Ruston-based Hunt Forest Products and its Canadian partner, Tolko Industries, will build a $115 million high-tech sawmill in Urania, a LaSalle Parish community in the heart of Louisiana’s $11 billion timber industry.
The project is expected to create 110 new permanent jobs with average yearly salaries upwards of $46,000, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development announced the project this morning and estimates it will also result in another 307 new indirect jobs.
Construction of the sawmill will begin in April and operations are expected to begin early next year. It will be built on 125 acres of the old 285-acre Louisiana Pacific sawmill site, LED says.
LED says it began discussing the project with Hunt in June and is offering an incentive package that includes a $1 million forgivable loan and workforce assistance via the LED FastStart program. The company is also expected to use the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption and Quality Jobs programs. The industrial exemption offers a full abatement of local property taxes for a decade on new capital investment, while the jobs program provides a cash rebate of up to 6% of the company’s payroll on new jobs created for 10 years.
Tolko Industries will own a 50% stake in the sawmill, which Hunt will manage and operate. The project marks the first U.S. venture for the 60-year-old company that’s based in Vernon, British Columbia.
