A Maine-based group of companies has purchased the former Old Town pulp mill complex, which has had several different owners in recent years.
OTM Holdings LLC says it plans to redevelop the site into a wood fiber-based complex with multiple tenants. The group’s business development director, Everett Deschenes, says the investors in the project are involved in Maine’s forest industry. He says with so many Maine mills shutting down in recent years, the investors have had problems getting rid of their low-grade fiber.
“We’re not looking at a pulp mill. We’re looking at doing something different with the site and looking at adding value to low-grade forest products,” he says. “The more facilities that get shut down, the more difficult it becomes to manage Maine’s forests and the fewer outlets that exist for the fiber. So that’s where they decided to get involved.”
OTM says it envisions transforming cellulose-based, nonedible fiber and wood waste into clean and affordable high-value fuels, chemicals and milled and engineered wood products. Part of the complex already houses the University of Maine’s Forest Bioproducts Research Institute Techology Research Center.
