Corporate Express, one of many businesses expanding in Pennsylvania's booming call center industry, has announced one of the largest job creation projects of its kind in the nation. Locating to a new 80,000 square foot, state-of-the-art customer service center in downtown Wilkes-Barre, which should be operational in the fall of 1998, Corporate Express will provide 1,000 jobs.

Growth projections estimate that the facility could provide as many as 2,000 jobs within five years. The Corporate Express subsidiary, CallCenter Services, will be the primary operation at the Wilkes-Barre facility.

The company manages consumer-oriented customer service applications for inbound and outbound telemarketing services. Current clients include Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bell Atlantic and NationsBank.

The state has committed $7 million in financial assistance to the project, which will be used for customized job training, demolition of an existing structure, infrastructure improvements, site acquisition and environmental remediation.

Earlier this year, Hilton Reservations Worldwide (HRW) opened a regional reservation call center at the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazleton. The center, which employs 150 people and is HRW's first expansion beyond its home base in Texas, provides services for more than 140,000 hotel rooms in 50 countries for 400 Hilton, Conrad International and Vista hotels worldwide. The state has committed funds to the project that include $125,000 in Customized Job Training and $50,000 in Opportunity Grant funding.

The western side of the state also has attracted a major call center investment.

In Oil City, Reese Brothers recently opened a new telecommunications call center, bringing 300 new jobs to the community.

Reese Brothers, which offers telephone marketing for non-profit and commercial clients, also operates call centers in Altoona, Charleroi, Greensburg, Johnstown, Monroeville, New Castle, Pittsburgh and West Mifflin.

Finally, AT&T opened its Information Service Center in downtown Scranton, a 240-work station project that will create between 300 and 500 jobs. The area's labor availability, low crime rate and telecommunications and transportation systems were among the key factors that attracted AT&T.

Downtown Scranton is undergoing a rebirth, explained James Cummings, administrator for The Scranton Plan, a public/private partnership that was instrumental in attracting AT&T.

"Scranton is the home of a new $101 million downtown shopping mall, a $24 million baseball stadium, ski resorts, golf courses, technology parks, and new corporate offices," he said. This year a $31.8 million conference center and hotel are also scheduled to be built.

"Scranton is close to our product developers and piece-part suppliers," said John Nadaskay, chief financial officer of FiNet. The new company chose Scranton based on the city's accessibility to the North American markets it serves.

"It also offers us the flexibility we require for high-volume manufacturing as well as a quality work force nearby," he said.

Back in western Pennsylvania, AT&T has announced another expansion, with plans to locate a new National Telecommunications Relay Center in New Castle. Its new facility, which will employ 150 initially and 300 within three years, is scheduled to open in July. It will provide telephone service to individuals who are deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-disabled.

"Pennsylvania is a significant and increasingly important market for AT&T, and is great from a business standpoint because of the strong work ethic and large, available labor pool," said Susan Hobart, general manager for AT&T's Accessible Communications Services.

Headquartered in Omaha, Neb., Millard Refrigerated Services provides refrigerated warehousing and specialized processing services such as boxing, exporting, distribution, and transportation. The state provided over $3 million in funding to support the project, including $2 million from the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority and more than $1 million from the Infrastructure Development Program through the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Additional infrastructure funds also will improve an intersection that will benefit other employers in the area, including Nestle, Coca-Cola USA, Perrier, Kraft, Stroh's, Americold, Filmtech Corp., Cott Beverages USA, and DSC Logistics.

GPU Energy worked with officials from both Keystone Powdered Metals and Governor Ridge's office to restructure its rates and offer a competitive solution.