Lumber firm coming to Mint Farm
Wednesday, January 11, 2006 6:18 AM PST
By Courtney Sherwood
Printable version
E-mail this articleA Minnesota-based lumber company announced Tuesday that it will build a plant at Longview's Mint Farm Industrial Park that eventually will employ 480 people and generate $100 million annual revenue.
Its first operations -- truss manufacturing -- could be up and running this summer. Full production is expected by 2010.
Lyman Lumber's announcement is a major coup for the city of Longview, which began developing the Mint Farm a decade ago and for years struggled to attract industry to its park.
The news also comes less than a month after Simpson Timber Co. purchased land for a sawmill at the Port of Longview.
Lyman officials broke the news at the Cowlitz Economic Development Council's annual luncheon. More good economic news is likely in the coming year, predicted Longview City Manager Bob Gregory.
"With the number of contacts and inquiries we're getting, it's just a matter of time before somebody else finds that the Mint Farm fits their needs," Gregory said.
He estimated that he's fielding about one inquiry about the property per week -- up from 10 serious leads per year in 2001 and 2002.
"When people see Longview -- not only the Mint Farm, but also the port -- people see that we have a huge advantage," Gregory said. "We have available land and we have a reputation for getting building permits out quickly."
Still, the county has a long way to make up for manufacturing job losses over the past decade. Reynolds Metals/Longview Aluminum left 925 out of work when it closed, and Weyerhaeuser Co. is down 700 workers at its Longview-based operations over the past seven years.
Industrial land and a skilled work force helped attract Lyman Lumber to the area. But it was a factor beyond local control -- Seattle's traffic congestion - that cinched the Longview deal, said John Waldron, senior vice president at the company.
From operations in Burlington, Wash. -- located 70 miles north of Seattle -- Lyman Lumber ships products to Tacoma and Olympia. Road delays and trucking restrictions in the Seattle area slow down shipments and cost the company money, Waldron said.
By building in Longview, Lyman Lumber hopes to have better access to Tacoma and Olympia and expand its sales as far south as Salem, he said.
Lyman Lumber employs 1,800 people through a number of Pacific Northwest and upper Midwest subsidiaries, and the company finished 2005 with just under $500 million in sales -- $100 million in Washington.
Its Longview operations could eventually double its presence in this state and grow the company's national revenues by 20 percent company-wide.
Lyman Lumber will base three separate subsidiary companies at the 37-acre Mint Farm site:
• TCT Truss-Longview, a truss-making company, will open by this summer and employ 190 people by 2010.
• Woodinville Construction Services, a framing labor company, will be complete by 2007, and employ 145.
• Woodinville Lumber-South, a wall panel manufacturer, will open in 2007 and will employ 148 people by 2010.
As part of the purchase agreement, the city and Weyerhaeuser Co. have agreed to invest $6.2 million to improve roads and replace wetlands at the Mint Farm. Weyerhaeuser owns some of the Mint Farm property and will sell 30 of the 37 total acres Lyman will use for its operations.
Plans for these improvements have been in place since the Mint Farm was built late in the 1990s and are triggered by the new development, Gregory said.
Longview will pay roughly $400,000 toward the improvements, he said, with Weyerhaeuser shouldering the rest of the cost. The city's contract to improve wetlands and roads is on the agenda for the next Longview City Council meeting, 7 p.m. Thursday.
These investments in the Mint Farm come after several years of declining prospects at the industrial park, which have recently been reversed.
Flexible Foam opened last year and now employs 60 people. It plans to grow to 100 workers this year.
Mint Farm Energy Center LLC, meanwhile, purchased the industrial park's mothballed Mirant Energy power plant late last year and is exploring whether it can finish construction on its unfinished gas-powered generators.
The city's tax revenues from these projects remain to be seen, City Manager Gregory said.
If the final property value of Lyman Lumber's properties came to $20 million, the city would get about $75,000 per year in property tax revenue, he said.
"We're going to generate business and occupation tax, but until we see revenue and sales coming in I just don't know how to estimate that."
"Where you'll really see their investment pay off, that's when people are buying clothes and cars and going to dinner, but I don't have any empirical data about that economic impact. I wish I did."
Lyman Lumber's Longview plans by the numbers
New jobs: 25 to 30 workers by the end of the year, 480 in three divisions by 2010
Lyman's investment: $15 million to $20 million
Eventual payroll: $20 million yearly
Eventual gross revenue: $100 million or more
Wages: $12 to $21 per hour for most workers ($24,960 to $43,680 per year, if full time)
Size of new campus: 37 acres
Cost of Mint Farm Land: $4.1 million
-- Source: Lyman Lumber
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