Sierra Pacific Industries, the second-largest lumber producer in America, is assembling a site at Frederickson in southern Pierce County, WA, to build a major new sawmill that could employ as many as 200 workers.
The company is in the “due diligence phase” of this project, and is investigating the potential benefits and detriments of the site they’ve picked to determine whether building there will be economically feasible.
The potential sawmill site sits near existing Ikea and Whirlpool distribution warehouses at the intersection of 38th Avenue East and 200th Street East.
The site eventually could be as large as 270 acres.
The timber company, through a related company, Frederickson Industrial Park LLC, has been taking options and buying parcels of land in the area with contingencies relating to environmental and other issues at the site.
Under the terms of that sale, approved by the Port of Tacoma Commission at its Thursday meeting, the development company would pay the port nearly US$3.2 million for the property. The company offer included US$50,000 in earnest money for the two parcels.
