Jon Heyesen, co-founder & CEO of Arbor Wood

Jon Heyesen, co-founder & CEO of Arbor Wood

Duluth wood-products firm Arbor Wood is shifting its plans for a new production facility from the east end of the Iron Range in Eveleth back to the West Range in Grand Rapids, where the expansion was originally proposed.

Arbor Wood management, along with International Falls-based Voyageur Capital Group, which is a major investor in Arbor Wood, “terminated the purchase agreement” they had made for the Eveleth facility, said Craig McKenzie, Voyageur’s managing partner, in an email. The plant previously housed now-closed Woodline Manufacturing, which sits on 12 acres just south of Eveleth on Highway 53 and includes 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

 “We will focus on our building in Grand Rapids for Arbor Wood,” McKenzie added. “We aim to have that operation up and running before year-end.”

“There were some issues with the Eveleth building” that ended up halting the deal, said Jon Heyesen, Arbor Wood CEO, in an email, though he did not disclose what those issues were.

The Grand Rapids building McKenzie refers to is the long-shuttered Ainsworth Lumber Company oriented strand board (OSB) plant, which Voyageur purchased last year. Voyageur and Grand Rapids area economic development officials have been marketing the site as a multi-tenant industrial park. The site includes 400,000 square feet of space and sits on 138 acres.

Arbor Wood’s Heyesen said his company will go back to the original plans for locating and leasing space for a production facility at the Grand Rapids site, including installing a thermal modification kiln—just the second of its kind in North America—and a full finishing mill.

The company incorporated last year after several successful years as a brand of eco-friendly, sustainable-wood products. The company processes wood through thermal modification and sells its decking, siding, interior flooring and other millwork products throughout North America. Recent notable building projects that used Arbor Wood products include the Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and all Lululemon stores.

With current annual sales of about $3 million, Heyesen said Arbor Wood has a pipeline of projects being quoted and bid in excess of $10 million.

For more on this story, see Angelo Gentile's story for BusinessNorth, Investing in Partnerships.

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Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 52F. Winds light and variable..

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.

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