Mountain Top Timber
Borrower : Mountain Top Timber Products, LLC
Where : Coeburn, VA
Loan Amount : $1.2 million
Project Type : Equipment Loan, Bridge Loan
Opportunity
Mountain Top Timber Products provides quality wood chips to the paper and pulp industries and various other markets. The demand for the high-grade chips produced by Mountain Top has given the company the opportunity to expand operations and double in size – creating roughly 15,000 tons of wood chips per month.
Founded in 2016 in Wise County, Mountain Top is investing in a second location in the small Scott County town of Dungannon. The new site, a former fiberboard factory, will expand Mountain Top’s operations and add more than 50 jobs. Unlike its existing location, Mountain Top’s new factory will be indoors, which will allow it to broaden its product line to include dry kiln wood for making high-end flooring and furniture. The expansion will also help the company move into emerging foreign markets.
Mountain Top customers include wood buyers such as Resolute Forest Products, Evergreen Packaging, and Dominion Energy.
Impact
VCC secured Mountain Top’s U.S. Small Business Administration-backed loan to cover equipment costs, which include a new sawmill and dry kiln. The new site will use an electric-powered assembly line compared to its existing diesel-powered operation in Wise, reducing the cost of goods sold and simplifying the production process.
The company is expected to create 55 new jobs over the next three years, all above the county’s prevailing wage – a particularly meaningful move in Dungannon, a low-moderate income community in need of new jobs. Mountain Top is also committed to sustainability and plans to buy more than $14 million worth of Virginia-grown timber from area loggers and forestland owners.
Mountain Top additionally ensures waste minimization by selling mulch created by shredded bark; the dry kilns they use will be fueled by steam made from the bark.
Solution
SBA Lending
The Scott County Economic Development Authority brought together the Tobacco Commission, VECEDA, Dept of Agriculture and Virginia Community Capital to encourage Mountain Top to expand to Dungannon. VCC is an SBA-Preferred Lending Partner and therefore has the option to use its authority to expedite the approval process for these federally backed loans. Our Loan Officers are trained in SBA eligibility and can save time upfront on structuring the best option for borrowers such as Mountain Top. For these reasons, VCC has become a top SBA lender in Virginia. VCC’s staff also has expertise in USDA and other loan-guarantee programs.
“The most rewarding part of this job is seeing the economic impact of our lending. When you see people calling and stopping by a business you funded asking for job applications, you know you are making a difference,” says Cindy Snider, VCC’s Small Business Loan Officer. “Creating fifty jobs in a town the size of Dungannon and filling a building that has sat empty for twenty years is the reason we do what we do.”
Mountain Top is making wood chips – and headlines! See recent news stories on Mountain Top’s expansion: