Norampac bringing $430M plant to the Falls

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June 28, 2011

By Mark Scheer Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Tue Jun 28, 2011, 12:03 AM EDT

NIAGARA FALLS — The construction of a new $430 million manufacturing plant in Niagara Falls will move forward next month thanks to a hefty financial boost from the state of New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office announced Monday the approval of an incentive package worth $142 million to support the construction of a new paper mill next to the existing Norampac facility on Packard Road.

The deal announced by the governor includes $60 million in brownfield tax credits, 10 megawatts of hydropower from the New York Power Authority, $5 million in Empire Zone tax credits, $3.5 million in state-funded energy efficiency assistance and $500,000 in the form of a utility infrastructure grant from National Grid. The project partners also will be eligible for various resources through the Niagara County employment and training program and the Niagara Falls Water Board.

“Norampac’s decision to invest and create jobs in Niagara County speaks volumes about New York state’s commitment to attracting and retaining business,” Cuomo said in a release issued Monday.

With the incentive package in place, company officials say they expect to begin construction on the new plant in July. The facility will be built next to the existing Norampac facility which currently employs 138 people. The company expects another 108 jobs to be added once the new plant is operational. The project is expected to bring as many as 200 construction workers to the site during construction.

Mayor Paul Dyster called it a “red letter day” in the history of Niagara Falls development, hailing the project as one of the largest investments of its kind in the city in recent decades.

“I think it’s an indication that, not only in terms of our tourism economy downtown, but in our industrial economy, we are turning the corner in the city of Niagara Falls,” he said.

The project came together over a period of about four years with help from the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, the power authority and various state economic development agencies.

“The Norampac expansion is a perfect example of the effective results from the packaging of hydropower with other state and local incentives to attract significant investment to the region and put people to work,” said power authority President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Kessel. “It all comes together with this initiative.”

Norampac is a division of Cascades, Inc., a company that has been producing packaging and tissue products since 1964. Cascades has more than 100 locations in North America and Europe, employing more than 11,000 employees. The company’s Norampac division oversees operations at 37 facilities in the United States and Canada, including the Niagara Falls site and three others in New York. Based in Quebec, Norampac is the largest containerboard producer in Canada with nearly 5,000 employees.

The Falls project is being developed under a partnership between Norampac, Jamestown Container, the Montreal-based bank, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and another industrial partner that was not identified by company officials. The group of partners formed a separate company, Greenpac, LLC, for the purpose of constructing the new facility on Packard Road. The partners say the new Greenpac site will manufacture lightweight linerboard made from 100 percent recycled fibers and will be home to the largest containerboard production machine of its kind in North America, a unit that will be capable of producing 540,000 short tons of product each year. Full production is slated to begin in summer of 2013.

“The Greenpac mill will include numerous technological advances, making it a unique project of its kind in North America,” said Alain Lemaire, president and chief executive officer of Cascades.

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