Icon (Close Menu)

Logout

Caddo River Forest Products to Restart Glenwood Sawmill, Employ 136

3 min read

Caddo River Forest Products announced Wednesday that it will invest $50 million to reopen the sawmill in Glenwood and create 136 full-time jobs.

Plans are to begin manufacturing dimensional and speciality lumber by spring 2017, according to David Henderson, a member of Caddo River partnership. He added that the company expects to see the creation of another 200-300 “indirect” jobs for loggers, landowners and transportation specialists.

Henderson was joined by city, county and state economic development officials to announce the project at a news conference in Little Rock.

The state will provide almost $1.5 million in incentives, including a $339,000 Community Development Block Grant for infrastructure and payroll and sales tax rebates, according to Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

AEDC spokesman Scott Hardin told Arkansas Business the company would receive a Create Rebate equal to 4.5 percent of their total payroll for the next four years and would be refunded sales tax paid on construction materials and equipment it purchases to improve the facility. 

Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Economic Development Administration announced a $817,726 grant to the city of Glenwood for water and infrastructure improvements to accommodate the sawmill. Improvements include a waterline extension and roadway fixes to increase capacity for heavy, load-bearing trucks.

Preston said the project was three years in the making, with AEDC involved in about the last year. He said the plant will generate $4.5 million in annual payroll and benefit south Arkansas.

Henderson said the seller of the property, Caterpillar Financial, helped make the project possible.

“We don’t always get an opportunity to create jobs and make an impact in the community, but this is an opportunity like that, and that does bring joy to your work…,” Henderson said. “We’re excited.”

The mill was originally built by Georgia Pacific in the early 1970s, and employed about 200 people at its peak before it closed.

“This is great example of a community coming together after what was really a pretty devastating development at this saw mill that ended up closing down,” said Jorge Ayala, regional director of the EDA. “A lot of committees would have just thrown their hands up and said, ‘Well, we can’t do anything about it,’ and moved on.”

Glenwood Mayor Ron Martin said the jobs will be great for residents of the rural area because “there is joy in work” and making a living for your family. He thanked all involved in getting the project off the ground.

The plant, in Pike County, is the latest forest products operation to be announced this year.

In April, Shandong Sun Paper Industry of China announced it selected nearby Clark County for a pulp mill plant that will cost between $1 billion and $1.3 billion to build and employ 250 people.

Also Wednesday, the EDA announced a $380,000 grant to the Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District, which is headquarter in Pine Bluff.

That money will help develop a drainage system to improve the safety and longevity of railroad infrastructure in Chicot County, according to an EDA news release.

In 2008, Hurricane Gustav dumped up to 12 inches of rain in Chicot County and at least two more instances of major flooding have impacted businesses and jobs in the region. The railroad drainage improvements made under the grant will run from Lake Village to the Arkansas/Louisiana state-line in Chicot County.

“The Obama administration is committed to ensuring that our communities have the critical infrastructure they need to support businesses while making them more resilient to natural disasters,” said Jay Williams, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “The EDA investment will provide a drainage system that will safeguard railroad infrastructure from the impact of future flood events to protect commercial activities and jobs.”

Send this to a friend