Governor Jim Doyle today announced a $400,000 grant from the Department of Commerce Blight Elimination and Brownfield Redevelopment (BEBR) program to 84 Lumber Company to redevelop a brownfield site in McFarland. The project will create 150 new jobs.
“With this grant, we will help 84 Lumber grow its business while rehabilitating a brownfield site,” Governor Doyle said. “I am pleased the state can help 84 Lumber make this lasting investment and bring new, good paying jobs to McFarland.”
The grant will help the Village of McFarland and 84 Lumber Company redevelop a former petroleum distribution terminal for a manufacturing, lumber distribution and retail facility.
“84 Lumber Company would like to thank Governor Doyle and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce for their extremely important grant to our McFarland project,” Mike Figgins, Senior V.P. for the North Region for 84 Lumber, said. “Our partnership with Commerce has enabled us to take advantage of rail access and other benefits of the McFarland location, something we wouldn’t have been able to do without Commerce’s grant.”
84 Lumber is proposing a $4.3 million redevelopment plan for the 18-acre brownfield site, which will include the construction of nine slab-on-grade single story buildings, environmental remediation, asphalt paving, utilities and storm water management facilities. An additional $1.2 million investment will be made in equipment purchases for truss assembly operations. The total project cost is $5,553,000.
Since it was founded in 1956, 84 Lumber Company has risen to become the largest privately-held building materials supplier to professional contractors in the country. The company’s 2005 sales were nearly $4 billion, with 95 percent of sales to the professional market. 84 Lumber Company operates over 475 locations and 2,084 components manufacturing facilities. With more than 10,500 associates nationwide, 84 Lumber Company provides professional, residential and commercial contractors with quality building materials, supplies, expertise and services.
Commerce’s BEBR Program provides grant funds to municipalities, local development corporations, and the private sector to support assessment, remediation and return of contaminated lands to productive use. Brownfields are abandoned, idle, or underused industrial or commercial properties where redevelopment is hindered by real or perceived contamination. For more information about the Brownfields Program, contact Jason Scott, Commerce, at 608/261-7714.
