[March 05, 2010] Dish Network site closure draws interest Tweet Mar 05, 2010 (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- As Dish Network Corp.'s call center in McKeesport's riverfront industrial park prepares to close its doors today, Allegheny County officials said they have other customer service companies interested in using the facility that employed about 600 last fall. "We've got a number of organizations interested in the call center," including companies positioned "for a quick turnaround and possibly hiring some of the work force," Robert Hurley, deputy director of the county Department of Economic Development, said Thursday. Not only is an experienced work force in place, but the infrastructure to operate is available, said Hurley, who would not identify companies with whom the county has discussed the venue. Dish Network officials have said they would consider leaving some of the call center's equipment in place when it closed, but no details have been worked out, Hurley said. The center is housed in a 105,000-square-foot office building that once was used by U.S. Steel Corp. to produce pipe. The Regional Industrial Development Corp., which owns the site, has fielded interest from other companies in the call center business, said F. Brooks Robinson Jr., vice president of the Downtown-based development agency. Dish Network, based in Englewood, Colo., announced in November the call center would be closing because of operational inefficiencies it did not explain. Spokeswoman Francie Bauer could not be reached for comment yesterday on how many of the 600 employees were still working. Employees at the site declined to comment. She said last week the facility would close today. EchoStar Corp. opened the call center in 1998, and its sign remains atop the building. EchoStar formed Dish Network to provide television programming via satellites, and EchoStar spun off from Dish Network in January 2008. When it opened, EchoStar received $12 million in state and local money for job training and improvements to the center. The state gave EchoStar a total of $3.5 million for job training and improvements, which included a $2 million grant. The state will not seek repayment because Dish and EchoStar fulfilled commitments for obtaining the money, said Luke Webber, a spokesman for the state Department of Community and Economic Development. The call center remained open for five years, fulfilling that requirement, he said. In 2003, the company returned $600,000 of the $2 million grant for failing to reach its goal of hiring 2,000 workers within three years, Webber said. Allegheny County gave Dish Network about $5.4 million in financial assistance, Hurley said. Dish fulfilled its job creation requirements for the grants it received and repaid a $2.5 million loan from the county, he said. RIDC gave Dish $5.1 million so that it could open the facility in the former steel mill. Although Dish Network is not required to repay government money, the state has pursed repayment from other companies that did not fulfill promises made to gain the incentives. Siemens Energy Inc. is refunding $468,750 of the $750,00 in state grants it received in 2001 to build a fuel-cell plant in Munhall, because the Orlando-based company never created the 330 jobs promised, Webber said. Siemens and the state agreed to a partial repayment because Siemens has 8,300 workers in the state, Webber said. Ceratizit USA Inc. in Derry Township, Westmoreland County, may have to repay some of the $125,000 in state money it received last year because it plans to lay off 69 employees, or two-thirds of its work force, on April 25. State officials will review the matter in June. Joe Napsha is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 724-836-5252 or via e-mail. To see more of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/. Copyright (c) 2010, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]