure could proceed after the Pennsylvania attorney general's office tried to keep it open.

Friction point: A bipartisan group of lawmakers, union leaders and plant workers had pushed for months to try to keep the facility open.

State of play: The Mon Valley has been hit hard over the decades by industrial job losses. Charleroi's population is down to about 4,200 residents, about one-third of its peak in 1920.

• Some signs of life recently hit the region just south of Pittsburgh when the U.S. Steel sale to Nippon Steel Co. was completed, bringing a pledge to infuse $2.4 billion into the Mon Valley's steel facilities.

What's next: Sources say environmental crews hired by the prospective buyer are soil testing at the site. The deal is expected to be formally announced within the next two months.