By ANDY GARDNER

A principal with the company looking to open a soybean processor at the old village DPW site says he “optimistically” hopes to have secured financing by the summer and open for business next spring.

“We’re highly confident that this is going to come to a close this summer,” said Kenneth Jahre of St. Lawrence Soyway, the company that will run the plant.

He said he expects once financing comes together, production would start “I would say optimistically by next March, April, May” of 2018.

“We’re not having trouble getting financing. What we’re trying to do is get the best possible financing arrangement. We have a financing arrangement, but I think we can do better,” Jahre said.

He said they are using the Piper Jaffray investment banking firm to try and get a better deal.

“They’re engaging many different groups … that know our business, understand it and even some that don’t understand it but like the business. It takes time to get the right person,” he said. “Getting financing is not the issue. It’s getting the best financing, that’s the issue.”

He said the cost is going to be higher than the $16 million initially planned, and the facility will have “greater output” than they first thought. He said he would release the new estimate for the cost when it’s calculated. He said it would not be available before this edition’s press deadline.

They are still planning to hire 35 to 40 people, along with creating 20 to 25 “indirect positions,” according to Jahre.

Pat Kelly, chairman of the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, said there is a $10 million bond package waiting for St. Lawrence Soyway, once their finances are in order.

“We authorized a resolution of tax-exempt bonds for the project in November 2016,” Kelly said. “Ultimately you have to have a bond buyer and a total financing plan in place … typically you would issue the bond when there’s an underwriter agreement.”

After the money is taken care of, Jahre said he estimates it will take just under a year to get the facility built and running. They have bought the former village Department of Public Works site on South Main Street.

“You have to do the land work, like any other construction, bulldozers need to come in. You have to build the facility. It has to be assembled. Equipment needs to be installed,” he said. “Some equipment comes from overseas, it needs to arrive on time. With all that equipment, it takes 11 months.”

Jahre, who hails from New York City, is partnering with Mike Malecha, Rob Swain, Berry Summerour and Doug Fisher to manage the project. Among their partners is the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, who formed their own LLC in order to get involved.

It’s Jahre’s first venture in the soy business, but “my partners have been in soy for decades,” he said.