The new owner of the idled Resolute Forest Products mill property is breaking his silence.
Riversedge Developments only completed a deal with Resolute about a month ago.
It’s now giving the public an opportunity to tour the facility.
It’s enlisted Wayne Allen, a former long-time employee at the mill, to take people through to view the mill property.
Developer Justus Veldman says it’s something they did with another former mill property they took over in Sault Ste. Marie.
“It’s important for the community to see the asset. When we did the same in Sault. Ste. Marie, we actually ended up getting a lot of facts from the community on what it is the community thinks we should be focused on. We got a lot of positive feedback through those tours and visits.”
“Also from a knowledge perspective to get some opinions of the former employee on some of the assets and how easy it is or not easy it is to restart.”
Veldman says he has no concrete plans at this moment for the buildings. He confirms he has been in discussion with some of the firms who’ve expressed interest in restarting the mill. While not naming who, Veldman says it includes a company interested in producing brown bag packaging. Rainy River Packaging, formerly Repap, had expressed interest in the mill earlier this year only to have its offer rejected by Resolute.
“We’re going through as we promised right now with some proponents who’ve shown an interest through due diligence to see if it’s viable to restart. It does need a tremendous amount of work but we’re giving that some time.”
Veldman says there’s also been some interest in setting up a cannabis grow operation. There are also other opportunities he’s discussing but nothing to announce just yet. He says it’s possible there could be multiple uses of the site. Veldman is planning to hold an open house at a later date.
“We’re gonna have an open house for 300-400 people to come. They can ask pointed questions. These projects are not easy. There’s a lot of rumors out there but the same token our track record does speak for itself.”
Those interested in a tour right now can contact Mitch Lepage, Riversedge Developments Asset Manager at mitch@riversedgedevelopments.com.
