Sawmill Cove Industrial Park: a company town takes in on: a vacant facility takes on new life and provides nearly 80 new jobs.

• Author: Swagel, Will

When the Alaska Pulp Corp. mill was in its prime, Sitka was a company town, enjoying the benefits of 450 well-paying manufacturing jobs, generous charitable donations and significant tax payments to the city coffers. The mill, built in 1957, was the first large-scale Japanese investment in the U.S. after World War II, says Jon Krebs, the executive director of the Sitka Economic Development Association, and was meant to help Japan recover and Southeast Alaska develop.

But by the 1990s, aging equipment, tough competition from foreign pulp producers and changing attitudes toward timber harvesting in the Tongass National Forest weighed heavily on mill operations and in 1993 owners shut the facility down. Krebs said mill owners for several years tried to sell the large waterfront parcel or look for other ways they could use the site, but failed. In 1999, the owner ceded the mill property to the city and borough of Sitka, which assumed environmental responsibilities from then on.

NEW LIFE

The city decided to develop the property as an industrial park, christened Sawmill Cove Industrial Park. They set up a local board of directors and ultimately brought in Krebs and the city-funded SEDA as managing staff. Today, more than 60 acres of industrial property are either occupied or being actively marketed at Sawmill Cove. Those interested should peruse Sawmill Cove's comprehensive and excellent Web site at www.sawmillcove.com.

The industrial park's tenants include the True Alaska Bottling Co., which bottles the same Blue Lake water to be taken in bulk by Quest Imports International. The True brand is sold in the Lower 48, and the firm also supplies bottled water for other brands. The Theobroma Chocolate Company is a re-manufacturer of chocolate candy into chocolate bars and novelty items, such as chocolate salmon and halibut. Theobroma's products have...