Former Kunzler & Co. hot dog factory sells for $2M

• By Chris Reber/LNP | LancasterOnline

The former Kunzler & Co. hot dog plant in Lancaster city has been sold for $2 million to a group including the owners of a local heating and air conditioning business who plan to use part of the site as their headquarters.

The buildings at 652 and 655 Manor St. were purchased by Topline Heating & Air owners Lyle Horst and Sam Matsuk, and real estate agent Benuel Esh, in a deal finalized late last month.

The Kunzler plant had been sought for mixed-use housing and retail development by the Lancaster City Revitalization and Improvement Zone Authority. Officials from the city and Lancaster City Alliance, which administers the CRIZ, still hope to realize those plans on the rest of the 3.29-acre site. The new owners say they’re open to the idea, if it makes financial sense.

“The goal is to make it something attractive that’s a benefit to the community. Exactly how that all comes together is what we’re working on now,” Esh said.

The group’s plans include turning a 30,000 square-foot wing on the west side of the site into Topline’s new headquarters, replacing a building it currently leases on Ranck Mill Road in the city.

The majority of the 137,878 square-foot former Kunzler & Co. plant will remain vacant for the time being.

Esh said the eastern wing of the plant, a 40,000 square-foot building including office space and sections with 24-foot ceilings, could be rented out while long-term plans for the site come together. Topline’s section has extra storage space which could be leased as well. Esh said a group of connected buildings between the two wings doesn’t have a clear practical use and would likely have to be redeveloped in the future.

Topline is already in the process of moving into the facility. Over the weekend it hosted an event where they gave away 580 backpacks with school supplies to neighborhood children.

The company’s portion will house storage and training for HVAC technicians, and in the future, office space. The company will use the former Kunzler’s offices at 655 Manor St. for the time being.

Between 70 and 100 Topline employees will be based at the site, mostly service technicians who are in the field during the day. The company’s workforce totals about 300, serving areas of Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.

The company’s techs take their vans home each day. Some tractor-trailer deliveries are expected at the site, but significantly less than was the case when Kunzler’s hot dog plant was operating, Esh said.

---

A LOOK BACK: ‘I thought I’d retire from here’: Kunzler & Co. workers face an uncertain future

---

Chris Delfs, the city’s director of Community Planning and Economic Development, wrote in an email that he thinks Topline will be a strong commercial anchor for the site with less impact on the surrounding neighborhood than Kunzler, and that the city is actively engaged in discussions with the owners about the rest of the site.

“We have expressed the desire to get creative and form partnership to achieve a true mixed-use character and realize the goals of the comprehensive plan for this important Manor Street corridor,” Delfs wrote.

The Kunzler plant closed in December, resulting in the layoff of 193 workers. The closure came after Kunzler & Co.’s sale to Clemens Food Group in May 2024. Clemens unsuccessfully tried to find an operator that would continue using the plant to make hot dogs.

New Mill Capital, a company that buys and sells industrial facilities, had purchased the entire property for $525,000 according to deeds, a figure which doesn’t include the equipment inside the building, which it acquired, and later sold at an auction. The buildings and property were eventually listed for sale with an asking price of $3.9 million.

Earlier this year, New Mill sold another Kunzler building at New Dorwart and Lafayette streets for $700,000.

In April, the CRIZ Authority offered New Mill $500,000 for 652 and 655 Manor St. with the goal of demolishing the hot dog plant and enticing a developer that would build a mix of housing and retail desired by community members. At the time the CRIZ submitted its offer, the owner had already received a higher bid for the property, according to Marshall Snively, acting executive director of the CRIZ Authority and President of Lancaster City Alliance.

Snively wrote in an email to LNP | LancasterOnline that depending on the developer’s plans, CRIZ funding could be a possible resource for the project, and that the city and Lancaster City Alliance are committed to helping achieve a redevelopment that boosts the surrounding area.

“We still see this site as a great and rare opportunity for the SoWe neighborhood and Manor Street,” he wrote.