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With its paper mill closing in just days, Georgetown faces an uncertain future

Built in 1936, the International paper mill in Georgetown is closing at year's end, leaving some 700 workers unemployed and displacing another 200 contract workers. Dec. 12, 2024.
Victoria Hansen
/
SC Public Radio
Built in 1936, the International Paper Mill in Georgetown is closing at year's end, leaving some 700 workers unemployed and displacing another 200 contract workers. Dec. 12, 2024.

Workers brace for loss while a community worries about the impending closure of the Georgetown paper mill. Still, some see opportunity.

For nearly a century, the International Paper Mill in Georgetown has gobbled up wood and spewed steam from its towering stacks. But in just a matter of weeks, all the clanging, the steam and yes, even the stench will cease.

So will some 700 jobs.

A Tennessee based paper company is closing the mill by year’s end to cut costs. Ken Avant is among those who will soon be out of work.

International Paper Mill employee Ken Avant leaves the afternoon shift to pick up his three girls from school. He's worked at the mill for nearly 20 years but now needs a new job as the mill shuts down at year's end.
Victoria Hansen
/
SC Public Radio
International Paper Mill employee Ken Avant leaves the afternoon shift to pick up his three girls from school. He's worked at the mill for nearly 20 years but now needs a new job as the mill shuts down at year's end. Dec. 12, 2024

“I really don't know what to say,” sighs Avant as he leaves the mill with a safety helmet tucked beneath his arm.

“Just keep pushing forward and move to the next chapter now, I guess. See what happens.”

Ken Avant, another loss

A lot has happened to Avant in recent years. He shares intimate details of loss as he scrolls through his phone’s cracked screen.

Avant’s wife was killed by a drunk driver in 2019, leaving him as the sole provider for their three girls. Then, his mom got sick and died of cancer. Now he cares for his father while looking for a new job.

Ken Avant, whose losing his job at the mill at year's end, shows photos of his family, including his late wife who was killed by a drunk driver in 2019. Dec. 12, 2024
Victoria Hansen
/
SC Public Radio
Ken Avant, who's losing his job at the mill, shares photos of his family, including his late wife who was killed by a drunk driver in 2019. Dec. 12, 2024

He and hundreds of other mill workers were given just two months’ notice of the company’s closure and will have to compete with one another for whatever jobs are available.

“These calibers of jobs are going to be hard to replace, especially after a 20-year career,” said Avant. “It’s going to be tough.”

A native of Georgetown, Avant says he can’t leave the area. He has too much family here. Still, he’s having to say goodbye to long-time colleagues, many whose loved ones have worked at the mill for generations.

A community, worried

Just blocks away, along the riverfront downtown, Georgetown’s historic clock and quaint shops are decked out for Christmas. But the mood among many locals is anything but merry.

A shop on Front Street in Georgetown decorated for Christmas. But for many in the community, the holiday is overshadowed by the impending loss of hundreds of jobs as one the area's largest employers is about to shut down. Dec. 12, 2024
Victoria Hansen
/
SC Public Radio
A shop on Front Street in Georgetown decorated for Christmas. But for many in the community, the holiday is overshadowed by the impending loss of hundreds of jobs as one the area's largest employers is about to shut down. Dec. 12, 2024

“It’s sad that they didn’t give them more time,” says Edison Stafford as he grabs lunch with friends.

The 75-year-old has lived here all his life. He knows all too well the fallout from the steel mill, which has repeatedly closed and reopened for decades, unleashing tsunamis of uncertainty on a city of roughly 9,000 people.

Stafford says he’s worried, not only about the mill workers, but some 200 contract employees who will also be displaced. Logging trucks, once routinely seen on the roadways, have all but disappeared.

Cathy Turner worries too. She’s out for a walk with her dog on the riverfront boardwalk, not far from her condominium.

“Home prices are going to drop. Restaurants won’t be able to employ people,” she says.

“It’s just a chain reaction that’s going to be horrific.”

At Soco Grille up the street, there are plenty of open tables for lunch. Owner Greg Metcalfe says he no longer sees mill workers who were once regulars. They’re impending job loss has slammed the brakes on business.

Soco Grille in Georgetown was once popular with mill workers, but owner Greg Metcalfe says he's seen a slowdown in business since International Paper announced Oct. 31, it's closing the mill. Metcalfe is also the president of the Georgetown Business Association. Dec. 12, 2024.
Victoria Hansen
/
SC Public Radio
Soco Grille in Georgetown was once popular with mill workers, but owner Greg Metcalfe says he's seen a slowdown in business since International Paper announced Oct. 31, it's closing the mill. Metcalfe is also the president of the Georgetown Business Association. Dec. 12, 2024.

“Everyone’s just like stop, stop, stop, spending, stop this. We don’t know what our future is,” says Metcalfe.

Metcalfe is the president of the Georgetown Business Association and has been working with the community to try to figure out what’s next.

There’s been a job fair, workshops, a holiday toy drive and free meals for Thanksgiving.

But the big question still to be answered is, how can the mill property best be used to create new jobs?

What’s next?

“Georgetown’s skyline has been predominately industrial for the last 100 years,” says state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch.

“We really have an opportunity there.”

Goldfinch says, unlike the steel mill, the paper mill is closing for good, and the company does not plan to sell the property to a competitor. So, he’s been talking to developers.

Goldfinch says two of the developers are industrial, but a third would be mixed use. If coupled with the community’s recently acquired port property, Goldfinch says, that third developer could provide an opportunity for the city to expand its waterfront and attract more tourists.

The International Paper Mill as seen from Georgetown's riverfront boardwalk downtown. Its closure could lead to plans for an expanded waterfront to attract more tourists. Dec. 12, 2024
Victoria Hansen
/
SC Public Radio
The International Paper Mill as seen from Georgetown's riverfront boardwalk downtown. Its closure could lead to plans for an expanded waterfront to attract more tourists. Dec. 12, 2024

Goldfinch says, at this point, he doesn’t favor any particular developer. He just wants the community to look ahead.

The senator says he understands people are mourning the loss of one of the area’s largest employers, but he believes the city must act quickly. He says the mill site will need an environmental impact study and likely, cleanup.

“If we don’t start today, preferably yesterday, it could be five years before you see another job, or another tax dollar come off of that piece of property,” says Sen. Goldfinch.

Trevor Day owns several restaurants downtown and this week, opened yet another, an Italian bistro. He and Metcalfe say they welcome the opportunity for more visitors with a renewed waterfront, much like other coastal communities.

“You know, the potential is there,” says Day. “I mean, they’re not making any more waterfront property, and we know what that goes for.”

But can hospitality jobs provide the kind of pay industrial workers make? Goldfinch says there’s room for both, but perhaps, not downtown.

Back at the paper mill, William Bennett is unloading groceries in front of his home across the street. He says his shiny new truck is constantly covered with some kind of dust. While he feels for the workers losing their jobs, Bennett says, he won’t miss the mill.

“Well, it’s noisy and it keeps my truck messed up,” he says.

Still, he wonders, will it be too quiet at night? People are already losing sleep over the mill’s closure.

Victoria Hansen is our Lowcountry connection covering the Charleston community, a city she knows well. She grew up in newspaper newsrooms and has worked as a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years. Her first reporting job brought her to Charleston where she covered local and national stories like the Susan Smith murder trial and the arrival of the Citadel’s first female cadet.