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Linden Lumber's T'ville mill to be sold at auction
The mill will be auctioned off in two phased on Oct. 20. The buildings will be sold for removal and the real property will then be sold. Allen Hamilton of Tutt Real Estate said there were about six buildings on the property and only a small amount of equipment left at the site. The mill sits on about 70 acres north of Thomasville on Hwy. 5. The auction is another step for Linden Lumber as the struggling company pulls inward in an attempt to improve its financial outlook. Linden Lumber's Thomasville mill has had an up and down history over the past several years. At times the plant has employed up to 70 workers, but the mill has also been idled for months at a time as Linden Lumber struggled with weather and low demand for its prod- ucts. In September of 2003, the Thomasville mill was idled but was restarted in January of 2004. In January of 2005, the struggling company launched a round of layoffs that affected more than 100 employees, and the mill was closed again. It has not reopened since. A deed restriction placed on the property will keep it from being used as a hardwood sawmill again, but Hamilton said the location is a good one for other industrial uses. "It's a great piece of property with a rail spur and great access to Hwy. 43," he said. Meanwhile, Linden Lumber is receiving help from the Marengo County Commission to save the struggling business. The Marengo County Commission approved Aug. 24 to begin the process for a bond issue to loan up to $7 million to Linden Lumber Company in Linden. The company is facing foreclosure sale date of Sept. 7 from the Federal Land Bank for all buildings, fixtures and other tangible and intangible property in Linden and Thomasville. Thirteen percent of the company's approximately 425 employees come from Clarke County. Eight percent each come from Perry and Wilcox Counties with the majority from Marengo County. The loan "is going into an area that Marengo County hasn't been in before," said Marengo County Attorney Woody Dinning Jr. The commission held a public hearing Aug. 24 in the courtroom of the Marengo County Courthouse. The courtroom was standing room only with a majority being Linden Lumber employees. The company has been going through a restructuring for a few years. Company officials admit their failure to establish a factory finish business hurt the company's bottom line. "It was a mistake that we got into it," said Terry Dunnam, chief executive officer at Linden Lumber. "We bled a lot of money out of this company with that mistake. The Chinese imported a lot of material - because of cheap labor - and we couldn't compete with them. We could not get our product to the marketplace cheaper than the Chinese and the 800-pound gorilla called Armstrong." Under the loan proposal, Linden Lumber will pay $7 million in debt over 20 years instead of the next two years, Dinning said. Wachovia Bank will also restructure the deal where the debt will be written down from $21 million to $12 million. The principal and interest payments will be $1.5 million per year as opposed to $4.1 million. Company officials and employees said at the public hearing that the company had never missed a payroll.
The company, which held the claim to fame of being Marengo County's largest employer with 635 employees now employs about 425.
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