The remaining half of Powell River’s former paper mill property has been sold.
Domtar (previously Paper Excellence Group) said Monday (June 3) it signed an agreement with Cranberry Business Park for the remaining land at the former Catalyst paper mill site.
Cranberry Business Park Ltd. describes itself as a team of entrepreneurs. One of those principals is Sonny Huang, who operates two wineries in the Okanagan and an energy solutions business in Vancouver.
“Sonny Huang is excited to be part of the Cranberry Business Park team and is delighted to (be) supporting economic development at the tiskwat site,” it said in a statement.
The company is relatively new as government records show it was registered as a corporation and acquired a business number on Jan. 29, 2025.
It hasn’t shared any plans it has for the land.
In an interview with Vista Radio, Mayor Ron Woznow says he’s been involved with members of the team for a couple of years.
“From my perspective, I see this as a great culmination of the work that Craig Austin and Tom (Thomas) Logocki have been doing, so very positive,” Woznow said.
The two turned around a defunct cannabis operation at the old mill office in Townsite, creating local jobs.
“(They) turned it into a very profitable, highly computerized, specialized marijuana production facility. So, it created jobs for the city residents and they’re now selling this specialized marijuana (in) Australia (and) Canada. It’s just an example of a defunct operation that was turned around with just with some good business sense and created jobs and taxes,” the mayor said.
Previous parcels around the river and ocean – about half of the 300 acre (121 hectare) site – were transferred to the Tla’amin Nation by Domtar in a land agreement in mid-March.
Pending regulatory approvals, this latest deal with Cranberry should close later this year.
After the mill closure in 2021, the city has been bracing for a possible reclassification of the site by the B.C. government, which could affect how much tax revenue comes from the property.
Mayor Woznow says it’s too early to tell what may happen and how the province will assess the taxes but “we have 60 per cent of it owned by solid business people, there’s a good expectation that at the minimum it would be industrial use.”
The Powell River paper mill was owned by Catalyst Paper before the company was bought by Paper Excellence in 2019.
Paper Excellence Group rebranded as Domtar in 2024 after it bought the latter for $3 billion U.S. in 2021.
The Powell River mill closed in December 2021.
