Statler Family Documents
The Statler Tissue Company
This page is a collection of information regarding the Statler Tissue Company which was located in Augusta, Maine. Please Note: There is no actual Statler family connection to this company as the owners named the company after the Statler Hotel located in Boston. The information below has been obtained by various web searches and submissions from various sources.
If you happen to have any information (pictures especially) regarding the Statler Tissue Co. that you'd like to share to add to this information, please e-mail me.
There was an online article that was printed by the Portland Press Herald newspaper for the February 3, 1996 edition which stated: "Statler Tissue Co. began shutting down in January 1995 because of massive increases in the cost of waste paper. By March, more than 550 workers had lost their jobs and the plant's owner, Leonard Sugarman, had gone bankrupt. The plant has been idle since the end of last February (1995). In August (1995), JLJ Recycling Contractors (out of New York) made an offer to buy the plant out of bankruptcy for $10 million in cash and to retool the plant, with help from Thermo Fibertek, for another $60 to $70 million. That deal won court approval in November (1995)."
Update 10/29/2002:
I received an email from a law student regarding a lawsuit case between the Sugarman brothers (owners of the tissue company). It gives some background of the company and reveals some of the issues as to why Leonard Sugerman went bankrupt. The document is in Microsoft Word format and can be downloaded HERE.
Update 12/03/2002:
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I received an email from a previous employee of the Statler Tissue company. He mentioned that the deal with JLJ Recycling in 1995 described above never went through. The mill was sold to Tree Free Fiber, LLC with help from Themo Fibertek. That operation also failed within 2 years (in 1997). Next, the plant was bought by American Tissue Mills Of Maine, LLC. The mill shutdown again in August 2001. The "Statler Rose" shown at the left was the logo of the Statler Tissue Corp. |
The mill was a private label tissue/towel manufacturer making products under about 200 names including some of its own labels such as Statler, Tree Free, Whisper, Doeskin, and Lydia Grey. 175 tons per day from 100% recycled paper was made. The mill was built in 1888 as Cushnoc Pulp and Paper. Later the name changed to Kennebec Pulp and Paper and then to Hudson Pulp and Paper before Statler took over in the late 1960's. |
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Statler Tissue also had part ownership in a mill in San Luis, Mexico which is still operating. It is called Fabricas de Papel Potosi. Update 03/11/2003: I received a document detailing more history of the Statler Tissue Corporation and information about a new paper company being started by Leonard Sugerman, the Southwest Thru-Air Dry Corporation. The document is in Microsoft Word format and can be downloaded HERE. Update 04/02/2003: I was informed that the tissue company name "Statler" was based after the Hotel Statler in Boston (which is now known as the Park Plaza Hotel). |
Update 11/10/2005 - News items on what happened to the mill in the "post"Statler years:
The January 21, 2003 issue of the Recycling Today magazine had this article:
"The owners of Augusta, Maine's only paper mill, closed for the past two years, have filed for bankruptcy protection to prevent the city from taking it for back taxes and to preserve it for an interested buyer.
The petition by the owners of American Tissue Mills of Maine, which produced tissue from recycled paper was filed Jan. 17 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland.
Benjamin Marcus, the attorney representing American Tissue Mills of Maine LLC, said that, "The city's tax liens were set to mature on Jan. 18, and in that event the city would have taken tax title to the mill, so this prevents that from happening."
The company is seeking protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.
More documents will be filed shortly, Marcus said, including a company list of assets and liabilities.
Marcus said American Tissue of Maine — a subsidiary of Hauppauge, N.Y.-based American Tissue — is trying to arrange the sale of the Augusta plant, which last produced tissue paper in August 2000.
"We have a party interested in acquiring the mill and reopening it," he said. "In order for that to happen, it will need to be approved by the court, and the buyer will need to make arrangements with various parties, including the city."
He said American Mills of Maine remains in control of the property, and that no court hearings are scheduled yet because the plant is not functioning.
The largest creditor is an entity called Augusta Tissue LLC, Marcus said. "If (the mill) were an operating company, it would need to deal with a number of things," said Marcus.
Marcus said the assets include the mill, the real estate, the equipment — including two paper machines — and a landfill on 170 acres along Church Hill Road. The land includes a storm water and leachate retention pond and has been used as a sludge dump for byproducts of the paper-making process.
Augusta Mayor William Dowling said the city has been approached by a party interested in taking over the mill. "It's an extended member of the same family that owns American Tissue," Dowling said Monday. He said the bankruptcy filing is one method of getting a clear title to the mill.
American Tissue Mills of Maine owes the city more than $350,000 in property and equipment taxes, interest and fees. The foreclosure action involved taxes for the 2001 fiscal year, some $85,000 of the total.
When American Tissue bought the Augusta mill, it had to pay $365,000 to the city in overdue real-estate and personal-property (equipment) taxes from 1998, 1999 and 2000 to settle debts from the previous owners, Tree-Free Fiber Inc.
Dowling said he wants to protect the city's interest in the Augusta properties, so he has asked the city's attorney, Stephen E. F. Langsdorf, to follow the proceedings in bankruptcy court. "Frankly I'm very insistent that the city be made whole," said Dowling, "and they're aware of that."
He said the filing in bankruptcy court gains time.
For many years, the Augusta plant operated as Statler Tissue."
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In April of 2003, a bankruptcy court approved the sale of American Tissue Mills (formaly Statler Tissue), to the Nili family. The new owners intend to restart the site under the name Augusta Tissue. Here is a link to the PDF format legal document that shows the transfer of license of the mill from American Tissue to Augusta Tissue.
On April 17, 2003, WABI TV Channel 5 reported this story:
"A federal Bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of Augusta's only paper mill, which paves the way for the shuttered mill to be reopened. The old American Tissue mill is being sold to a group led by the son-in-law of its former co-owner. That former co-owner faces federal charges of defrauding lenders and investors of nearly 300 million dollars.
The mill has been idle since August of 2001, and the new owners say that it will reopen under the name Augusta Tissue. The deal requires that the new owners repay all city taxes, as well as other charges by May 2004. Officials say that the mill's reopening could create 85 new jobs by the end of the year."
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The November 2003 issue of the Pulp & Paper magazine had this article:
"The former American Tissue Inc. mill in Augusta, Maine, is expected to be reopened this month, according to a local news report. The Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has approved a license transfer to a family group led by Nimi Nili, son-in-law of former American Tissue Inc. president/CEO Mehdi Gabayzadeh, the Kennebec Journal in Maine said.
The purchase price for the mill and a nearby parcel of property, which has been used to dump sludge, would be $5.9 million, according to the DEP license. The agreement with the DEP requires the new owners to fund $1.7 million in landfill closure costs. The new company must also pay $400,000 in back taxes, penalties, and interest to the city of Augusta when it resumes operation.
Augusta Tissue would be the new name of the mill, and Augusta Tissue president Ron Gasper said the new owners will spend six to eight weeks repairing the mill before starting up one of the mill's two machines this month. The second machine will be restarted in 2004.
Capacity of the mill before its closure was 40 tpd. The mill will supply parent rolls for the Evergreen Group's tissue converting plant in Coram, N.Y. The Long Island plant would convert the tissue into toilet tissue, towels, and napkins."
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Apparently, the mill never got off the ground as in this May 24, 2005 edition of the Kennekec Journal had this article written by Dan McGillvray of the paper:
"AUGUSTA -- A city board will consider possible uses for the closed Augusta Tissue Co. mill off Riverside Drive in case the city acquires the riverfront property through the lien process.
About 80 workers lost their jobs when the paper-making plant closed in August 2000. Several attempts by two owners to reopen the business since then have been unsuccessful.
"We need to discuss whether (Augusta Tissue) is going to reopen as a productive paper-making plant. I hope it does, but the city may be forced with (the possibility) of what to do with that property," Mayor William Dowling told the City Council Monday.
The city can foreclose on the owners if outstanding property taxes remain unpaid. Augusta Tissue had been on a schedule to pay the city $10,000 a month in back taxes.
"I don't think they've made a payment since January," Dowling said. He said the company still owes hundreds of thousand of dollars in taxes.
As of last June, the bill was up to $590,000 in taxes and penalties.
Augusta Tissue bought the mill from American Tissue Co. in a bankruptcy proceeding. The property is still known locally as the former Statler Tissue Co. mill.
"We want the highest and best use if the city takes it over," said Dowling. Renovating the riverfront mill for housing was one scenario discussed at the meeting.
The 11-member Augusta Development Commission will review potential uses for the property and issue a report to the mayor and council.
In other action Monday, the mayor asked Councilors Stan Koski, Karen Foster and Sylvia Lund to review a number of amendments submitted for the mineral-extraction ordinance that was adopted last week.
Dowling said city staff will be available for the committee. Koski, who is the chairman, said gravel-pit operators will be asked for their input as the amendments are reviewed over the next 30 days.
The ordinance requires pit-closure plans. Other regulations are meant to protect residents from blasting, dust, noise, and clear-cutting of trees.
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Update 06/30/2006 - Aerial Pic and more news items:
Dick McElhaney graciously sent in this aerial photo of the Augusta Tissue Mill believed to be taken in the mid-1980's:
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The Tuesday, May 16, 2006 edition of the Morning Sentinel had this article written by Betty Adams of the paper:
Fire destroys Augusta Tissue office building
By BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
AUGUSTA -- An early-morning fire destroyed a building that housed offices at the Augusta Tissue mill Monday. A lack of water at the deteriorating site kept as many as 65 firefighters busy for hours as flames jumped through the windows of the office building in what the city fire chief called the biggest fire in Augusta in recent memory. "It was a pretty bad fire, just by the size and location of it," Augusta Fire Chief Roger Audette said. "This is a big facility with the potential of being as bad as Edwards Mill if it caught fire. "It's certainly the biggest fire here in recent memory," he said. The fire's origin was "undetermined" Monday, Audette said. Augusta police and state fire marshals are investigating. |
 Photo sent in by Dick McElhaney |
The 105-year-old mill on the banks of the Kennebec River -- known as Statler Tissue in its heyday, when it employed 550 people -- has been closed for almost six years.
The paper mill produced its last long rolls of tissue paper in August 2000.
The blackened remains of Building No. 1, closest to the south gate on Maple Street, smoldered late Monday morning as Audette described battling to contain it to one section of the rambling structure.
"The fire was started in a wood-framed office section on the south end of the building," Audette said, "and we were able to contain it to one section."
Audette said flames were visible to firefighters in the Hartford Station when the initial call came in at 12:05 a.m. Monday
"It was fully involved when they arrived. There was fire coming out of every window," he said.
He said a second alarm was quickly declared and five other fire departments responded. Firefighters from Togus, Gardiner and Chelsea reached the scene while those from Vassalboro and Hallowell covered the city's fire stations.
Audette said as many as 65 firefighters were needed to control the fire.
He estimated damage at $200,000 to $300,000.
Firefighting efforts were hampered by a lack of water, since unpaid bills caused water and sewer services to the mill to be cut off. Firefighters also had to cut cables barring the access roads -- Maple Street and Drum Barker Road -- in order to reach the scene.
"We had to cut our way in to get down there, and had water supply issues," Audette said. "We had to lay 5,000 feet of hose from Riverside Drive down into the facility."
The fire was under control by 2:30 a.m., he said, but firefighters were still there "mopping up some hot spots" at 11 a.m.
The city's public works department brought in heavy equipment to pull the roofing material off the building that collapsed in on itself during the fire.
Audette said state environmental officials checked for any chemical runoff but didn't find anything. He will meet with them again at 9 a.m. today, he said.
The owners of the mill -- Augusta Tissue LLC -- talked about reviving the mill and had agreed to reimburse the city thousands of dollars in back taxes and delinquent utility bills.
"They're out of Great Neck, N.Y., and they have not called us back yet," Audette said, refering to the fire.
Dale Glidden, general manager of Augusta Water and Sanitary Districts, confirmed that firefighters lacked water Monday because the mill owners didn't pay their bill. He said the company owed $64,000 to the water and sanitary districts.
"It's domestic water and they also had a fire service. In other words, they get more water when they need it, and it was shut off a couple of years ago for nonpayment," Glidden said. "So there was absolutely no water at the mill site in which to fight a fire."
Glidden said there was no power at the mill, either, because of nonpayment to Central Maine Power Co.. But CMP officials said there was electricity in the office section that caught fire.
Audette said city police have received a number of complaints over the years about vandalism at the property.
"It was a vacant building. From a firefighters' perspective, we're always concerned with vacant building," Audette said.
Former mill manager Bob Jackson said he and one other man are employed by the mill's owners to check on the property.
Jackson said he has seen a lot of vandalism and theft, particularly of copper.
"The people who own it now have said they want to restart the mill," he said as he viewed the remains of his office. "This can't help at all."
But he also said the loss of the building -- which contained nine offices and numerous records -- would not hurt attempts at a potential restart.
Part of Building 18 near the pulp preparation area also burned, since there was an entrance from the offices to that section of the mill.
Jackson said that area contained a few bales of waste paper. "Some of those caught fire from the heat," he said.
When it operated, running the mill proved costly.
In January 2002, Central Maine Power Co. won a judgment of almost $700,000 from the mill for nonpayment of electrical bills. The owners of the former American Tissue paper mill also owe the city more than $450,000 in back taxes.
City Clerk Barbara Wardwell said the City Council set a goal for 2006 to resolve the issue. City councilors -- frustrated with the company's pace of repaying back taxes to the city -- have discussed the property with lawyers behind closed doors within the last two weeks.
"If we take the property over for taxes, we'd be assuming some liabilities," City Manager William Bridgeo had said.
He said the firm made a couple of delinquent-tax payments after the deal, but then stopped. "They haven't made a payment since last June," Bridgeo said.
"The whole process is about what to do with it and whether to do it as a city," he said. "Do you raze it to clear the site and start fresh?"
"We don't have a role in it yet until they decide whether they're going to be foreclosed or not," Wardwell said Monday.
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Here's a followup article about the fire from the Wednesday, May 17, 2006 edition of the Kennekec Journal.
Investigation seeks cause of fire at Augusta Tissue mill location
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
AUGUSTA -- Police and the state are continuing their investigation into the Monday fire that destroyed a two-story office building at the Augusta Tissue mill off Maple Street.
Officials also spent Monday checking chemicals that remain on site and devising a plan for their removal.
"The (state) Fire Marshal's Office is still determining the cause of the fire, and we're investigating possible leads," said Augusta police Detective Jared Mills.
Augusta Fire Chief Roger Audette said he went through the entire mill Monday with state Department of Environmental Protection workers to inventory chemicals left on site after the mill stopped producing paper in August 2000.
"There are some chemicals down there that will need to be cleaned out at some point and we're coming up with a plan to do that," Audette said.
Audette estimated damage to the building at $200,000 to $300,000. No one was injured in Monday's blaze.
The mill consists of a series of buildings that line the east bank of the Kennebec River.
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Update 11/07/2007:
Another law student who has been studying the Sugerman family and how they started the Tissue company sent me the following information:
In 1906, four brothers formed a partnership, Sugarman Brothers, for the purpose of selling paper products. By 1918, the partnership was owned in equal shares and managed by three of the four brothers: Joseph, Samuel and Myer Sugarman. Leonard Sugarman, is the son of Myer, who died in 1983.
In the 1930's, the principals in Sugarman Brothers organized Leonard Tissue Corporation, owned equally by Joseph, Myer and Samuel. Following World War II, Sugarman Brothers was incorporated. In 1964, Leonard Tissue changed its name to Statler Tissue and in 1969, Statler Tissue and Sugarman Brothers merged to create Statler Corporation.
©2006 by David Statler of
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Last Updated: November 07, 2007