Kamine Development Corp., Celadon consider Tampa for $160M plant

Investment firm Kamine Development Corp. (KDC), Bedminster, New Jersey, and Celadon, a technology firm, are proposing to invest $160 million into a paper and cardboard recycling plant on land in the Port of Tampa Bay, Florida.

In December 2019, KDC and Celadon formed a partnership to recycle mixed paper and old corrugated containers (OCC) into recycled pulp. According to a press release from KDC last December, Celadon had identified two sites that the firms could invest in for about $300 million with a goal to use those sites to recycle mixed paper and OCC into recycled pulp. KDC had indicated that the companies planned to start construction on those sites in 2020.

“KDC is excited to work with Celadon to help build, own and operate their two major production facilities and upcycle more than 800,000 tons of cardboard and [scrap] paper per year,” Hal Kamine, CEO and founder of KDC, says in KDC’s press release in December 2019.

According to a report in the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, the proposed facility in the Port of Tampa Bay would create 96 jobs in Hillsborough County, Florida. The Tampa Bay Times reports that as part of a deal to start the site, Hillsborough County would be asked to forego half of the company’s property taxes for a seven-year period beginning in 2025, which is allowable under a 2010 voter-approved tax abatement program that expires this November. The county is planning to vote on this tax reduction at a hearing Oct. 21.