By James McLaren, Senior Editor, PPI Pulp & Paper Week, RISI
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20, 2008 - The Vancouver Sun this week reported a court approval of the sale of an idled Pope & Talbot pulp mill in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, to a partnership of former employees and investors for $13 million. But next in line, and offering $20 million, is a developer who wants to turn the Harmac mill site into a real estate development and golf course.
The Sun noted that the demise of the mill – and the potential the developer may still acquire it – is a “shocking wake-up call” to the pulp and paper industry in British Columbia.
“It would be great to see a local success story because of what the mill means to the Nanaimo economy,” industry analyst Kevin Mason told the Sun. “But the game has changed for the pulp industry.”
Indeed, across North America, higher-better uses have emerged for shuttered old pulp and paper mills including apartments, retail stores, yoga and ballet studios, and artist lofts, in some cases hoping that hundreds of jobs lost are replaced with thousands of tenants, shoppers and recreational users. A golf course has long been proposed for the site of a Crown Vantage paper mill in Parchment, MI, that closed in 2000. But eight years later, the site has yet to be completely razed and cleaned up.
A horse racetrack was initially planned for International Paper's mill site in Erie, PA, that now hosts a biofuel manufacturer, one of several examples where bioenergy has supplanted a paper mill. The Erie mill closed in 2002.
New bioenergy plants are proposed for former mill sites including Georgia-Pacific in Old Town, ME, IP in Corinth, NY, Fraser Papers in Berlin, NH, and Wausau Paper at Groveton, NH. Biomass projects at Katahdin Paper in Maine are expected to replace a paper mill in Millinocket that may close later this year and allow another struggling Katahdin mill in East Millinocket to remain in operation.
With their large properties, central locations and historic significance, mill sites in numerous urban areas make for very attractive redevelopment projects, though many languish due to environmental remediation and lack of funding. Mills remain blights on many a local horizon for several years before the properties can be transformed.
Local press reports over the past several months reveal a myriad of long-term efforts to revitalize town centers, many of which grew up around the paper mills. Most involve residences and retail.
Plans for the former Glatfelter paper mill in Neenah, WI, include office, retail, residential and open space that may include preserving the mill's iconic smokestack as a symbol of the town's history.
Glatfelter closed the mill in June 2006 and sold the property to the city's Community Development Authority. Neenah budgeted more than $5 million this year to raze the mill, clean up environmental contamination and prepare the site for development.
Also in Wisconsin, a redevelopment valued at up to $55 million will transform the 15-acre former Consolidated Papers mill in Appleton into riverfront condominiums, offices and restaurants.
In Southwest Michigan, where many a mill closed its doors since the 1990s, several empty factories like the Crown Vantage mill still cast shadows on the local economies.
The city of Plainwell, MI, in 2006 acquired the former Plainwell Paper mill that closed in 2000, with an ongoing vision to redevelop it as a multi-use facility and revitalize the city's downtown.
“How many communities have the opportunity to take 36 acres of their downtown and shape it to exactly what they want to see?” a town official told the local newspaper earlier this year. Yet the mill remains part of an EPA Superfund site.
A lack of funding for cleanup and redevelopment has left the 27-acre property of the Performance Papers mill in nearby Kalamazoo, MI, still empty. Built in the 1890s, the mill was abandoned in 1997.
Mill sites elsewhere also languish. A Diamond International paper mill site in Ogdensburg, NY, is still under redevelopment plans after closing down in 1987. Local officials envision a mix of condominiums and townhouses on the 15-acre riverfront site.
Other locations are faring somewhat better.
The city of Vancouver, WA, is seeking federal and state funds toward redeveloping the 32-acre former Boise paper mill with 2,700 condominiums and apartments, retail space and hotels on a coveted waterfront area. The site was acquired for $19 million and is hoped to become “another little city, right here” the mayor said, adding 20 blocks to downtown Vancouver.
Massachusetts recently provided a $2 million loan toward developing an “urban core” out of the former Lyman Paper mill in Holyoke. Plans are moving ahead to transform a Newark Group mill in Lawrence, MA, into a 280-unit apartment building fronting the Merrimack River in a $70 million investment. The mill closed in 2002. Upscale apartments are planned for the former Mohawk Paper mill in Cohoes, NY, in a $12 million redevelopment project.
A former Curtis Paper mill in Newark, DE, sat dormant for 10 years before being demolished late last year. Some ideas for the site include a community park, museum and athletic field. The smokestack there has been left standing, also for historical reasons. It needs $200,000 in funding to be restored.
Other mill sites are attracting industrial uses other than pulp and paper. IP's former mill in Gardiner, OR, was leveled in May after being closed since 1998. Community leaders are hoping a wave energy plant can be located at the coastal mill site. The value of the site declined from $13 million when it closed to $5 million for salvage, reports said.
A former Champion paper mill in Pasadena, TX, was imploded in April to make way for “future opportunities.” The mill was built in 1937 and closed in 2005.
In Brewer, ME, a company plans to manufacture oil refinery equipment at the former Eastern Fine Paper mill. A coal-to-liquid fuel technology company earlier this year purchased IP's Natchez, MS, mill with plans to reopen and restore high-paying jobs.
Economist Joseph Schumpeter in the 1940s popularized the idea that capitalism was the process of “creative destruction,” generating growth by reallocating resources from failing enterprises to newer industries. But given the wages, benefits and local tax sources that paper mills have provided to countless communities, he may not have envisioned turning old industrial centers into golf courses and shopping malls.
You need to register to post comments on the RISI Website. Registration is FREE and EASY,
click here to sign up.
