Santelli Tempered Glass Reportedly Closes Doors
September 6, 2012

by Penny Stacey, pstacey@glass.com

Santelli Tempered Glass, based in Monessen, Pa., has reportedly closed its doors, according to local reports from Ocala, Fla., where the company opened its second location in January 2010.

The company had followed with a third location in Elkhart, Ind., in July 2010, but had sold that operation in December 2011 to Cleer Vision Windows Inc.

According to local reports published in 2010, the company had chosen to open the Ocala location based on a $249,294 incentive package provided by the city to expand the business there. According to the latest report, published late yesterday, the Ocala City Council now has voted to sue the company for failing to meet the obligations of the incentive plan, and plans to seek $26,616 plus interest for the money the city had previously paid the company.

Joseph Santelli, president of the company, has gained notoriety for growing his business amid the economic downturn, and in 2011 was named the Pennsylvania Small Business Person of the Year.

In an interview with USGNN.com™ in March 2011, Santelli said he hoped to open a fourth location by March 2012 and to have identified a location for a fourth. He also offered a comment on the state of the industry and what he expected in the future.

"It's obvious that all the bad news with bankruptcies and consolidations is not finished yet," he said in March 2011. "They say timing is everything, and for several companies over the last couple of years the saying proved to be so true. Great companies, run by very good businesspeople, expanded several years ago because their sales and the economy told them to do so and they ended up on the wrong side of this recession. Barber Glass, Coastal Glass and Traco, to name a few, were well-run companies that expanded at inopportune times. We all must learn from this and hope their experiences will keep us from suffering the same fate."

The company's phone at its headquarters in Monessen was disconnected at press time. The company's website had been removed, and emails sent to an external email address at which USGNN.com previously had contacted Santelli were returned as undeliverable. Emails sent to Santelli and other company officials via their Santelli Tempered addresses had not been answered at press time.