Mon Valley LaunchBox hosts opening of new location after 2022 explosion
MCKEESPORT, Pa. (KDKA) — An explosion last August left a small business incubator in McKeesport without a home.
It was Aug. 2, 2022, when the Common Ground Building on Ninth Avenue exploded, doing significant damage to the building and injuring two. The blast left the Penn State Greater Allegheny's launch box program without a home until Thursday, when the Mon Valley LaunchBox hosted its grand opening at its new location along Fifth Avenue.
The new facility is in a former bank and allows entrepreneurs and established small business owners to grow and learn from each other.
The program also will help individuals complete their GEDs and pursue higher education. For officials, the explosion and coming back from it wasn't easy. But in its own way, the explosion taught some business lessons of its own.
"Isn't it the perfect analogy for being an entrepreneur?" said Megan Nagle, the interim chancellor of Penn State Greater Allegheny. "You are going to face these challenges, you're going to get knocked down."
"The Mon Valley Launch Box was created to be a win-win-win situation where the community wins, the university wins and the community wins," said Eric Ewell, director of the Mon Valley LaunchBox.