Pleasantville Will Soon Be Home of J.A. Henckels Headquarters

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Zwilling J.A. Henckels, the oldest knife company in the world, intends to move its headquarters to Pleasantville in the near future. 

Village Mayor Peter Scherer said he is ecstatic about the move, which adds more commerce to Pleasantville.  “I am delighted to announce that we will have such a significant company in the village economy,” Scherer said. 

Scherer said that J.A. Henckels is in agreement to move into the abandoned facility building that previously housed Medical Laboratories Associates on the corner of Marble Avenue and Castleton Street.  The property was previously owned by the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company and has been vacated since 2001.  J.A. Henckels reported at a board of trustees work session Monday night that they will keep the majority of the building as is and that only a few modifications, such as raising the roof in certain locations, will be made.  The knife company plans to file its necessary forms with the Pleasantville Planning Commission by Jan. 11 and hopes to move into the building at some point in 2012. 

In June, J.A. Henckels President and CEO Guido Weishaupt said a move from the current Hawthorne headquarters was necessary due to space constraints, but that he had no intention of moving out of Westchester. 

"We feel we are a part of Westchester in a way with so many years here and most of my people here at the company are from Westchester so why move the company if everything is running in the right direction?" Weishaupt said in a June interview. 

The building off Marble Avenue is a 144,000 square foot facility that will be home to the knife company’s storage warehouse along with marketing, product development, information technology and administrative departments.  According to John Henkel, vice president of finance and operations at J.A. Henckels, the headquarters features around 75 employees and will typically receive three shipments a day from tractor-trailer trucks during the weekdays.

Village trustee Brian Skarstad said the addition can create a positive ripple effect for Pleasantville. “This is going to bring 75 people a day out into our village, to delis and coffee shops and that helps out other local businesses as well,” he said. 

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