New Life for Old Pulp Mill Sites in Southeast.

• Author: SWAGEL, WILL
• Position: Sawmill Cove Industrial Park; includes other information - Statistical Data Included

At the end of the road in Sitka, six miles out to Silver Bay, a season of construction, remediation and renovation has infused the old Alaska Pulp Corp. mill site with life and activity for the first time since the mill closed eight years ago.

Renamed the Sawmill Cove Industrial Park, the 200-plus acre site (uplands and submerged lands combined) now boasts 75,000 square feet of warehouse space, 20,000 square feet suitable for heavier industry and 35,000 square feet of office space, along with room for new construction.

The Boat Co., a high-end wildlife charter firm, is taking advantage of that open space to build a 6,000-square-foot maintenance building and a floating boathouse to service its three 106-foot to 160-foot vessels.

Sitka Beverage Co., by far the largest of the handful of new enterprises at Sawmill Cove, has been bottling water since May in a 100,000-square-foot, two-level plant it renovated over the last year.

OmegaSea, a manufacturer of premium food for aquarium fish, has leased 12,000 feet of warehouse space, where the company's grinders and cookers render waste and unmarketable fish from Sitka processing plants and hatcheries into its product.

There are still deep-water docks to build, infrastructure to secure, improvements to be made. A Canadian bulk-water company is to build an offshore loading facility in 2002 for the ocean-going tankers hauling water overseas. Upward of $10 million is to be spent in the next year or so to renovate the administration building, secure infrastructure and develop the site's large waterfront and submerged lands.

New Industries at Sitka

It was actually the development of a marine construction and repair facility at Ketchikan that enabled The Boat Co. to recently make a long-anticipated move of its home port from Poulsbo, Wash., to Sitka, says company Vice President Mark McIntosh. McIntosh says the availability of haul-out capacity in the region made the difference in the company's decision.

The Boat Co. was attracted to Sitka also by availability--that of the Sawmill Cove Industrial Park upland facilities and potential off-season moorage for company vessels and a boat house.

For two decades, The Boat Co. has provided custom, weeklong wildlife charters in Southeast Alaska to an influential and wealthy clientele aboard gorgeously renovated World War II, wooden-hulled mine sweepers. They recently added a third vessel of new vintage.

McIntosh says his company is also interested in developing a...