Hood Container announced a nearly $120 million modernization project at its historic St. Francisville paper mill. The project will center around upgrading the mill’s primary paper machine to increase production capacity by 80,000 tons per year. West Feliciana Parish President Kenny Havard says Hood’s success is the community’s success.
“Any time they can modernize it, you know, that’s going to help them be more efficient and make money. So if they’re making money, then that’s good for everybody. Again, we’re excited about it. We look forward to any additional jobs that it may get, you know, come with it,” Havard said.
The mill was first opened in the late 1950s, and since taking ownership in 2015, Hood Container has invested more than $160 million in the facility. Havard says the project will help retain 295 jobs in the parish.
“Lot of people here have worked there, and the families have been committed to working there. Hood has committed to West Feliciana over the last several years and they’ve been a great community partner,” Havard noted.
Upgrades will begin in late 2026, and phase two of the project will be completed during the mill’s annual outage in May of 2027. The state offered the company an incentive package including an $800,000 tax credit to secure the project. Havard hopes this won’t be the last investment that comes to the area.
“That whole area down there where they’re located is where we call our industrial area, zoned for industrial. We’re starting to see several things kind of popping up down there. We’re excited about the area and, you know, West Feliciana, we’re open for business,” Havard
