Slowly but surely Tolko’s Kelowna mill is coming down

Tolko Industries isn’t saying what the plans are for the Kelowna lumber mill that was closed last winter but it likely isn't going to be reopening as a mill because contractors have been working for months removing equipment, and buildings are starting to be demolished.

Right now Systematic Mill Installations is preparing a planer for shipment to Montana, a worker at the site who wouldn’t give his name, told iNFOnews.ca.

“There’s lots of interest (in the site),” Tolko Industries communications director Chris Downey told iNFOnews.ca. “There’s all kinds of different proposals that have been sent in.”

READ MORE: Kelowna's downtown Tolko mill site is likely worth close to $50 million

He has not been told what those proposals are or whether the company plans to sell the 40-acre waterfront parcel, lease it to a builder or redevelop it.

Last February a local realtor pegged the land’s value at about $50 million. It sits next to Okanagan Lake in Kelowna near the foot of Knox Mountain to the north and an emerging high-rise neighbourhood to the south.

The worker said they’ve been on site for months and, with the help of some of the former employees, have removed equipment within the building where the planer is.

The conveyor that took sawdust over Bay Avenue to be loaded into trucks is now gone and other overhead equipment is coming down.

Another company, is demolishing one of the buildings.

The logs have been removed from Okanagan Lake and lumber has been shipped out so the buildings are now visible as they are slowly dismantled.

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