WATERFORD — A northwestern Pennsylvania potato chip plant may soon be back in the business of making snacks again.

According to an Erie newspaper, a buyer has signed a letter of intent to buy the former Troyer Farms plant near Erie.

John Elliott, president of the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corp. wouldn't identify the buyer of the Waterford Township property, but he said it is an out-of-state snack food maker.

The newspaper cited a legal notice over the weekend saying the development corporation is seeking permits for a $7 million project to extend municipal water to the plant from Waterford and pay for design and construction of an onsite water treatment plant.

“This company, which has hundreds of employees, is having a hard time hiring in their other location and having a hard time distributing into the East Coast. Like a lot of these food processors, they are located in the Midwest,” Elliott said.

The property, owned by Mark Troyer, had been leased to Bickel's Snack Foods, which bought the Troyer Farms snack food business in December 2008.

PITTSBURGH — Mayor-elect Bill Peduto and Pittsburgh's best-known fish market, Robert Wholey & Co. are looking for a new home for the business' iconic smiling fish sign.The 100-by-60-foot sign has been in place for 25 years on Wholey's cold storage building in the city's Strip District, a section dominated by food wholesalers and other merchants.Wholey's sold the building in 2007 and now a developer plans to remove the sign when the building is renovated to house 144 apartments.Peduto says he'd like to see the Senator John Heinz History Center take over the sign. The center, which specializes in Western Pennsylvania history, did something similar with the former H.J. Heinz Co. pouring ketchup sign a few years ago.Wholey's will pay to install the sign and foot its monthly electric bill.