What’s next, after Lititz’s Wilbur chocolate factory closes?
FILE PHOTO: Then-Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama talks with the candy makers at the Wilbur Chocolate Museum and Candy Store in Lititz on March 31, 2008.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
(Lititz) — As a midstate borough gets ready to lose an economic cornerstone, a strategy is being developed to ease the hit. Some see an overhaul of the Wilbur Chocolate factory in downtown Lititz as a possibility.
About 130 people will lose their jobs at the start of the new year, as Cargill closes the historic factory.
Helping laid-off workers is top priority, but leaders in the borough expect to start working on the future of the building as well.
Lisa Riggs with the Economic Development Company of Lancaster County says they are already engaged and talking about solutions.
She says, as more young people get full-time jobs, it could make sense to leave the building’s manufacturing past behind.
“Now they lend themselves to funky offices or boutique hotels or residential apartments. There’s a whole host of new uses that a building like this may have,” says Riggs.
Riggs says Lititz already has the key pieces needed for success.
“There’s just such a sense of community pride in Lititz and so much investment in the long-term health of Lititz that we’re optimistic that this building has a strong future life.”
She adds the Economic Development Company of Lancaster County is already talking with Cargill to find out what else it might be able to do to ensure the company’s two other factories in the county continue to operate
Cargill has one plant in Lititz and another in Mount Joy.
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