Between 50 and 130 new manufacturing jobs are coming to Knox, where Modern Living Solutions has purchased the former glass plant building and will build a line of “bathroom pods.”
Modern Living Solutions is a fully-integrated modular construction company offering expertise in the design, development, and delivery of modular construction residential products.
The company confirmed this week it purchased the 256,000 square foot industrial factory site on over 40 acres of land in Knox. The sale price was not disclosed.
The CLARION NEWS first learned of the plan when the company applied for a building code variance through Knox Borough in November. The variance sought relief from a code requirement regarding roof insulation as remodeling efforts include plans to install a new roof over the existing roof of the former glass plant.
Knox Borough Council granted that variance request and expressed optimism about the potential for numerous family-sustaining jobs.
Mest said the purchase marks Modern Living Solutions first investment in offsite manufacturing, providing Modern Living Solutions a competitive advantage within the residential housing industry.
“Modern Living Solutions is uniquely positioned to embrace innovation through offsite construction to operate a sustainable, vertically integrated bathroom module business with robust support from capital resources and key partners with a track record of providing best in class products and services in the residential real estate sector,” explained Mest.
Bathroom modules are factory-made turnkey bathrooms sized, designed, and accessorized to specific architectural plans delivered to site, fully tested, and ready for immediate connection.
“The interspersion of bathroom modules into traditional construction consolidates more than ten trades into one prefabricated product,” said Mest. “The benefits of using bathroom modules (“bathroom pods”) are well-documented in the modular construction industry, including higher quality products, shortened schedules, immediate cost savings, less general contractor overhead required on-site, sustainability benefits, and safer construction projects.”
Mest said Modern Living Solutions delivers on its commitment to sustainable development and construction by reducing material waste while decreasing material delivery transportation emissions associated with traditional construction.
New jobs
Modern Living Solutions will create over 50 jobs in its first year of full operations, ultimately creating over 130 permanent jobs in total with future planned phases of expansion, positively impacting the local economy in Northwest Pennsylvania.
Offsite construction expert and Pennsylvania native Andy Mest, managing director, offsite construction, will lead all investment and construction operations for Modern Living Solutions.
“Attentive planning is the foundation upon which all successful projects are built,” said Mest. “We have built a world-class team of expert professionals across the modular construction industry to support this venture.
“Our unsurpassed preconstruction experience enables us to see the master plan and ensure that our plans are designed to attain our capital objectives. Working with our dedicated partners from a project’s earliest stages promises a seamless transition from the design phase to the project site, resulting in fewer construction-phase changes and schedule impacts, and yields cost savings; it also provides a certainty that the finished product we deliver matches our vision.”
Mest continued, “We are optimistic about what Modern Living Solutions will do for the advancement of our industry and our partners success, along with the opportunity to largely contribute to the evolving construction industry through streamlined efficiencies by following and establishing best practices to deliver state-of-the-art residential modules to the residential housing sector.”
Modern Living Solutions is poised for success with a pre-established competitive pipeline with over 2,000-plus pods in queue following the opening of the Modern Living Solutions Modular Factory in August 2021.
About Modern Living Solutions
Modern Living Solutions is a leading fully integrated modular construction company offering expertise in the design, development, and delivery of modular construction residential real estate products.
Headquartered in Knox, at its state-of-the-art offsite manufacturing facility, Modern Living Solutions develops thousands of modular products on behalf of dedicated partners and capital annually.
Modern Living Solutions was founded in 2020 with the intent to become a provider of world-class services in the modular construction residential real estate business.