JAY — Accounting offices and the “time office” of a former paper mill are well on the way to becoming a restaurant with a cathedral ceiling and chandelier-style lights.

The vinyl flooring looks like wooden planks and oak woodwork adorns portions of the walls and other areas. An oak bar will soon have a top made of granite from North Jay Quarry.

In October 2009, Mary Howes and husband, Tim DeMillo, of Otis Ventures LLC bought the former Wausau Paper mill after it closed May 31. More than 150 people lost their jobs. One of the goals the couple is committed to is putting people back to work. They are using local contractors to renovate the 650,000-square-foot mill.

Howes and DeMillo have a long-term vision of transforming the place into a business complex. Several businesses are working out of the Otis Falls Mill as it is being transformed.

The full-service restaurant and bar being developed is expected to open in early spring.

“Almost from day one of purchasing the mill, the one comment Mary and I have heard the most is, ‘We need a new restaurant.’ So two-plus years later, we are nearing the completion of Mill St. Cafe,” Tim DeMillo said. 

Veteran chef Doug Perreault is on board and ready to go.

“Along with this significant reinvestment in the property and in our community, we hope to have in conjunction with the Department of Conservation and Androscoggin Land Trust/Chisholm Trails, a new multiuse trail through the property to bring people to town, along with a hand-carry boat launch to reintroduce people to the Androscoggin River,” DeMillo said.

When workers removed the drop-ceiling in what was to be the restaurant, they discovered boards shaped to the interior of the roof and dark, metal trusses supporting it. They left it that way.

Outside the restaurant, a wraparound deck is partially finished. Diners will have views of the Androscoggin River.

Eventually, the couple hopes those trekking Chisholm Trails will walk between and through portions of the mill.

The couple decided to leave one private room in the restaurant, which they refer to as the War Room. It is there that they hashed over terms to buy the massive mill from the former owners. It will be used for private parties and business conferences.

Howes led the way downstairs to where workers once punched time cards and where a security office and monitors are located. It was a railroad station at one time, and a bench or two remain.

She walked through a tunnel that runs under the unused railroad tracks, which they own, into what was the paper-making portion of the building.

The No. 9 paper machine has been shipped overseas to an Indian company in 52 ship containers that weighed more than 2 million pounds. A big conveyor system has gone to New York and a pulper to the country of Mexico.

Progress is visible as space opens up.

The owners kept part of the No. 11 paper machine, which they hope to one day use in a museum to show how paper was made.

At one stop in the basement, large tanks once filled with water sit unused. It was where hydropower was made.

“This is like walking back in time,” Howes said.

In an adjacent old ground-wood room, the oldest section of the mill, large grinding stones lie dormant. Water was used to turn the grinding stone to grind up the wood, Howes said.

Up a flight of metal stairs, Howes walks to where the storeroom once was. It is now used by Little Bucket Firestarters, which makes fire starters of compressed wood shavings and wax, and Walston Woodcraft, which produces whirligigs. They were the couple’s first tenants.

Howes continued on the tour and stopped at a pile of valves. Only a few have been taken off the piping, she said.

“Every pocket, every corner, everywhere, there is more stuff,” she said. “We have gotten rid of a lot of stuff but still have a lot left.”

The room where the No. 9 paper machine was has a new floor. A portion of No. 11 sits nearby. The idea is to make this room part of a museum, unless a major manufacturer wants to come in, Howes said.

Scrapping out unused equipment and other materials and selling what people are looking for helps sustain the mill.

The goal is to get it to sustain itself, Howes said.

They have more tenants. The research and development laboratory is rented to Cerealus, a company that tests chemicals for the paper industry. Holiday-Wreaths rents out space seasonally to make wreaths. Memorial Guards stores its products made in New Hampshire. Momentum Payment Systems Maine also has office space.

“We have a lot of plans. It just takes time,” Howes said. “We have a long-term vision, but we know it’s going to take years to make it happen. We’re going to try to make something of it and if it works, great. If it doesn’t, at least we tried. If we didn’t buy it, it would have been demolished.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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