The former Truck-Lite plant in Falconer. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

A business with more than 60 years of history tied to Chautauqua County is officially moving its headquarters — and with it about 100 remaining jobs — across the state line to Pennsylvania.

Truck-Lite Co. announced it will set up shop by the end of this year at Knowledge Park at the Penn State Behrend campus near Erie. Truck-Lite will lease nearly 30,000 square feet at the college business park, a long-time partner, for its office operations.

The manufacturer of truck and trailer safety lighting already had closed its longtime East Elmwood Avenue plant in Falconer in 2020 and had been eyeing relocating the remaining corporate office workforce. County officials and members of the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency had hoped Truck-Lite would consider remaining local, offering a bevy of incentives that included land at no cost to build a new site at the Mason Industrial Park along with a generous Payment In Lieu Of Tax (PILOT) agreement and a $900,000 grant.

While disappointed by Truck-Lite’s decision to move its remaining presence out of the county, Mark Geise, chief executive officer of the IDA, said he feels good knowing officials likely did everything possible to keep the manufacturer here.

“At the end of the day, I know we did everything we could,” he said. “Honestly, I feel really, really good. We went above and beyond and it wasn’t enough. Maybe they already had their minds made up.”

In April, Geise first confirmed that Truck-Lite had been looking at relocating about 100 employees from Falconer. The options at the time included remaining in Chautauqua County at a new, more economically feasible location; move to a new site to be constructed over the state line in Warren County; or move operations to the Erie, Pa., region.