By A.K. Dugan, Lebanon Express writer | Posted: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 12:00 am
Hundreds show up to scout goods
Equipment from Weyerhaeuser's Lebanon Lumber mill was auctioned off to the highest bidder on Thursday, Jan. 25. At the end of the day, every stacker, saw system and chip bunker had been sold. When everything has been removed, the remaining structures will be razed and the land sold.
Several hundred prospective buyers showed up at the 7-acre property the day before to tour the former mill and inspect the rows of machines and parts laid out for sale.
Nearly 60 hourly and salaried employees at the mill on Weirich Drive lost their jobs when it closed permanently in August.
Weyerhaeuser spokesperson Mike Moskovitz said Maynards Industries Ltd. of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, managed the auction. James G. Murray Inc. of Portland supplied the auction crew.
Also in August, Weyerhaeuser announced that a new state-of-the-art mill will be built several miles east of Lebanon Lumber at the company's 120-acre Bauman mill site between Highway 20 and Fairview Road. Ground work has begun on the new mill, Moskovitz said.
The new mill is expected to combine the assets of the company's Bauman and Coburg mills and use advanced technology for safer, more efficient production. It will employ about 125 people and produce Douglas Fir dimension lumber, 2x4s and 2x6s, for West Coast markets.
Moskovitz said he could not answer questions about whether Bauman might close during construction of the new facility and what would happen to employees if it does.
The new mill is scheduled to open the first quarter of 2008.
Weyerhaeuser obtained Lebanon Lumber when it purchased Willamette Industries, Inc. in February 2002. The small log mill had been owned by Willamette since 1974, when Willamette bought Bill Bauman's three Lebanon area mills, a trucking business and machine company. Lebanon Lumber was originally built in the 1940s and rebuilt in the 1960s after a fire.
The mill produced about 70 million board feet annually of 2x4 and 2x6 studs, primarily used as framing in homebuilding.
Patrick Lair contributed to this story.