Demolition of the former International Paper Company mill buildings, some of them dating back more than 100 years, will be completed later this year.
Corinth Town Supervisor Richard Lucia, who worked at the mill for 40 years, said the building that held the largest paper-making machine was leveled by contractors about two weeks ago.
Donna Wadsworth, an IP communications director, said the demolition work, which started at the end of 2010, is on schedule.
“We haven’t run into any issues,” Wadsworth said.
Wadsworth said all the buildings will be leveled and the 300-plus acre site graded by September. IP wants to sell the property and removing the old buildings will make it more marketable, she said.
The demolition and remediation contractor is NCM with headquarters in Houston, Texas. NCM includes the former Nuprecon, CST Environmental, and Marcor companies.
“Once the demolition is complete, the site will be graded and the view of the [Hudson] river and falls will be spectacular,” Wadsworth said.
Both Lucia and Corinth Village Mayor Bradley Winslow said two companies are talking with IP real estate people about purchasing portions of the property. A total of 83 acres of the property is in the village and the rest of the property, including two landfills, is in the town of Corinth.
Moncada Energy Group, a European company that manufactures solar panels, is interested in a piece of the property. Waste Connections, a large garbage hauling company, is interested in a partially filled landfill on the property, the village mayor and town supervisor said.
The Hudson River mill was closed by IP in 2002 after more than 100 years of paper making because the mill and its equipment had become outdated.
The one building that will remain at the site is the attractive, historic brick administration building on Pine Street where mill workers once punched the time clock and picked up their pay checks.
Supervisor Lucia said the administration building is being deeded to the town and will become a paper-making museum run by a nonprofit historical organization.
A blue and yellow marker in front of the administration building notes that International Paper was founded on this site on Jan. 28, 1898, “when 17 mills merged to create the world’s largest paper company.”
Lucia said he can remember when 1,500 local residents worked in the mill. When the mill shut its door, about 450 were still working there.
He said Stephen Cernek, a professor at Daniel Webster University in Nashua, N.H., has been developing a history of the former Hudson River Mill and planning museum exhibits. Cernek’s father was a longtime employee of the mill.
Artifacts, documents, and old machinery from the former mill have been collected and stored in anticipation of displaying them in the administration building as the museum is developed.
Lucia said the first step will be to get the administration building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He said this will enable the nonprofit historical group to qualify for grants to develop the museum.
The Hudson River Community Credit Union, which started at the mill many decades ago, purchased 10 acres of mill property in the village of Corinth and is currently building a large operations center on the property.
Mayor Winslow said this about $3 million project will be welcomed on the village tax rolls.
He said the mill property in the village is assessed at $2 million, but the assessment will come down once the buildings are removed from the property.
The 83 acres of land in the village along the Hudson River will then be assessed at about $1 million.
He said this will be a reduction of about $20,000 per year in village taxes from the property.
The new credit union building will offset this loss of revenue once it is added to the village tax rolls, Winslow said.
“I don’t think we will be hurting,” Winslow said.
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