On April 18, 2018, owner CE Star Holdings announces the closure of Tukwila's Jorgensen Forge (doing business as Star Forge), bringing to an end more than seven decades of operations. The forge's origins date back to 1908, when Swedish immigrant John Isaacson (1876-1939) bought a small blacksmithing shop on Seattle's King Street and founded Isaacson Iron Works. During World War II, the Isaacson company forged precision parts for the U.S. military before changing its focus postwar to structural-steel fabrication. After several changes of ownership, in December 2016 the forging operation became an asset of CE Star Holdings, which decided in 2018 to lay off its 110 union workers and sell the property to take advantage of the region's booming real estate market.
A Brief Company History
John Isaacson immigrated to America from Sweden in 1891, age 16, accompanied by his wife, Anna K. Young (1872-1956). The couple first settled in Montana, then moved to Seattle, where Anna's uncle hired John to work in a blacksmith shop. In 1908 Issacson struck out on his own, founding Isaacson Iron Works in a small smithy shop on Seattle's King Street. Over the ensuing decades, it grew to be a major enterprise and would be operated by three generations of Isaacsons before closing its doors in 1983.
In 1940, with World War II already underway in Europe, Issacson Iron Works bought a 22-acre site at 8531 E Marginal Way S in Tukwila, adjacent to where Boeing had moved its main factory one year earlier. In 1941 the U.S. Navy, using federal funds, began building Isaacson Plant No. Two on the site. The new facility, which opened in 1942 and was the largest of its kind on the West Coast, was run by Isaacson and had operations for melting, forging, and fabricating steel. Its output included propeller shafts and other precision-made parts for the navy and for U.S. Maritime Commission vessels, including the all-important Liberty Ship cargo carriers. During the war the plant employed as many as 1,200 workers operating around the clock, and its skill at producing high-quality precision parts won it several merit awards, including being named the nation's War Plant of the Week on July 31, 1943.
After the war Isaacson began to focus on its structural-steel business, while still running its forging operation at Plant No. Two. In March 1961 Isaacson bought the buildings and equipment the navy had constructed in 1942, assuming full ownership of the property. Four years later, in 1965, it sold the forging property and operations to the Earle M. Jorgensen Company (EMJ) of California. EMJ ran the plant until 1992, when it was sold to a group of the plant's managers.
After a series of transactions extending over more than 20 years, Jorgensen Forge eventually came under the ownership of a holding company, Constellation Enterprises LLC. In May 2016 Constellation and its associated companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and on December 1, 2016, it was announced that Jorgensen Forge and several other Constellation properties were being taken over by a group comprising Constellation's secured creditors, organized as CE Star Holdings. At the time, Dennis Smith, executive chairman of CE Star, painted an optimistic picture: "The companies accomplished a number of important business initiatives during the Chapter 11 process, and CE Star now moves forward with a significantly healthier balance sheet, reduced liabilities and improved financial flexibility. Our new company is even better positioned to provide the very best products and services to our customers" ("CE Star Holdings Acquires Jorgensen ...").
The Pollution Problem
Before taking over ownership of the bankrupt Jorgensen Forge, Star Holdings needed to determine its potential liability for the costs of investigating and remediating the industrial contamination caused by more than 70 years of metal forging at the site. Metal forging is a heavy industrial use that produces a number of environmental toxins, and Jorgensen Forge was one of the most polluted sites along the waterway. Among the contaminants found in its soil and groundwater were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), petroleum hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), halogenated volatile organic compounds (HVOCs), and metals (including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead).
Due to the severity of contamination, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 declared a five-mile stretch of the waterway a "Superfund" site, making it eligible for a special federal cleanup program. Up until its bankruptcy, Jorgensen Forge had been negotiating with the state Department of Ecology (DOE) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about liability for cleaning up the site. The EPA is responsible for administering the removal of contaminated sediments in the waterway, and the DOE is responsible for controlling the sources of pollution.
The Pollution Solution?
In August 2016, a federal bankruptcy court in Delaware approved the sale of Jorgensen and its property to CE Star Holdings and its subsidiary, Star Forge. Under the order, Star Forge could void the sale if it could not resolve environmental matters related to the Jorgensen Forge property to its satisfaction, and it entered negotiations with DOE and EPA. On November 11, 2016, the DOE, EPA, and Star Holdings (using the name Star Forge LLC) entered into a Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Settlement Agreement (BFPP). As explained by the EPA:
"Without the BFPP Settlement, bankrupt Jorgensen Forge Corporation (Jorgensen) would have ceased operations and liquidated its assets. Instead, the BFPP Settlement allows Star Forge to continue operations and complete the cleanup, which will protect human health and the environment. Under the settlement Star Forge also set aside $500,000, which will be made available to potentially responsible parties (PRPs) who enter into a settlement with EPA to undertake cleanup actions elsewhere at the Lower Duwamish Site" ("Case Summary: BFPP Settlement ...").
In its public announcement, the EPA noted:
"The BFPP Settlement allowed Star Forge to purchase the Jorgensen Forge Property, maintain operations, and conduct cleanup while being protected from Superfund liability, so long as Star Forge complies with the BFPP Settlement. Without this agreement, cleanup at the Jorgensen Forge Property would probably have been delayed, the property could have been abandoned, and operations would have probably ceased, leading to job losses" ("Case Summary: BFPP Settlement ...").
The "job losses" that the agreement sought to prevent were those of the more than 100 union members still employed at the forging operation, but it was not to be.
The End
On April 18, 2018, less than 18 months after the BFFP agreement, it was announced that Jorgensen/Star Forge would be closing. In making the plan public, a Jorgensen manager, Matthew Steffen, noted that the business was "profitable and financially healthy," but that the new owners "see much more opportunity in redeveloping this land than continuing as a forging facility" ("Metals Business Closing ...").
The plant's remaining 110 workers, all members of International Association of Machinists Local 751, were told of their termination on the same day the closure was announced. Steffen went on to say, "Some people are very worked up, very upset. There are people that have worked here their entire adult lives, 30-40 years, and don't really know any other place" ("Metals Business Closing ...").
The assessed value of the property was $14.4 million. In February 2020, nearly two years after the plant's closure, King County reportedly was in negotiations to purchase it as support facility for the King County International Airport (Boeing Field), but no deal had yet been announced.
