Former Millinocket mill site takes a new name, steps up efforts to recruit tenants
Courtesy / Designlab
The former Great Northern Paper mill site in Millinocket has been rebranded One North. Mount Katahdin is in the background.
Our Katahdin, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that owns the former Great Northern Paper mill site in Millinocket, said it has rebranded the industrial property as “One North.”
The site is being developed to expand the potential of Maine’s bioeconomy by connecting regional working forests to growing global demand for sustainable products, according to a news release.
The organization has launched a new website, www.onenorth.net, to market the site to potential tenants.
Many in the community will always know the site as Great Northern Paper, “but we have realized that to communicate to the world the unique assets we have here in the Katahdin region, we needed a new name and vision for the site,” said Sean DeWitt, president of Our Katahdin.
The redevelopment is bringing in 100% renewable energy capacity, including a modular hydroelectric test site and a solar farm.
Last June, Our Katahdin announced that Nautilus Data Technologies would build a data center on the site, expected to be operational in 2023.
One North calls itself a “renewable energy hub” and said it has the capacity to provide 126 megawatts of clean, renewable hydropower and an additional 5 megawatts of solar electricity coming online in 2023.
Companies operating on the site are expected to benefit from reduced rate power and advanced electrical infrastructure. The site also has rail, fiber internet and gravity-fed water. The location is in the state-designated Pine Tree Zone and a federally designated Opportunity Zone, both of which offer financial incentives for investors and job creators.
“There is a reason this site served as one of the world’s largest paper-making sites for over 100 years,” said Steve Sanders, the site’s industrial development director. “We are located on the doorstep of 5.6 million acres of forest land and are close to major U.S. and Canadian markets. There are 52 million people within 500 miles of us.”
In addition to $8.5 million in infrastructure and site improvements, Our Katahdin says it's working with partners to develop a bio-based commercialization hub on the site, which will reuse facilities that were once home to engineers and technicians in the pulp and paper industry. The commercialization hub will focus on bringing emerging green technology to market. Development of a bio-based commercialization hub will be a long-term project on the site.
“We are exploring opportunities in multiple industries, including mass timber, pellets, aquaculture, and small manufacturing,” said Our Katahdin Vice President of Finance and Investment Mike Faloon.
Developing the new name and brand logo was a months-long, collaborative effort by the Our Katahdin board of directors and staff and Millinocket design firm Designlab.
“Renaming the former GNP mill site, One North, marks a new era for our town’s industrial site that will yield lasting dividends for our community,” said Millinocket Town Council Chair Steve Golieb.
The group will be holding a ribbon-cutting and community celebration on July 4.
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