WATERVILLE — Ten manufacturing jobs have been created in the city as a Vassalboro farmer prepares to start turning hay unsuitable for livestock into fire logs in a former bakery building that has been empty for more than 15 years.
Bragdon Farm LLC, a company formed by farmer Peter Bragdon, will make the fire logs in a manufacturing plant being installed in 11,000 square feet formerly occupied by Harris Baking Co. between Sanger Avenue, North and Harris streets. The bakery closed in 1998.
The 4-by-12-inch hay logs can be burned in place of wood in furnaces, stoves, fire pits, chimeras and camp fires.
Work to renovate the former bread factory was helped by a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant obtained by the city and a $160,000 loan from Wiscasset-based Coastal Enterprise Inc., a community development financing institution.
City Manager Michael Roy said now that the jobs have been created, the city will hold a public hearing as required by the grant, which is federally funded but state administered, to let the public know the grant produced the jobs as promised. The hearing will be at 6:45 p.m. April 7 in City Council chambers.
Bragdon Farm operations director Ray Bernier said the assembly line is being built this week with the help of Italian engineers, and should be completed next week.
“It’s a key milestone. When we turn on the line, that’s something the team still has to decide,” Bernier said.
He said the 10 new jobs are active, and Bragdon intends to hire an additional employee. The operation includes five types of manufacturing jobs ranging from machine operator to supervisor. The business also has hired administrative staff.
In a previous news release, Bragdon said he hoped to have hay logs for sale by the first quarter of this year. But in a release Thursday, the company said it will begin manufacturing its first prototype logs immediately after the plant is assembled, and after prototyping and testing, hopes to start selling its product in the fall.
Bernier said it has taken longer than anticipated to renovate the building.
“It’s been a long process. It’s a very old building,” he said.
Bragdon bought the entire 40,000-square-foot building in January from Dirigo U.S. Ranger Cadets. He is developing plans for the sections not used for making hay logs.
The hay log operation is in the garage area of the building. When plans were announced in August 2013, Darryl Sterling of the Central Maine Growth Council said the business would either rehabilitate the larger section of the building or demolish it and build a new one.
Sterling said the site was chosen for its easy access to a rail line.
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