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Project to revive Kalamazoo County paper mill remains a work in progress

Posted By: mlive on June 28, 2026.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

It was 2018 that Chris Moore bought the former Fox River paper mill, located less than a mile from downtown Vicksburg. A Vicksburg native who became wealthy in the tech industry, Moore outlined an ambitious $80 million plan to turn the sprawling mill into a multi-use complex featuring a brewery, a museum, hotel, retail and event spaces and residential apartments. Eight years later, the mill is still empty.

But the project hasn’t been abandoned. It’s not even stalled, says Steve Sielatycki, vice president for The Mill Group, Moore’s parent company for his Vicksburg ventures. Progress is being made, Sielatycki said. Things are moving forward. Indeed, Sielatycki says Moore has poured $53 million of his own money into Vicksburg in the past eight years.

That includes:

• Major remediation of the mill complex, which is finally finished. An announcement is expected soon on the next phase of development.
• The purchase of nine commercial properties in downtown Vicksburg.
• The purchase of 35 homes around the mill, which are mostly rented out.
• The creation of music and art residency programs based in Vicksburg.
• Relocation of Mackenzie’s Bakery to Vicksburg. When the owner of the popular Kalamazoo business retired, Moore offered to buy the business with the agreement of moving it to a historic building restored by Moore.
• Retention of the Vicksburg Hardware Store. When the owner of the local hardware store made known he was planning to close, Moore bought the building and is allowing the owner to lease the space at a reduced rent.

In fact, there’s enough activity among Moore’s Vicksburg ventures that The Mill Group has 27 people on its payroll. That includes workers at Mackenzie’s as well as people working on the mill and the downtown properties.

The Mill Group has four main goals listed in its promotional materials: Save historical buildings in Vicksburg; make Vicksburg a destination as a historic village; design and operate “great businesses” in those restored buildings and support “population density while protecting surrounding farmland.”

Moore, 61, has amassed a great fortune in the past three decades. He currently lives in Nevada. He does not have a spouse or children. What he does have is a great affection for his hometown.

“Chris has always described this as sustainable philanthropy,” Sielatycki said.

“He’s making these investments in the mill, in the downtown” with the idea of helping shape the village for decades to come, Sielatycki said. “He calls them 200-year projects.”

“He’s just so passionate about the community and is literally putting his money where his mouth is. This is a passion project for him, a calling to make an investment in the community that, I think if you were to ask him, he still says is his home.”

Who is Chris Moore?

Moore has deep connections to Vicksburg and the mill. His ancestors settled in Vicksburg in the 19th century. Multiple family members worked at the paper mill, which opened in 1905 as the Lee Paper Co. For decades, the mill was Vicksburg’s largest employer and taxpayer. Moore’s grandfather, Gordon Moore, started as a janitor at the mill and worked his way up to mill engineer. Moore’s father, Tim, was a purchasing manager for the mill. Moore himself worked at the factory during summers as a young man. Moore grew up in Vicksburg and graduated from Vicksburg High School in 1983. He went on to the University of Michigan before dropping out of college and heading to Seattle to make his fortune in the burgeoning tech industry. In 1996, he founded Concord Technologies, a healthcare IT provider. Today, Concord is one of the world’s largest healthcare data centers.

Moore stepped down as Concord’s CEO last year. But he remains board chair and still has controlling ownership in the company. Moore also is a co-owner of the Old Stove Brewing Co., a taproom with three locations in Seattle, including Pike Place Market. Moore’s interest in the mill was sparked years ago by his late mother, Sue Moore, publisher of the South County News and its predecessor, the Commercial-Express. (Sue Moore died in May 2020.)

After the mill closed in 2001, it was eventually acquired by Kalamazoo County in a tax foreclosure and the county was discussing whether to demolish the complex. Sue Moore expressed her dismay to her son about the loss of an iconic, historic structure in the village. In 2014, he announced his plans to buy and redevelop the 416,000 square feet of building space and the surrounding 120 acres. It took several years for Moore to negotiate a $30 million package of tax credits from the state and county, but the deal closed in 2018.

Development of the mill property has taken longer than initially anticipated, Sielatycki acknowledged. One reason is the property has required much more remediation than expected, he said. Another are delays related to the COVID pandemic. The good news is that remediation was completed last October, including replacing the roofs, repairing the windows and brickwork and environmental cleanup of the building and grounds. The Mill Group is now seeking government approvals for the next stage of development and a public announcement is likely within months, Sielatycki said.

Since 2018, the original vision also has morphed — residential apartments are no longer part of the plan, he said. But The Mill Group is still looking to convert the mill to include a brewery, boutique hotel, retail, event spaces and a museum that will house Moore’s extensive collection of bar and brewery memorabilia. At this point, the estimated cost has risen to about $120 million, which is being financed by Moore, Sielatycki said. “Chris is self funding.”

The long-term vision is to create a concert event space that can accommodate thousands as well as smaller spaces for events such as weddings and conferences in a historic, picturesque setting, Sielatycki said.

But it’s not going to happen quickly.

“I don’t think there’s a way to physically do it all at once,” Sielatycki said. “It’s like the adage: How you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

“We’ve tried to estimate timelines on this and have sort of given up trying to do that. It’s a really complicated project, the mill specifically.”

There’s also the question of Moore’s other holdings. Currently, he owns nine buildings downtown.

Four are occupied: Mackenzie’s Bakery; the hardware store; the Prairie Ronde Artist Gallery, which houses the art and music residency programs, and the Vicksburg Community Center, which houses the Mill Group offices. Of the remaining five downtown properties, two still need restoration: A storefront at 107 S. Main St. and a building at 110 W. Washington St. that was damaged in a fire. The final three properties are adjoining storefronts on South Main that once housed Hill’s Pharmacy. They’ve been meticulously restored, but are currently vacant. The Mill Group is still figuring out the best use of the former Hill’s space, Sielatycki said, but they will be “public facing” vs. converted into private offices.

Moore also has purchased 35 homes near the mill, much to the consternation of some residents perplexed at his possible motives. The residences were purchased as they came on the market, Sielatycki said, and most are currently rented out. The long-term plan is to make them available to workers associated with the mill redevelopment, Sielatycki said.

“Chris is making a substantial investment in Vicksburg, obviously, and he would like to see a significant number of those employees” living in Vicksburg, he said. ”One of his goals to support population density in the village.”

He ruled out developing the homes as Airbnbs. Sielatycki also scoffed at suspicions that Moore is buying up homes around the mill to stave off future complaints about noise and traffic from nearby homeowners.

That said, many of the homes purchased by Moore are clustered near the east bank of Portage Creek, directly across from the mill property on the creek’s west bank. Moore also has bought a number of homes just to the east and south of the mill’s main entrance on W Avenue.

Local skepticism

While some local residents are cheering Moore’s ventures in Vicksburg, there’s also a fair amount of concern and skepticism. There are worries about one person owning so much property in the village. Concerns about the impact of the home purchases on the local rental market. Worries that Moore’s ambitious vision could change the very character of Vicksburg. Gail Reisterer, currently the longest serving member on the Vicksburg Village Council, is among those with concerns. For instance, she said, she’s worried about the downtown buildings that have been restored but remain vacant.

“He did some beautiful work on refinishing those buildings,” she said. “They are absolutely stunning.” But they’re still empty.

“I’ve asked Chris, ‘What are the plans for these buildings? I really would like to see some businesses in them,’” she said. “Chris did say to me, ‘Well, that’s my goal too.’” But nothing has happened yet.

She also notes that Vicksburg currently has no hotel space, and it’s likely that the concert venue space will be developed before The Mill Group creates a boutique hotel.

“They really need something like 130 rooms for people to stay, and they really don’t have an idea of how they’re going to do that,” Reisterer said. “I’m also a bit concerned about the traffic because W Avenue is definitely not set for many people coming in and out for a concert.”

The home purchases are yet another source of concern, Reisterer said.

“We’ve asked, ‘What are you going to do with all these homes that you bought?’”

Moore has told council members he wants housing for his workers, “which did make sense to me,” Reisterer said. But she also makes the point that homeowners tend to care for their property more than renters, and worries how creating more rental properties could impact property values.

Jim Mallery, the Vicksburg village manager, acknowledges the concerns. But he also said he feels that so far, Moore’s ventures have been much more of an asset to the village than a detriment.

“Just look at the amount of investment he’s putting into buildings,” Mallery said. “When The Mill Group takes on a project, it’s top shelf and first class. … I think the positives of these projects substantially benefit the village.”

It’s clear, Mallery said, that Moore isn’t out to make money on his Vicksburg ventures.

“The village is blessed to have someone who isn’t looking at the economics, because he’ll never get a return on his investments,” Mallery said, adding, “He pays his (property taxes), I’ll tell you that.”

Kimm Mayer, who opened the Gilbert and Ivy bookstore in Vicksburg four years ago, is among the downtown business owners happy about Moore’s involvement. If nothing else, she said, the village is lucky to have someone fixing up buildings that otherwise would be an eyesore.

“The mill project played very heavily in our decision to locate in Vicksburg,” Mayer said. “We could envision where it was going.”

While it’s unclear exactly how the mill redevelopment will impact Vicksburg, she said, “the excitement that it’s generated, the investment in the community and the other buildings that Chris has restored, keeps Vicksburg looking very nice, very inviting. That’s something you don’t get in a lot of small towns.”