Resolute Forest Products, Montreal, Que., Canada, is beginning construction of a 300,000 sq. ft. distribution center at its Calhoun, Tenn., USA, mill. The new center, scheduled for completion by August 2018, will store tissue products manufactured at the mill. The goods later will be shipped to Resolute's retail customers.

"The recently-constructed tissue machine and converting operation in Calhoun has positioned Resolute as one of the fastest growing providers of quality tissue products in North America," said Patrice Minguez, president of Resolute's Tissue Group. "The addition of the on-site distribution center will support our continued growth in the tissue market."

With North American newsprint consumption markedly down over the past two decades, the company announced last August it was closing two paper machines at the Calhoun mill that produced uncoated groundwood paper and newsprint.

The new center reportedly will employ more than 30 people. It is the latest phase of $400 million Resolute is spending since it announced it was entering the tissue market in 2015.

 

St. Louis, Mo.-based developer CRG, a subsidiary of Clayco Inc., will design and construct the distribution center. Clayco will serve as the design/builder on the project, with its subsidiary, Forum Studio, providing architectural services.

Resolute acquired the Calhoun mill in 2007 with the merger of the former Abitibi-Consolidated and Bowater companies. The site was one of the earliest newsprint plants in the South when it was built in 1954.