Former Nestl plant up for sale in Chesterville

The formerNestlplant inChesterville, Ont., is up for sale, bringing hope of new jobs in the small eastern Ontario village.

Nearly 300 employees were out of work when the plant, the village's largest employer, closed in 2006.

It is owned by a Toronto-area businessmanbut theTownship of NorthDundasis trying to force a saleunder the Municipal Act in order to retrieveunpaid property taxes.

Deputy mayor Gerry Boyceconfirmed that potential buyers have toured the property but would not comment further to avoid jeopardizing a sale. It's on the market for about$500,000.

Bob Harper worked at the plant for 41 years, and his father and grandfather before him. It producedinstant coffee, chocolate syrup and powder products for nearly 100 years in thevillage, which is situated about 65 kilometres southeast of downtown Ottawa.

"We've missed the place, that's for sure. The town's quiet. The town's hurting. There's not a lot of good jobs around anymore," he said. "I'm one of the lucky ones. Got a job local."

Richard Casselman, who was born in Chesterville in 1927, said he hopes whoever buys the 370,000-square-foot plant has a plan to create jobs in town.

"It's just been sitting there. It's a nice building," he said."I'd like to see it filled with something and used."

The former Hershey's plant in Smiths Falls was converted into a medical marijuana facility this year, afterHealth Canada approved its licence to produce 15,000kilograms a year. The168,000 square-foot facility had been vacant since 2008.

But Harper said the ideal scenario would be to haveNestlreturn toChesterville.

"I wantNestlback. This isNestl'stown. That's it," he said.