Canadian Company Will Buy McFarland Cascade Holdings

After 96 years, a Tacoma-based, family-owned wood products company soon will have a new, Canadian owner.

McFarland Cascade Holdings Inc. announced recently that it will be bought by Montreal-based Stella-Jones Inc. for $230 million. The sale is expected to close this month.

“We have a great tradition and legacy and a wonderful company, and a reputation of which we’re very proud,” said Corry McFarland, who is co-CEO with his brother Greg. “My brother and I are the third generation. We have nobody else in the family coming on who is interested in running the business.”

Founded in Idaho in 1916, McFarland Cascade produces utility poles as well as treated lumber for outdoor home projects, including composite decking, railings and related accessories. The company located its corporate headquarters on Tacoma’s Tideflats in the 1980s.

It employs about 200 people, depending on the season, on 43 acres there, Corry McFarland said, and he knows of no plans to change that.