An exterior view of the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
One of the bins at the former Libbey Glass Plant at 4302 Jewella Ave. littered with cullett, or broken glass. dry storage cabinet
The silos on the south side of the Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
A tall conveyor belt to move sand for the glass into the furnace room of the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
Looking through a complex maze of pipes in the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
Several of each of the products produced at the plant over the years were kept at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
Some of the oldest floor in the former Libbey Plant in Shreveport, La., is made of wood "bricks."
One side of Furnace A, the largest of the three furnaces at the former Libbey Plant in Shreveport, La.
The side view of Furnace A, the largest furnace remaining at the former Libbey Glass in Shreveport, La.
Some of the products made over the years at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
When the former Libbey Plant in Shreveport, La., closed, employees left all the items in their offices.
Realtor Chris Stokes looking at the small "mine train" line that run through several of the former Libbey Plant's buildings.
A hallway sign at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La., touting the 'World Class' facility.
The 170,000-square-foot warehouse at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
One of the machinist/mechanic's buildings at the former Libbey Plant in Shreveport, La. Much of the plant equipment was repaired by employees on site.
Realtor Chris Stokes explains the batch mixing at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
A piece of equipment in the main furnace room being tagged for sale at the upcoming auction at the former Libbey Glass, Shreveport, La.
Boxes of wine glasses and other glass products produced at Libbey Glass in Shreveport, La., sitting in the warehouse.
The oldest part of the former Libbey Glass in Shreveport, La. It's a attic space used for storage that Realtor Chris Stokes says "feels like many of the historic buildings in downtown Shreveport."
An exterior view of the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
One of the bins at the former Libbey Glass Plant at 4302 Jewella Ave. littered with cullett, or broken glass.
Looking through a complex maze of pipes in the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
Several of each of the products produced at the plant over the years were kept at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
Some of the oldest floor in the former Libbey Plant in Shreveport, La., is made of wood "bricks."
When the former Libbey Plant in Shreveport, La., closed, employees left all the items in their offices.
A hallway sign at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La., touting the 'World Class' facility.
The 170,000-square-foot warehouse at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
Realtor Chris Stokes explains the batch mixing at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
A piece of equipment in the main furnace room being tagged for sale at the upcoming auction at the former Libbey Glass, Shreveport, La.
Boxes of wine glasses and other glass products produced at Libbey Glass in Shreveport, La., sitting in the warehouse.
The oldest part of the former Libbey Glass in Shreveport, La. It's a attic space used for storage that Realtor Chris Stokes says "feels like many of the historic buildings in downtown Shreveport."
What do you do with an 851,672-square-foot plant outfitted with three furnaces and a conveyor belt that once produced glass stemware, glasses and tableware sold in department stores around the U.S.? It is something that Realtor Chris Stokes of Walker-Alley & Associates thinks a lot more about now that he has the listing on the former Libbey Glass plant.
Stokes is a relatively recently minted Realtor of seven years who has the energy to take on tough projects, and when the opportunity arose to help position the 54-acre industrial site in the middle of Shreveport for possible future opportunities, he jumped.
One side of Furnace A, the largest of the three furnaces at the former Libbey Plant in Shreveport, La.
"It's a unique listing. That's kind of what I do. Malls, old properties that no one else wants to mess with," Stokes told The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate after a recent plant tour. He is a firm believer that every site should have a second chance, and possibly a third or fourth.
Stokes acquired the listing in January, a much better time of year to walk the thousands of steps needed to show the giant, meandering facility to prospective buyers.
There are full basements with one and two stories above filled with the trappings of the glass trade — furnaces, high-flying conveyor belts, giant mechanical equipment, floors covered in broken glass, embedded rails for a former mine-sized train that used to haul heavy loads across the factory floor. There is a batch house, guard house, a free-standing administration office building, a shed shop, and the most recent build, a 170,000-square-foot warehouse constructed in 1977.
A tall conveyor belt to move sand for the glass into the furnace room of the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
The plant, owned by several companies over the years, was built room by giant room starting in the early 1900s. When the facility was in action, mostly men tended fires fueled by natural gas at temperatures up to 4,000 degrees to heat furnaces that held up to 220 tons of molten product. The multiple lines that produced mugs, wine glasses and other products the Shreveport plant was known for ran 24 hours per day.
Stokes' listing is, to put it in a non-technical way, a doozy.
On the day we toured, employees with the plant's current owner, Capitol Environmental Risk Transfer Alliance, or Certa, were tagging outdated products for an upcoming auction, the second to be held at the plant. Products and equipment not taken by Libbey when it officially closed its doors in December of 2020 due to "declining demand" still have value in other countries. There is also value in the metal to scrappers and recyclers.
The side view of Furnace A, the largest furnace remaining at the former Libbey Glass in Shreveport, La.
Furnace A, the furnace that employees who are still at the plant call "the workhorse," will remain.
"It's kind of like baking a cake," Stokes explained. "We have a batch house out there that mixed all the materials that were poured into the furnace, and then the furnace melted it all down and shifted it out to these brick heated conveyors."
Stokes told me that furnace and those conveyors could work for other glass manufacturers who would be looking for an additional plant. Or, he said, "a new company could come in and make plate glass or solar panels. There's a lot of discussion about domestic solar panel construction. It could do that. We've had it analyzed. It's not plug-and-play, there would need to be some changes, but all the basics are here." He has also talked to bitcoin mining operators and even to people with Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.
One of the machinist/mechanic's buildings at the former Libbey Plant in Shreveport, La. Much of the plant equipment was repaired by employees on site.
There are more than basics at the property at 4302 Jewella Ave. There are also some serious manufacturing amenities that cost time, money and even with both, might be unobtainable to a new facility. There is a Union Pacific rail spur that rolls into the heart of the plant. There is enough electrical power to light up a neighborhood. There is natural gas and a plentiful supply of city of Shreveport water and there is oil storage. There are 17 loading docks, an overhead crane, 800 parking spaces, and 10 buildings in total.
The North Louisiana Economic Partnership (NLEP) has taken notice of the property. NLEP Executive Director Justyn Dixon says his organization sees the value in the electrical supply, rail spur, infrastructure, and stone's throw proximity to Interstate 20 and has been marketing it to multiple entities.
"When everything was decommissioned, it was cleaned out and cleaned up. There aren't environmental issues here in the plant itself," said Stokes.
Realtor Chris Stokes looking at the small "mine train" line that run through several of the former Libbey Plant's buildings.
Another option if there are no takers for plate glass or solar panel production is to market the 54-plus acres as a certified site. Those are locations, certified by Louisiana Economic Development, that are development-ready and have the zoning necessary for many types of manufacturing uses.
"We have had several offers from people who see a value in scrapping and repurposing the plant and turning it into a development — a certified site," Stokes told us. "If it can't be glass again, it's going to be a certified site when I get done with it. It will be for Shreveport one way or the other."
Some of the products made over the years at the former Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
Jason Taravella, a 30-year employee and former Libbey plant supervisor joined us for a portion of the tour. He remembered when the plant was active day and night with over 1,500 employees, a 24-hour operation with a distribution center. "We were just 500 with seven lines when we shut down," he told me.
Thomas Schafer, who also spent a career with Libbey, talked about the self-sufficiency of the former plant. "We had our own equipment and our own employees that repaired it, we machined our own molds. We had the capabilities to do that." Stokes chimed in, "You couldn't just pick up a phone and call someone to come fix something out here when it broke."
The property is listed at $8 million. Portions of it are still standing from the early 1920s and may have actually been constructed earlier including an old timber-filled attic space that Stokes compared to "any of the older buildings in downtown Shreveport" in terms of appeal.
It is a part of the history of Shreveport and the region, but it may not be a part of its future.
The silos on the south side of the Libbey Glass Plant in Shreveport, La.
As we continued our tour, Stokes reiterated the value of the infrastructure at the plant and stopped at a row of silos. "G-Unit could buy this and paint it white; you could see it from the Interstate," he said, with a smile.
Email Liz Swaine at Liz.Swaine@theadvocate.com.
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