Mill considers expanding along Route 2 Pleasant River Lumber Co. talking with landowners

A Dover-Foxcroft-based spruce mill is looking to expand operations into the Route 2 corridor between Old Town and Lincoln with a new mill that will employ 50 to 70 people, its owners said Wednesday.

The new Pleasant River Lumber Co. mill is expected to begin operating late next year, with construction starting this fall on a site not yet determined, said Luke Brochu, a company owner and president.

“We believe that the resource being generated in that area is sufficient to supply a mill of this size, and the future is very promising for being able to supply this mill long term,” Brochu said Wednesday. “Anywhere in the corridor there will be an available work force that will put together a team that will make this mill a success.”

There is one caveat: the completion of a resource study analyzing region forests and their long-term growth and removal prospects, Brochu said. The James Sewell Co. of Old Town is doing the study. Company officials expect positive results.

The new spruce dimension lumber mill will take spruce logs and cut them for housing construction use to be shipped primarily from Portland to Richmond, Va., although Pleasant River ships nationwide, Brochu said.

The mill’s startup goal will be to produce 50 million board feet annually via a single shift, with a second shift eventually added to create 100 million board feet, he said.

Lincoln Town Manager Glenn Aho was pleased to hear his was among the towns being considered.

“I would say a business plan as such is very sensible for a full-service community like Lincoln,” Aho said. “We have the services, we have the power, the Fire Department, and moreover we have land. I would hope that if there’s anything Lincoln officials can do to promulgate this business plan that we’d be contacted.”

Pleasant River officials are reviewing sites in Costigan, Enfield, Howland, Lincoln and Passadumkeag, Brochu said. They are meeting with landowners now and will meet with municipal leaders later. They hope to have a decision by August.

The eventual site must have access to adequate power supplies, workers, railroads and highways, Route 2 being a key element of the latter, Brochu said.

Pleasant River’s Dover-Foxcroft mill is being modernized to eventually produce 100 million board feet of spruce, Brochu said. It is due to be finished in July. The mill employs 90 people.

Dover-Foxcroft officials applied last month for a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant to extend public water to the lumber company as part of its $4 million expansion.

The business assistance grant would allow the town to extend the water main from the Foxcroft Center Road to the lumber company.

The company broke ground on its expansion in October. It is Piscataquis County’s first Pine Tree Zone business. Under the Pine Tree program, the state grants zone inhabitants a 100 percent corporate tax break for the first five years and a 50 percent break for the next five, among other tax incentives.

The Brochu group bought the Pleasant River Lumber Co. from Gerard Crete and Fils of Quebec in June. The group includes Rodney Irish, a CPA and former partner at Berry, Dunn, McNeil and Parker, an accounting and consulting firm.

Anyone interested in talking to Pleasant River about available land is asked to call Vice President Jason Brochu at 564-8520, ext. 202.