DUNCANSVILLE The former North American Communications building has a new owner.
Greg Werstil, owner of Werstil Companies, and his wife, Janine, formed Energy Intermodal Associates to purchase the 160,000-square-foot facility at a bankruptcy sale. The property will be called Wye View Center.
North American Communications, a direct mail print production company, filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code and suddenly closed its doors May 20, 2019. At the time, the plant employed about 270 workers.
Founded by Michael Herman in 1979, NAC had become one of the leading vertically integrated direct mail and fulfillment companies in the industry and over the years had become a major employer in the Altoona area. The company reached a peak employment of about 700 in 2000.
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Greg Werstil, a Duncansville-area businessman, five years ago offered to help his neighbor, James Peters, who owns Best Way Pizza, repair a wall separating the two properties, but, what occurred next, Werstil says, is “insane … surreal … truly surreal.”
After the repairs were underway, a zoning officer for the borough took notice of the “fence being constructed or reconstructed,” and ruled that while fences are allowed in the borough, permits for them must be obtained under the borough’s Zoning and Floodplain ordinances.
Werstil was cited on May 25, 2015, for violations of the ordinances, sparking a long court battle that concluded Monday with a ruling by a three-judge panel from Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court that upheld a $100 fine and an award of $4,695 in legal fees paid by the borough to litigate the alleged violations.