Update on the future for the St Mary’s Paper Mill site

NEWS RELEASE

RIVERSEDGE DEVELOPMENT INC.

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Update on the future for the St Mary’s Paper Mill site

A month ago St Mary’s Paper mill has been officially purchased by Ontario-based Riversedge Development Inc. through an Ontario court approved receivership process.

Riversedge is a company with expertise in redeveloping industrial properties in Ontario and Michigan.

Over the course of this year, the Riversedge team will be undertaking a number of activities to prepare the former St. Marys Paper property for redevelopment.

The first step will be the decommissioning of the mill.

Early on, Riversedge invited both the Sault Ste. Marie Museum and Library to identify and collect artifacts of historic value for preservation in their respective collections.

As part of the decommission process, the paper-making equipment is currently being conserved and prepared for auction.

North America’s largest machinery auction house Hilco Industrial is cataloguing the mill’s equipment inventory and they will invite a global audience for a concurrent live and online auction held during the second half of June.

After the auction the remainder of the obsolete machinery will be removed and the old production buildings will be taken down to make place for new development.

This process will take up the remainder of the year into early next.

The sandstone buildings on the property are to be preserved where feasible for their heritage significance and will be part of any new development.

In this special year in the community with the City’s 100th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the International Bridge, the old mill will get a new future.

The entire 38 acre property will become available for redevelopment.

Adjacent to the Gateway property and the downtown core, the addition of this land creates an opportunity for the City to re-examine the future growth, development and uses of this historic part of the city centre.

Over the course of the summer and fall, Riversedge will be conferring with City staff, the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation and other key community stakeholders to examine range of options for the property with objective of creating an integrated plan for the area.

Certified officials of the Sault Ste. Marie press can register to obtain an invitation to the press information session and site visit to be held on May 23 at 4 p.m.

Access to the worksite is strictly prohibited.

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