Chillicothe — The paper mill building proposed to be used as a data center was hinted at in the August 10th council session: the large blue facility that dominates Eastern Avenue near South Bridge Street.
Council heard more public input on concerns in their August 10th session, as well as which Chilpaco building may to be used…as public discussion continued after the July 2nd announcement of a presumed data center on the paper mill site.
In the session, council member Kathy Dunn again responded to her assignment to gather “information to formulate possible legislation regarding data centers” that she was given in July. In her committee report, Dunn explained that the 44-acre Chilpaco property had been divided into three or four parts.
As she clarified afterward in an interview, one of those parcels is the “ASRS” building at the bend of Eastern Avenue east of South Bridge Street, the tall windowless rectangular blue structure. Building 325, the Automated Storage Retrieval System or Roll Storage building, was built 1993-1994 as climate-controlled computer-operated paper roll storage. Chatter among paper mill Facebook posts is that it cost $325M to build…but was phased out by 2015 and stood empty since then.
Dunn said that in a tour given to her and another council member by paper mill site owner John Todoroki, he said that if a data center is installed in the building, they would put noisy external equipment on the west side, facing Bridge Street, with a buffer of trees.
Other developments were announced for the paper mill site on July 2nd, presumably on the Chilpaco side. A sign for the “Chilpaco Innovation Campus” has been posted at the Canal Street gate.
Learn more in my previous story on the public speakers in council’s August 10th session.
And, learn more in my other previous stories on the issue:
- Chillicothe Council in Their Third Session After Announced “Data Center” (August 10th)
- Concerns and Info Gathering Continue on Announced Chillicothe “Data Center”(Kathy Dunn’s first report and an insider warning from the July 27th council session)
- City of Chillicothe Taking Action on Data Center Concerns (context for the issue and the July 13th council session)
- The Ross County Commissioners’ Perspective on Announced “Data Center” (as asked on August 6th)
See also news stories on data center issues in Pickaway County and elsewhere, on the Scioto Post.
Chilpaco, or the Chillicothe Paper Company, had been founded in 1919 near the paper mill complex started in 1847 in the south end of Chillicothe.
It was both competitive as well as complimentary to the Mead paper mill, with ex-Mead investors plus silent support from Mead management. Separated by South Bridge Street, Mead eventually bought the smaller factory in 1955 but maintained it as a separate division.
The entire paper mill facility, as Pixelle Specialty Solutions, was shut down over the spring and summer of 2025 – before the 460-plus-acre complex was bought by John Todoroki, owner and founder of U.S. Paper Mill, in October. His company U.S. Medical Glove began a small medical glove production line in a former paper shipping warehouse on 8th Street.
Search the Scioto Post for other stories on the historical Mead and Chilpaco paper mills, the last paper manufacturer Pixelle, the local task force on the closing, and the new owner. Also search for many posts about the history and geography of the paper mill on my Facebook page (with many links to paper mill employee posts).
