When a group of investors decided they wanted to sell their investment property in Humboldt Industrial Park, CAN DO, Inc. stepped in and purchased the building to ensure that its tenant, plastics manufacturer Pretium Packaging, could continue its operations without interruption.

The 123,000-square-foot facility on Forest Road became the latest investment in CAN DO’s real estate portfolio. “We wanted to ensure that Pretium Packaging remains in Hazleton and continues to provide jobs for its approximately 150 employees,” said Joseph Lettiere, CAN DO’s Vice President.

Pretium Packaging, which is the largest manufacturer of plastic bottles and containers in the United States, makes polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene and polyurethane plastic jars for the food processing industry. The company began as Pocono PET in 1985 and joined the Pretium family in 1998. Pretium has expanded three times and doubled the size of the original Humboldt building since purchasing it 18 years ago.

Pretium Packaging was recently featured in Plastics Technology magazine. Company officials spoke in depth about the Hazleton facility, which is Pretium’s largest plant in terms of revenue as well as its largest PET molding plant. The Hazleton facility does at least five changeovers a day in order to service 170 different customers in 400 locations.

Tom Ensley, director of manufacturing at Pretium’s Hazleton facility, told the magazine that the local plant was the best one-step PET facility he’s ever worked in and lauded the abilities of the Greater Hazleton workforce. He said, “The staff is very talented. They are very good at changeovers, which are very well organized.”