Paper mills out, new developments in

PARCHMENT, Mich. (WOOD) - With a ceremonial strike of sledge hammers, the walls came tumbling down at the former Crown Vantage Paper Mill.

The demolition of the Parchment facility makes way for a future mixed-use development, featuring commercial, retail and residential buildings -- along with some much-needed progress, city residents told 24 Hour News 8 on Tuesday.

"What amounts to a dangerous eyesore, abandoned property, (is turned) into a flat piece of useable property," Parchment Mayor Rob Heasley said. "A clean, safe place."

The new project should double the city's tax base, Heasley said. Parchment has about 1,900 residents.

The development is expected to take several years to complete, span about 100 acres along the Kalamazoo River and amount to a $100 million total investment in the community.

The paper plant was once the city's largest employer. Crown Vantage closed in 2000, leaving about 250 workers jobless, including Michael Porath, who had worked there for 25 years; at the time, making $60,000 per year.

And he earned every penny, Porath said.

"We almost equivocated it to doing time, because they used to work us night and day," he said.

The town, which has produced paper since 1909, was devastated by the closure, Porath said.

And Parchment wasn't alone. About six or so other West Michigan towns have lost paper mills over the past 10 years, and they've been forced to readjust, too.

In Plainwell, for example, a new city hall will be built on the site of a former paper mill.

Vicksburg redeveloped the former Fox River Plant into a golf course after it closed down in 2001. Old paper mills seem to be a casualty of a changed industry.

"When this mill was started, they made the pulp where the trees were, and then they shipped to mills like this all over the country," Parchment historian Joe Chadderton said.

Now, bigger and faster machines can make paper right at the clearing site, making mills such as Parchment's obsolete -- but clearing the way for something new.

"I'm hoping the phoenix of this place will rise out of that rubble and finally, there will be some production and new life in the property," Porath said.