TICONDEROGA — International Paper's Ticonderoga mill and the Village of Keeseville have just been awarded state grants totaling more than $1.4 million.
Empire State Development Corp. approved funding totaling more than $9.3 million across the state to retain 981 existing jobs and create 125 new jobs.
The funding will leverage nearly $29.9 million in private investments.
INTERNATIONAL PAPER
The biggest local share is an Economic Development Fund grant for $785,000 that went to the International Paper Ticonderoga Mill.
The grant will be used to offset some of the costs of the purchase and installation of new machinery and workforce training in the operation and maintenance of the machinery at Essex County's largest private employer.
Mill spokeswoman Donna Wadsworth said Tuesday that the sheeter has been in operation since January 2009.
"We couldn't be more pleased. It's a customer strategic piece of equipment, so we can do a wide variety of (paper) sizes."
The Ticonderoga mill produces quality opaque, technical grades and offset paper used in high-end printing for products such as business annual and technical reports. The grant will allow the mill to pay for machinery that converts various paper sizes on-site, allowing the company to be more accommodating to customer needs.
The mill is the only International Paper operation with this ability. The company has retained 626 existing jobs and created 18 new jobs because of the sheeter.
Mill Manager Kirk Carlson said the sheeter is very important to the mill's operation.
"We appreciate the opportunity to participate with the state of New York on this project."
Total project cost is $9.5 million.
AUSABLE HORSE NAIL CO.
A Restore New York grant went to Keeseville and Adirondack Architectural Heritage for $630,000 to complete the Ausable Horse Nail Co. project.
The money will renovate two vacant buildings in the 15,000-square-foot complex.
The structure was at the heart of the village's economic life from 1850 through the 1960s, first serving as a production center for blacksmithing machines and then as headquarters of a wood-products manufacturer that closed in 1960.
Adirondack Architectural Heritage will oversee the renovation of the Stone Office Building at 1745 Main St. into offices for the organization's five full-time employees, exhibit/public-meeting space, a library/research room and an apartment.
The 10,500-square-foot Stone Mill at 126 Ausable St. will become four two-story apartments, plus classrooms, workshop space and a gallery for Adirondack Architectural Heritage.
Total project cost for Ausable Horse Nail is $1.06 million.
Executive Director Steven Englehart said they had a public meeting on the project about a year ago.
"Since then, we raised more of the funding we've needed, we've completed more of the work on the Stone Office Building, and our plans for the Stone Mill have evolved a little.
"We hope to finish the work on the Stone Office Building during the winter of 2010-2011, hire an architect to do the Stone Mill planning by October 2010, and start construction on the Stone Mill sometime in 2011, with a completion date sometime in 2012."
He said the village has been trying for more than 20 years to find a way to revitalize the complex.
"There's been a whole raft of ideas floated during this time, but none of them ever came to fruition. We finally realized that AARCH was in the best position to make something really good happen here."
He said it goes beyond creating a new home for AARCH and its programs.
"That would also bring other new life, artists studios and residences, to the complex, life and activity that would be good for the village as a whole."
E-mail Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com
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