ONTARIO (From news reports) -- A property redevelopment company has bought the shuttered pulp and paper mill in Espanola, a year and a half after Domtar indefinitely idled the plant and cut 450 jobs.

Tillsonburg-based BMI Group announced the acquisition on Thursday, while Domtar says the closing of the sale is still "subject to customary regulatory approvals."

Domtar said it ended operations at the mill after "years of ongoing operating losses and high costs associated with maintaining and operating."

The Espanola mill still has 32 employees who have continued to manage and maintain the site.

BMI Group says it's ready to start "re-futuring" the Espanola mill, a process it describes as retooling infrastructure for new uses.

The company said it has successfully done this at properties in Ontario, Quebec and Michigan.

BMI Group was also involved in the redevelopment of the St. Mary's paper mill in Sault Ste. Marie and currently owns the former Abitibi paper mill in Iroquois Falls.

Paul Veldman, one of three brothers who owns BMI, says they were attracted to the Espanola mill because of it's "striking" and "picturesque" setting on the Spanish River, as well as its "significant square footage."

He says they are going to take a "close look at what could go in which part of the mill," but are definitely focused on what opportunities there are to continue processing forest products there, including paper or new kinds of biofuels.

"We believe that's tremendously important," said Veldman, BMI's CEO.

"We are actively in discussions with several groups looking at putting the wood back to work."

He says it would be "ambitious" to say they can restore the 450 jobs lost when Domtar shut down, but the goal is definitely to create more jobs and preserve work in nearby sawmills that once sold chips to the Espanola paper plant.

Veldman says, like other former mills the company has bought, there are "environmental challenges" including an on-site landfill that they'll need to work with the province on executing a "closure plan."

'Excellent news for Espanola': mayor

Espanola mayor Douglas Gervais says BMI group introduced themselves to the town in a meeting last month, and that a final sale deal with Domtar is excellent news.

"They told us their specialty is in bringing businesses in together, hopefully to have more than one industry come in," he said.

Gervais says he doesn't know if BMI still intends to run some kind of pulp and paper operation out of the mill. "They did not specify whether they were going to be bringing that back."

In a similar vein, he says it's hard to assess how many jobs will be brought back with this new company.

"There will be jobs, obviously, they are going to have to do some work," he said. "This is our hope, of course. But we cannot say at this point."

"I'm expecting people to be excited about this, as excited as I am. Rather than looking at something that's dead and not going anywhere, this here brings excitement to the community."