Posted on: Saturday, January 29, 2005
State grants more time to Big Island timber harvester
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
A company that plans to build a $30 million timber processing plant on the Big Island has until the end of March to raise $1 million in cash or face the loss of a contract to harvest state-owned trees.
Advertiser library photo • September 2002 The Board of Land and Natural Resources yesterday extended the deadline for Tradewinds until March 31 to obtain financing after the company assured officials its plans were progressing.
Tradewinds said it had received letters of support from Kamehameha Schools, which would invest in the project and provide a lease for the factory, subject to management and board approval. Louisiana Pacific Corp., a timber company in Oregon, also has pledged to buy Tradewinds veneer.
In addition, Boston-based Prudential Timber Investments Inc. has agreed to supply wood from its 21,000-acre Hamakua eucalyptus forest, said Don Bryan, a Tradewinds partner. Tradewinds also hired investment banker Veber Partners to seek financing.
Because of project setbacks, Tradewinds would no longer produce finished veneer products locally, generating fewer local jobs than originally anticipated, Bryan said. The project initially was expected to generate about 400 jobs and $6 million in licensing fees for the state.
Reach Sean Hao at 525-8093 or shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Seattle-based Tradewinds LLC signed a 10-year agreement with the state in August 2001 giving it rights to harvest 12,000 acres of eucalyptus and maple planted in the Waiakea Forest Reserve in the 1960s. However, difficulties obtaining financing have set the project back.
Tradewinds LLC needs financing to begin harvesting and processing eucalyptus and maple planted in the Waiakea Forest Reserve.
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