‘Project North’: company looking at buying empty plant on Road N

MOSES LAKE – A company is considering purchasing the empty Xyleco manufacturing facility on Road N Northeast, which could create up to 300 new jobs in the area.

At an online meeting of the Moses Lake Ports Commission on Monday, Richard Hanover, the port’s business development director, said the company, which was not named but referred to as “Project North,” is considering the facility at 3741 Road N NE – across from the REC Silicon facility – and plans to spend between $ 100 million and $ 180 million to start operations.

Hanover also did not say what the company does, but noted that the company had to bring “products from overseas” and around 50 trainers with them in order to teach a workforce of 200 to 300 employees.

Don Kersey, executive director of the port of Moses Lake, said the port would not provide any further details about the project “at this point”.

Xyleco, based in Wakefield, Massachusetts, bought the 613,000-square-foot facility in 2015 for $ 28 million to test the commercial viability of its process of making ethanol from cellulose instead of sugar, which will be launched in a 60- Minute segment was introduced. According to the ReMax Commercial Real Estate website, the property and the approximately 163 acres it sits on were put up for sale in December 2020, where they are listed at $ 37 million and are still for sale.

The facility and property are currently valued at $ 56 million, according to data available on the Grant County Assessor’s website.

While Xyleco’s website is still active, it has not been updated in a few months. Former Secretary of State George Schultz, who passed away in early February, remains a member of the Board of Directors. The company’s Twitter feed and Facebook page were last updated in May 2019.

According to data collected by open reporting site ProPublica, Xyleco received a loan of $ 781,755 under the paycheck protection program in April 2020. A call to corporate headquarters went to voicemail.