Hessco to Make Tubs in West Virginia

Hessco Industries, a La Habra-based manufacturer and marketer of fiberglass tubs, showers and indoor whirlpool baths, said Wednesday it had purchased a vacant factory in Wheeling, W. Va., and will begin making tubs and showers there for distribution to builders in the East.

The factory, formerly a steel corrugating plant owned by Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Co., was purchased for $500,000. Most of the money came in the form of low-interest loans from the State of West Virginia and the City of Wheeling, said Olaf M. Arneson, Hessco’s vice president for finance.

He said the loans were made under a state and city economic redevelopment program. In all, Hessco borrowed $400,000 under two loans carrying annual interest rates of 4% and 5%.

Arneson said Hessco plans to begin manufacturing in Wheeling by the end of the month and hopes to have as many as 300 employees at the long-deserted plant within three years. Hessco currently employs about 250 people in La Habra and 100 in Arizona.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Pittsburgh approved the sale Aug. 27. Wheeling-Pittsburgh has been operating under federal bankruptcy protection since April, 1985.