COCHRANE, ON, CANADA -- True North Hardwood Plywood could be back in business soon if a plan developed by the city of Cochrane's Crisis Team proves satisfactory to an unnamed investor.

The plant, most recently operated as a joint venture by Norbord Inc. and Kruger Inc. ceased operations in January. The short-lived joint venture was formed in 2009. The plant was originally built in 1963 and recently employed 225 people. It closed at the end of 2010.

Working with a development company, the Cochrane Crisis Team has a pending offer with a "substantial investor," according to the Cochrane Times Post. Under the Crisis Team's plan, if the sale goes through, the plant would be 55% owned by the investor, 30% by the employees and 15% by local investors.

Cochrane Mayor Peter Politis told the newspaper, "If the employees and local investors get on board over the next few weeks, we will have gone from what was slated to be a parking lot last January to the lowest cost producing plant in North America, run on green energy, while now being owned by the local employees and citizens, in just nine short months."

In May 2011 the city of Cochrane received aid from the Ontario Provincial Government to build infrastructure to support True North Hardwood Plywood's reopening. The plant closed in December 2010.