Arcadia Paper Mills, LLC, was formed by a group of investors and industry experts to acquire and restart the paper mill located in St. Helens.
Jan. 13, 2026 (Press Release) - On December 22, 2025, Arcadia Paper Mills, LLC, and the City of St. Helens completed the purchase/sale of the former Boise paper mill located at 1300 Kaster Road in St. Helens (Oregon). The purchase of the mill and property by Arcadia Paper Mills, LLC, is the first step in a major investment by the company to activate the industrial property and return local manufacturing jobs to St. Helens.
Arcadia Paper Mills, LLC, is a company based in St. Helens, Oregon. Arcadia will manufacture paper towel and napkin at the paper mill in St. Helens with a team of local employees. Arcadia has already hired 15 employees from the local community to repair and commission the mill infrastructure.
The City of St. Helens began working with Arcadia Paper Mills, LLC, in April 2024 to sell the mill site.
Arcadia Paper Mills, LLC, was formed by a group of investors and industry experts to acquire and restart the paper mill located in St. Helens. Craig Allen, a former mill manager responsible for tissue operations at the mill in the 1990s, worked with investors and former employees to complete the due-diligence work and assemble a team to commission and restart the paper mill. Arcadia would like to extend special thanks to Ron Houghtelling who helped identify this opportunity for the Arcadia group. Ron Houghtelling is a longtime resident of St. Helens with several family members that have worked at the mill over generations.
The St. Helens Industrial Business Park where the mill is located is part of the City's ongoing Waterfront Redevelopment Project efforts.
"Arcadia Paper Mills' investment will bring family-wage manufacturing jobs back to St. Helens," said St. Helens City Administrator John Walsh. "It reflects the progress we're making to reactivate the industrial waterfront and grow our local economy."
The Industrial Park is a 205-acre industrial property that the City of St. Helens acquired from Boise White Paper Mill in 2015.
In January 2020, the St. Helens City Council adopted an Industrial Business Park Parcelization Framework and Funding Plan for the property. The framework and funding plan are intended to guide the City's efforts to spur industrial redevelopment on the property, restore local family-wage jobs to St. Helens, restore underutilized properties to the tax rolls, and increase the City's utility revenues.
In addition to the sale of the mill parcel to Arcadia Paper Mills, LLC, the City of St. Helens is currently working to increase power capabilities at the business park to support future business investment on the site.
SOURCE: City of St. Helens
PaperAge editor's note: Packaging Corp of America took ownership of the St. Helens tissue mill in 2013 when it acquired the pulp and paper division of Boise Cascade. Just a few years later, PCA sold the mill to Cascades. Cascades permanently closed the mill in October of 2023. At the time of its closure, the St. Helens mill was operating just one of its two tissue machines, producing about 50,000 short tons of brown 100% recycled tissue paper.