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JAY — The former Otis Paper Mill will be featured on Wednesday night’s episode of “Abandoned” on the National Geographic Channel.

The program begins at 9:30 p.m.

National Geographic Channel carpenter-collector Jay Chaikin and his crew are riding the wave of reality junk-hunting shows and travels the country in search of abandoned buildings to collect — and then sell — what he calls “unexpected ‘gems’ of history with shockingly high values.”

In Jay, according to the NatGeo episode guide, “at an abandoned paper factory the size of several football fields, the guys hope to score a touchdown with an assortment of historic objects.”

The trio finds fire hoses, a Fairbanks scale, customized lockers and a pair of temperature gauges. But, according to NatGeo, “Just when the score is in their favor, Ricki (Chaikin) warns that the job might get sacked. The property owners are planning to turn the factory into a museum and may hesitate to sell certain objects.”

The Otis mill, while featured as “Abandoned” by NatGeo, is not abandoned. It has been owned by Jay Selectman Tim DeMillo and his wife, Mary Howes, since October 2009, now being operated as Otis Mill Ventures. Last March, the couple announced that the building’s renovation is moving along, with former accounting offices at the mill well on the way to becoming a restaurant with a cathedral ceiling and chandelier-style lights.

The couple is committed, they have said, to a complete renovation of the mill and getting the people of Jay back to work. They are using local contractors to renovate the 650,000-square-foot mill and hope, over time, to turn the place into a business complex.

For more information, go to http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/abandoned/

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