Green Investment Group, Inc. (GIGI) is the lead company. All SSPM L.P. companies are affiliates of GIGI, and formed for legal and liability purposes.
Ray Stillwell, a lawyer and entrepreneur, is the principal of GIGI. He is a highly-experienced businessman from the United States who sees tremendous opportunity for the regions, communities and eventual end-users where GIGI sites are located.
Stillwell incorporated and was an investor in Alton Steel, Inc. (ASI), which, in 2001, purchased a closed, bankrupt steel mill in Alton, Illinois. Their combined efforts directly resulted in restoring the production process of the mill, which now operates with approximately 300 employees. In addition to successfully preventing the 100-year-old, 400-acre site from becoming a blighted area, GIGI has acquired the adjacent Smurfit-Stone site and acquired licensing for it to become a liquid biofuel plant. Positive action toward achieving that goal is currently in progress.
Other success stories include the redevelopment of a former paper mill site in Circleville, Ohio. GIGI affiliate, CircleGreen, LLC, purchased the site in 2006 and after working with the Ohio EPA has met all requirements of a clean up program at the site. In May 2013, GIGI received a “no further action” letter from the Ohio EPA and was able to repurpose the property, selling 275 acres to a local rancher and the remaining 26 acres to Cargill. Additionally, Green Investment Group also redeveloped to completion a property in New Richmond, Quebec in less than 3 years. The property was purchased by long-time tenant of the development park in September 2013, completing redevelopment efforts at the site. Property in Bathurst, New Brunswick that was purchased in 2010 was recently sold to a local developer who plans multi-purpose reuse of this former industrial property.
GIGI currently owns three former paper mills throughout North America. They are in order of purchase:
Each site purchased by GIGI follows this same business model and approach:
Phase I – Scrap and Remediate
Every project includes indemnification of environmental issues securing Smurfit-Stone with highly-customized environmental insurance policies and letters of credit.
Phase II – Redevelop & Repopulate
Create new industrial opportunity, thereby supporting community and creating jobs
For any potential project, GIGI seeks to bring development that directly correlates to the communities’ needs. Principals of GIGI are committed to working in partnership with local municipalities, associations and businesses to bring the best opportunities to these areas.
While each site presents its own unique opportunities, there are two specific areas that GIGI sees as prime candidates for development on Brownfield sites. They are: 1) the development of energy technologies and alternative fuel sources and, 2) the recycling of a wide variety of waste streams. The enhancement of existing energy resources and development of alternative fuel sources are critical activities that can ensure the economic viability of industrial areas. They also support the profitability of business centers located in or adjacent to manufacturing industries.
As many as possible. It’s too soon to tell exactly how many jobs will be created upon redevelopment of any site but GIGI’s goal is to seek out companies that can ensure long-term, economic viability to these areas.
GIGI does not disclose details regarding sales price for any of its properties because the sales price is only a small part of the initial investment of any property. To date, the typical initial investment for each Smurfit Stone site fell between $3 and $4 million (US).
GIGI does not know a total investment cost for each property but estimates an approximate investment of $15 million in Phase I of redevelopment, which includes the remediation, clean-up, restoration and reorganization of a site.