Allyson Beauregard
LITCHFIELD – LiveWell Foods Canada Inc., the organization planning
to construct a Global Innovation Centre and a one million square foot marijuana growing facility in Litchfield, officially acquired a 450 acre portion of the former Smurfit-Stone property near Portage-du-Fort in late April. The property was
Allyson Beauregard
LITCHFIELD – LiveWell Foods Canada Inc., the organization planning
to construct a Global Innovation Centre and a one million square foot marijuana growing facility in Litchfield, officially acquired a 450 acre portion of the former Smurfit-Stone property near Portage-du-Fort in late April. The property was
purchased from Nova Scotia Company, an affiliate of Wakefield Properties, an American real-estate development company.
“We are pleased to welcome LiveWell to our municipality; a company that will not only help boost our economy and create jobs, but will also make Litchfield a global hub of research and innovation,” said Colleen Larivière, mayor of Litchfield, in a press release.
According to Livewell, the construction of one greenhouse has already begun at the site. “After securing the site, we went ahead with the preliminary site preparation, updated power and water installations, and added security,” said Livewell’s Lea Manuel. Given that it is a “multi-year project”, further construction will begin in the near future. The intention is to have the Livewell site in operation this year. “Given the nature of our project, there will be additions on a continuous basis,” she added.
Together with its partners Canopy Growth Corporation and Canopy Rivers Corporation, LiveWell is also retrofitting an existing 540,000 square foot
greenhouse facility in Ottawa. The three companies joined forces in early April.
SSPM Pontiac, L.P., an affiliate of Green Investments Group Inc. (GIGI), purchased the 2,200 acre former Smurfit-Stone mill site in January 2010 and sold parcels of land to the Pontiac Sorting Center recycling plant and Uteau, a sewage and waste-water treatment facility; both still occupy what is known as the Industrial Park. In early December 2017, Nova Scotia Company/Wakefield Properties purchased the remaining 1,800 acres of property after the original owners defaulted on
municipal taxes. The sale followed the closure of the Trebio pellet mill and the removal of “millions of dollars” of scrap metal and equipment from the former paper mill site. GIGI no longer exists in Canada.
