SAGOLA — Louisiana Pacific has broken ground on a major expansion project at its Sagola facility.      Construction began in the spring and is expected to finish in early 2023.  The company intends to expand the location by 134,000 square feet as well as invest $84 million in new machinery and equipment for the facility, promising to add 60 jobs to the local operation. LP opened its first operation in Sagola in 1987 and prior to the upgrades focused on producing oriented strand board, or OSB — what one might use for sub-flooring or beneath wall siding. The facility would produce roughly 20,000 sheets per day, or enough to build roughly 50 houses.  The investment will see the Sagola operation transition from OSB production to the producing LP’s SmartSide trim and siding. The product has been in LP’s portfolio for over 20 years; a company spokesperson called it “one of the fastest-growing siding brands in the U.S.”  “It’s a wood-based siding that has wood grain on it that’s very durable,” explained former plant manager Todd Maki, when speaking to the Reporter about the expansion late  last year. “We have been selected as the next location to make that product, so that will be a huge deal for our community and our continued viability here for the next 30 years.” Maki has since retired, and Brett Wienen now serves as plant manager for the Sagola operation.  He previously spent four years as a plant manager for the company’s Tomahawk facility.  LP Sagola is one of the largest employers in the area of eastern Iron and northern Dickinson counties, with roughly 150 employees.  LP operates 25 mills — 17 in the U.S., five in Canada, two in Chile and one in Brazil — and 32 locations in total, including administrative offices. According to a spokesperson for LP’s corporate office, headquartered in Nashville, LP Sagola has the longest average tenure for employees.  Governor Gretchen Whitmer called the project, which totals around $194 million, a “transformational investment” and “the largest ever supported by the Michigan Strategic Fund in the U.P.”  “Investments like this one … will help us continue moving our state forward,” she said in a news release.  The expansion is also supported by a $325,000 performance-based grant as part of the Michigan Business Development Program. Michigan was chosen for the project over competing sites in the U.S. and Canada. According to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Sagola Township anticipates approval of a property tax abatement in support of the project, and the MEDC also authorized a State Education Tax abatement to be used with the local abatement.

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