Wood pellet maker leases space in closed Chesapeake plant

CHESAPEAKE

Two Colorado businessmen plan to hire 20 workers and spend $6 million to start a wood pellet manufacturing business here.

Eden Pellets has leased 60,000 square feet in a building on West Dexter Street that once housed Chesapeake Hardwood Products, according to a news release from brokerage firm Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield.

The company will occupy about an eighth of the 452,000-square-foot building and is in the process of interviewing workers and setting up its manufacturing equipment, said Ben Davenport, one of two partners in the venture.

"The building had the space we required," he said. "It had high ceilings."

The location also provides their business proximity to the port of Hampton Roads and easy access to railroads, Davenport said.

He and partner Gregg Rozeboom hope to have operations up and running by April, Davenport said. The company will produce one line of wood pellets to be used for horse bedding and another product to be used for burning to produce energy, he said.

The manufacturing process will take raw wood products or construction debris and convert it into pellets. The company plans to produce 60,000 tons of pellets in its first year of operation, Davenport said. Most of that is already spoken for, he added, but Eden hopes to develop more markets, possibly even exporting to Europe.

Clay Culbreth, a commercial real estate broker for Thalhimer, handled the negotiations for the lease.

Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com