An auction scheduled to take place last month (January) to sell buildings and machinery at the shuttered K Ply Inc plywood mill in Port Angeles, Washington has been put on hold, with support apparently growing for the efforts of a former mill worker to save the mill, reports the Peninsula Daily News.
Port Angeles resident and former K Ply sales manager Josh Renshaw had asked Sterling Savings Banks to postpone the auction. Renshaw and a group of investors hope to reopen the mill under the name Peninsula Plywood.
Mr Renshaw said he was in negotiations with Sterling Savings Bank of Spokane to acquire the mill equipment it acquired from the plywood mill in a lien agreement with the mill’s owner, Klukwan Inc of Alaska.
Mr Renshaw was permanently laid off with 131 other employees in April. He is backed by a group of Port Angeles business investors and estimates he needs US$5m to reopen the mill.