Madison-based TimberHP aims to be fully open this year as more public financing arrives
Originally published by Central Maine January 30th, 2024
The $500,000 in financing recently approved by the Finance Authority of Maine is expected to help create and retain more than 100 jobs in Somerset County by allowing the manufacturer to buy equipment needed for its full product line, the agency said.
MADISON — The latest state financing awarded to local manufacturer TimberHP is expected to be the one of the last pieces needed to bring the company’s promise of more than 100 jobs to the region.
The $500,000 in financing approved by the quasi-independent Finance Authority of Maine is expected to help create and retain more than 100 jobs in Somerset County by allowing the manufacturer to buy equipment needed to produce its full product line later this year, the agency said in a statement.
TimberHP, a division of Belfast-based GO Lab Inc., uses renewable resources to produce wood fiber insulation products, according to the company’s website. The products are the first of their kind in North America.
The company began operations last year in Madison at the former Madison Paper Industries mill on Main St., which closed in 2016. The renovation of the mill, funded largely through public-private partnerships, cost about $150 million.
The company now employs 75 people, a company spokesperson said Monday. When production facilities are completed, which is expected later this year, the manufacturer plans to employ 114 people in Madison.
“We are pleased to provide additional support for GO Lab’s project in Madison,” FAME CEO Carlos Mello said in a statement. “Finding new uses for wood fiber, including innovative building materials, has the potential of revitalizing the forest products industry in Maine, which we fully support.”
The latest financing adds to a growing investment of millions from several quasi-public funding agencies, according to the FAME statement.
FAME previously approved up to $85 million in conduit bond financing, a type of public-private partnership that raises funds for private entities through bonds, according to the agency. The Maine Venture Fund, originally created by the Maine Legislature in 1995, also invested $3.5 million in 2023.
That is in addition to several loans approved in recent years, including a separate $1.2 million from FAME and other lending partners; $1 million from the Maine Rural Development Authority; $400,000 from the town of Madison; $300,000 from the Somerset Economic Development Corp.; and $250,000 from the Eastern Main Development Corp.
FAME has also awarded $860,000 in state tax credits through its Seed Capital Tax Credit Program, according to the agency.
“Financing we have received from FAME, the Maine Rural Development Authority and other economic development entities across the state have been instrumental in getting us to the finish line on schedule,” Joshua Henry, president and CEO of GO Lab Inc., said in a statement.
The manufacturer, seen by many officials as an example of how to revitalize former mill towns, has drawn attention from Maine’s congressional delegation and Gov. Janet Mills, who attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 21 at the Timber HP site.
“This extraordinary milestone is an example of how public-private collaboration can create good-paying jobs, advance our clean energy goals and bring new life to our old mills,” Mills said at last year’s grand opening ceremony.