SANFORD — A family-owned lumber company based in Piscataquis County has purchased the New England Building Materials sawmill on New Dam Road.

NEBM filed for bankruptcy in February.

Pleasant River Lumber, headquartered in Dover-Foxcroft, closed on the sale Nov. 30 and took over operations Dec. 3, said Jason Brochu, vice president of Pleasant River Lumber. He estimated about 45 people are employed at the mill.

The sawmill had been operated by NEBM off and on since its bankruptcy filing, but was not running when Pleasant River Lumber took over two weeks ago, Brochu said.

“We’ve been looking at the operation for a while,” said Brochu.

Pleasant River Lumber presented a plan that was approved by the bankruptcy court, he said. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

The sawmill was built by Albert Lavalley in 1944 and was sold by the Lavalley family in 1999 to a private holding company called United Ventures, LLC. In 2009, the company purchased holdings in Massachusetts and changed the company name to New England Building Materials. NEBM underwent a rapid expansion, acquiring other holdings in Maine, but the business faltered. Some retail holdings were sold or closed, and the owners filed for reorganization bankruptcy. Deering Lumber purchased the retail division earlier this year and operates stores in Springvale and in Sanford on New Dam Road, adjacent to the sawmill.

Pleasant River Lumber was established by members of the Brochu family in 2004, but the four family members have been involved in various other lumber companies for several years, said Brochu.

Acquiring the Sanford sawmill was attractive because of the employees, the sawmill’s history and the efficiency of the operation, he said.

“There’s a very well-developed staff with tons of experience,” said Brochu. He said some work needs to be done because of the age of the equipment. “We like all aspects” of the operation, he said.

The former NEBM sawmill will be the second Pleasant River mill to produce eastern white pine ”“ the company operates a pine mill in Hancock and produces spruce lumber at its Dover-Foxcroft headquarters and at a mill in Enfield. The lumber is sold wholesale.

Lee Burnett of Forest Works, a regional working-forest conservation initiative, said keeping the mill open is extremely important to the forest economy in the region.

“We almost lost it last winter,” said Burnett. “Landowners, foresters and loggers are very happy with the news. They need a variety of markets in order to do forestry, and the Lavalley Mill has always been an outlet people could count on. I understand Pleasant River is a strong company with an excellent track record of investing in their mills.”

Cornish logger Robert Libby delivered a load of logs to the sawmill Thursday.

He said the sale of the sawmill is good for both loggers and for Sanford.

“I think it’s good for the town ”“ Sanford needs it. And good people own Pleasant River Lumber,” he said.

Sanford Springvale Chamber of Commerce President Richard Stanley toured the sawmill some years ago.

“It would have been a shame if someone hadn’t carried that on,” he said. “It’s great news.

“It is important, in my opinion, to have a working lumberyard. It just is. It’s Maine tradition.”

Brochu said the lumber produced from the Sanford mill will be branded Pleasant River pine.

The company purchased the Hancock mill a year ago and was recently awarded a $160,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture rural energy program to help the company install a biomass boiler there.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, Ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.