Block manufacturer eyes Libby for plant

By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter

A Whitefish distributor of insulated concrete blocks is seriously considering opening a manufacturing plant in Libby.

The plant would create 100 to 200 jobs that pay $8 to $25 an hour. Production could begin by January 2007 in the former Stimson plywood plant at Kootenai Industrial Business Park.

"We are drafting a letter today so we can get started," said John Porterfield, president of Porter Block in Whitefish. "We're putting this on the fast track."

The Libby block facility would be the first of five production centers to be built across the nation, he said. It will require a $5 million investment.

Porterfield on Friday met with Kootenai River Development Council, a non-profit agency in Libby that oversees economic development throughout Lincoln County including the former 400-acre Stimson mill property. Officials from the local industrial district board joined the five-hour meeting. It included a tour of the five-acre former plywood plant; Porter Block would need about half of the building's space.

Paul Rumelhart, executive director for KRDC, contacted Porter Block in April after learning the company wanted to build a construction center in Montana to serve the Northwest.

"We have the land and the facility, the material the company needs and the workforce," Rumelhart said.

Libby also has the rail for shipping, electrical power for production, space to store blocks and rocks in Libby Creek for making blocks.

After Friday's meeting, Rumelhart remained optimistic.

"We would hope to have a written proposal within two weeks," he said.

Used for constructing homes and other buildings, the blocks create walls that are heat-resistant, soundproof, waterproof, fireproof, and bug and rodent proof. The blocks use mortarless, dry-stacked construction techniques.

Right now the block is being used to build 10,000 homes in the Gulf area destroyed by last August's Hurricane Katrina. They're also being used to build 5,000 townhouses in Florida and 70,000 homes in Mexico.

"We hold the key to a large market," said Wynn Westmoreland with SouthWest Management in Orem, Utah, who accompanied Porter to Libby. Westmoreland sets up production facilities and negotiates development for the block company, known as Integrated Masonry Systems International.

Local officials would lease the former plywood plant to Porter Block.

Porterfield is pleased with the building and his Libby experience.

"I think we'll have a real positive finish on this story," he said. "We got the sense there's a hard-working workforce. On top of that, we just found there was a level of cooperation and decision-making that was ready to make this happen. This is not some pie-in-the-sky project."