Ryan Mulligan Reporter - Philadelphia Business Journal
An aerial view of former Sikorsky plant Coatesville.
A Delaware County aviation company has purchased Chester County's shuttered Sikorsky helicopter plant, in a deal that aims to restore Coatesville's standing as a hub for aircraft development.
Essington-based Piasecki Aircraft Corp. purchased the 28-acre facility for $10.5 million with plans to expand its company and use it as a base for research, development and innovation. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), the parent company of Sikorsky, closed the plant in March 2022 after the prospect was discussed and planned for years but was spared in 2019 following pressure from local lawmakers and President Donald Trump. At one point, the facility employed over 1,000 workers.
The deal is symbolic given Piasecki's long history in rotorcraft innovation, and one that at points intertwines with Sikorsky's. Philadelphia native and University of Pennsylvania alum Frank Piasecki designed the second successful helicopter to fly in the U.S. in 1943. The first was Igor Sikorsky's VS-300 which flew in 1939, four years before Piasecki's.
The vacant Coatesville plant at 110 E. Stewart Huston Drive caught the eye of developers and other real estate investors, but Lockheed Martin and local government officials wanted the facility to stay in line with its intended use, said Gary Smith the CEO of the Chester County Economic Development Council, which helped coordinate the deal.
"We didn’t want land speculators and developers to buy it," Smith said. "It's a beautiful building and is state-of-the-art for this particular use." Smith added that Lockheed Martin "didn't take the highest offer on the building but long-term they got the best match and we tip our hats to them."
Steve Zohrabian, the chief operating officer of Piasecki Aircraft Corp., said the 68-year-old company's "vision for growth" is to initially use the facility for research and development. It could add other programs like aircraft production down the line and expand hiring. Piasecki Aircraft will gradually migrate select programs from its Essington base to Coatesville. The company is currently in the process of fitting out and restructuring the plant, Zohrabian said. Still, Piasecki Aircraft plans to take full advantage of the "220,000 square feet of Class A aerospace facility," Zohrabian said.
The company will maintain its presence in Essington off Route 291 along the Delaware River.
The former Sikorsky plant was the production site for its S-92 and S-76 helicopters. Sikorsky bought the plant in 2014 for $17.9 million, according to property records, and the company was acquired a year later by Lockheed Martin for nearly $9 billion.
Roughly 240 employees lost their jobs when the plant shut down last year.
Smith said the facility has the capacity to house hundreds of jobs. Both Zohrabian and Smith said the site could attract other companies to the area to partner with and supplement Piasecki Aircraft's work in Coatesville. The facility sits adjacent to the Chester County Airport, representing another asset for Piasecki Aircraft to partner with. Smith envisions Coatesville as being a hotspot for helicopter development.
"Piasecki does a lot of innovative work, we’ll be kind of a universal think tank and innovator for rotorcraft innovation and bring in more companies around them that would be compatible and complimentary," Smith said.
Full story: https://tinyurl.com/enudjfsk
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