Orange helping to get new buyer for closed paper mill

The Orange City Council Tuesday officially created a reinvestment zone for 556 acres of land that was a paper mill from 1967 until it closed last as International Paper last year.

The designation will allow an investing company to get State of Texas economic incentives to buy the property and develop it.

Scott Overton, chief appraiser at the Orange County Appraisal District said the deed to the property has not been filed to show the old plant has sold, but he has heard the sale is in the works.

The plant was built by the Owens-Illinois company and later became Temple-Inland before being sold to International Paper.

Reports are that United States Gypsum interested buyer. Bloomberg Business shows Otsego Paper Incorporated is a subsidiary of USG. The paper company in Otsego, Michigan, makes "heavy gauge paper used in gypsum wallboard and Sheetrock wallboard."

The International Paper mill produced heavy paper used in cardboard containers. US Gypsum makes types of wallboard.

Overton with the appraisal district said an industrial plant that is not in operation still pays property taxes, but the valuation goes down if it is not in production. That loss in valuation means entities like the Little Cypress-Mauriceville school district and the city of Orange are losing tax income as long as the plant is closed. Nearly 500 local jobs were lost because that plant closed.