Bright Wood Corp. in Madras buys Culver mill
MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – With home-building continuing at strong levels despite COVID-19, Madras-based Bright Wood Corp., the region’s largest manufacturing business, is expanding through the purchase of a closed Culver plant.
A company official confirmed Wednesday that Bright Wood, which has nearly 1,100 employees making window framing components, has bought the 26-acre Mid-Columbia Lumber site in Culver, including a 150,000-square-foot facility, and will have a shift of 15-20 people working there by early 2021.
“It fits well with our product line, and we’re happy to expand and continue to employ more people in Central Oregon,” Chief Financial Officer Kevin Palmer said.
The facility will join other lines making long-length dimensional framing, known as ESL (engineered structural lumber).
Mid-Columbia shut down last spring, when the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact were being felt strongly. In fact, Bright Wood also laid off more than 200 workers in the spring, but they returned within 30 to 60 days as business gained momentum once again, Palmer said. BrightWood also had a workplace outbreak involving eight people in early August.
Bright Wood bought the Culver facility from Main Street Capital, a publicly traded private equity firm in Houston. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
Bright Wood also bought Mid-Columbia’s smaller facility at the Madras Industrial Park late this summer. Bright Wood also has plants in Redmond and Prineville, and in Menomonie, Wisconsin.
