Turning a 100,000-square foot former paper mill into a green business incubator and arts center, powered with renewable energy technologies for the 21st century, surrounded by a net positive energy housing community in an environmentally sustainable 180-acre community land trust.

The Columbia Box Board mill sits on the site of four previous mills dating to the late 18th century, when first grist mills, then paper mills took advantage of the natural water power along the Stony Kill Creek and the proximity to the historic Albany-Boston Post Road in the Town of Chatham, New York. At its peak, Chatham boasted numerous paper mills, making Columbia County the largest paper producer in New York State. Throughout early 20th century the existing mill underwent considerable expansion, becoming a major economic force in the region.

In the 1950s, Columbia Box Board was an innovator in the recycled newsprint for feedstock, and was featured in a National Association of Manufacturers’ “Industry on Parade” film, now archived in the Smithsonian, that focused on American industrial ingenuity after World War II. Innovation alone could not save and in 1995 it closed abruptly, taking with it the last remaining paper mill in the Town of Chatham, and over 150 jobs, many of which had been passed down through generations.

In 1997, Jody Rael, the president of Kling Magnetics, Inc., bought the former Columbia Box Board site to relocate his manufacturing business to Chatham, NY. Along with the 20,000 square-foot manufacturing building Kling occupies, the site included an adjacent 100,000 square foot former paper mill, and more than 180 contiguous undeveloped acres. Rael saw the opportunity to reclaim the mill as an efficient, exciting, and economic resource for the 21st century. Over the next few years, Rael assembled an advisory group of artists, businesspeople, and energy consultants to develop a strategy for the redevelopment of the mill powered with renewable energy resources. From these partnerships a unique vision continues to emerge and evolve, combining renewable energy and the arts.

The mill will be the center of this community. The buildings contain 120,000 square feet of usable space that are being renovated and retrofitted to accommodate educational and artistic ventures. The center will include an eclectic collection of working studios with a foundry for the high-energy-consumption fire arts – glass blowing, recycled glass tile casting, ceramics, and metal forging – for artists and fabricators who will benefit from the reduced utility costs associated with renewable energy sources. Later phases would include a regional foods restaurant, high-energy-consumption food production and artisan food processing businesses, exhibit and performance areas, and retail space.