BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week
HARRISVILLE — A new company will take over the recycling facility located just over the border of St. Lawrence County in the village of Harrisville, and the change is expected to provide 25 jobs to the region.
The Development Authority of the North Country’s executive board approved the sale of its recycling facility, located in the former HDK Wood Products facility in the village, at its meeting Thursday, Aug. 25.
The property is to be purchased by Geiter Done of WNY for $400,000, which is below the appraised value of the site of $580,000.
DANC originally bought the facility from the Lewis County Industrial Development Agency for $350,000 in 2019 and operated a recycling facility there.
Geiter Done will reportedly establish a recycling center at the site for “hard to recycle materials.”
DANC received only two bids for the lot and Geiter Done’s proposal was more closely aligned with DANC’s goals of job creation at the site, and environmental stewardship.
When the facility was originally operated as a large scale regional lumber mill and dry kiln operated by parent company Best Buy, it employed dozens of people from both Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.
The purchase by Geiter Done will put the 40-acre lot back onto the tax rolls in Lewis County. The property features several large industrial buildings which originally housed the sawmill and dry kiln equipment, as well as office spaces.
While the purchase was below market value, the board said there were “no reasonable alternatives to the below market sale that would achieve the same purpose.”
