"We don't want to see anybody get hurt"

May 25—GROVE CITY — An uptick in trespassers at Hall Industries Inc. in Grove City has the company, law enforcement and community asking questions.

"We don't know what they're after," said Tony Kaper, vice president of operations for Hall Technical Services LLC.

The company — headquartered in Franklin Township, Beaver County, near Ellwood City — took over the former Cooper Bessemer property along Lincoln Avenue and it has been in operation since 2021, making aviation products.

While trespassing on the property isn't new, the incidents in recent months raise concerns about safety and liability, especially since it's no longer a vacant site, said Kaper and Chris Taggart, interim chief of Grove City Police Department.

There's industrial machinery and areas of high voltage.

"It's very active and very alive. We don't want to see anybody get hurt," Kaper said.

Most of the trespassers are in groups and in their late teens and early 20s, though there was one 12-year-old who was caught in possession of marijuana.

The incidents happen overnight, and Kaper and Taggart wonder what the yong people are doing running around at that hour.

The borough's curfew ordinance says that children under the age of 18 are not permitted unaccompanied from 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and midnight to 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

All of the suspects have been identified and issued defiant trespass citations, and authorities are in favor of community service in lieu of a fine.

"We're not trying to ruin their lives," Taggart said.

The trespassers have not stolen anything as far as Kaper and Taggart know, but there is repetitive property damage, mangled fences and graffiti, that requires repairs.

On Thursday morning, maintenance worker Tony Parenti was repainting an outer wall next to Wolf Creek that had been tagged.

There's also graffiti along the walkway that follows the creek to a catwalk underneath the bridge.

Kaper has personally replaced some of the wooden railings that separate the walkway from the creek.

He pointed out a street sign on the walkway dubbed "Mary Kay Way," named for Mary Kay Mattocks, Grove City council's president. He has enjoyed hearing her stories about riding her bike in that neighborhood as a child.

Parenti hung up one of the many "no trespassing" signs that are visible throughout the property.

The signs also note that anyone on the property is being recorded. Police have been able to identify every trespasser that way thanks the surveillance system's high-quality images, Taggart said.

He figures there is some kind of allure to the place that keeps attracting the trespassers, and they're likely "good kids who made a bad decision."

For those interested in seeing the property's revival, like former Cooper Bessemer employees, Kaper is happy to give tours.

"We've always been very "open door" about everything," he said.

Hall Industries continues to make improvements to the property in an effort to bring the building back to its former glory.

"We do a lot of cool stuff," Kaper said.

The company is the sole supplier of push bars — hardware used for towing large airplanes on the ground — for Southwest Airlines, which named Hall Industries its 2020 Innovator of the Year.

They also assemble catering trucks that bring food to airplanes on the runway. On the shop floor, machine operator Steve Clark was bending metal Thursday for new pedestrian railings at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Over the past two years, Hall Industries' Grove City site has gone from 10 to 70 employees, and it's always hiring.

Hall is also active with community outreach. It sponsors Grove City Strawberry Days and works with the YMCA on sponsoring athletics clinics at the YMCA facilities in Pine Township, Franklin and Hermitage.

The company donated $10,000 to build a new dock at the pond in Grove City Memorial Park and has two interns from Grove City College.

Kaper said he hopes that sets a good example for others aiming to take pride in where they live and work.

"This is our town. Why do we want to destroy it?" he asked of the trespassers.

The Cooper Industries plant, which made compressors for natural gas and other industries, closed decades ago. The property covers 468,000 square feet, and some parts of the facility are rented out to other manufacturers.

Hall Industries was founded in 1966 on Pittsburgh's South Side by Harold Hall, an engineer and World War II veteran, and the company is still owned by the Hall family.