As consumer interests change and export markets are uncertain, what if construction becomes the next big market for hardwoods? Crosswood Mass Timber hopes to revolutionize the construction sector by taking advantage of the cross-laminated timber (CLT) trend. The company expects to close its full round of venture funding and plans to start construction on the first hardwood focused mass timber plant in the United States sometime this year.
The facility will be located in Virginia and is anticipated to be certified and ready to roll by the third quarter of 2026. It will produce both CLT and glulam made from yellow poplar and southern yellow pine.
Jeremy Adams, the founder and CEO of Crosswood Mass Timber, commented, “Specific to hardwoods, there’s a lot of unique things that we have put in place to process hardwoods. Our mission is to bring hardwood CLT to the market and further expand mass timber throughout the region.”
This company started as a spinoff from academic research projects conducted at Virginia Tech and other universities. Manufacturing, test methods, qualification and quality assurance standards for CLT are overseen by the APA, the Engineered Wood Association. The latest CLT standard (March 2025 APA PRG-320 CLT) contains the requirements for yellow poplar, the first time that hardwoods have been included. The ANSI/APA PRG-320 is recognized by the International Building Code.
After academic researchers successfully proved the concept, provided test data and worked to get hardwoods included in ANSI/APA PRG-320, now comes the commercialization stage. The company has already solved some of the major lumber procurement and production challenges associated with using hardwoods. Adams explained, “One of the reasons why hardwoods are going to be competitive is because we’re using low-grade, underutilized 4/4 lumber. The mass timber industry isn’t used to that. They are accustomed to using 2x6s, 1.5-inch, and 5.5 SYP.”
One of the current challenges is that the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) grading rules for 2-3 Common material are primarily designed for applications like flooring, furniture and cabinetry, rather than structural use. Adams noted, “Hardwood supply chains today aren’t centered around producing structural-grade lumber because there hasn’t been significant market demand for it. Crosswood Mass Timber aims to change this by helping develop a new market for hardwood products suitable for mass timber construction, which requires a reliable supply of structural-grade material for manufacturing hardwood CLT.”
Crosswood will set up its plant to process yellow poplar coming from a wide variety of sawmills and forests. This facility will utilize equipment from the European manufacturer, Ledinek. Adams noted, “We had to vertically integrate in the current hardwood supply chain.” Crosswood is looking to have a max capacity of 40 million board feet.
A major business case for this project is that it will find a higher-end use for some underutilized material. Adams explained, “That’s the whole value proposition of yellow poplar in the mass timber market. We can take our 2-3 common materials, the underutilized and undervalued yellow poplar, and regrade to structural NELMA 2 and produce CLT and Glulam.”
Since SYP is usually cheaper than hardwoods, the savings comes into play because Crosswood can use four-quarter lumber. Hardwoods are denser than softwoods, and research has shown that thinner material can be used while maintaining the same strength profile as softwoods.
Adams said, “Even though our hardwood lumber costs can be 5-10% higher, we are using 30% less fiber in the production of CLT panels to achieve the same strength.”
Besides using less material, hardwoods can produce a thinner profile wall. Adams declared, “That’s a big advantage for developers, architects and engineers; they are able to build the same building and squeeze more square footage out of it. And that equates to a lot of volume and floor space.”
Another value proposition for hardwood CLT is the shipping cost. Shipping panels alone can be 20-30% of the overhead of a project. Adams predicted, “We’re going to be very competitive on projects, as we are so much closer to the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast market. This has been validated by projects already in our pipeline.”
Many of the mass timber projects on the drawing board in the country are planned for major metropolitan areas in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic region, such as New York City, Washington, DC, and Baltimore. But unfortunately, the only CLT production facilities in the United States are in the West and the South. Some of these projects have had to look to source CLT panels from Canada or Europe. Adams admitted that as his company has gained exposure in the marketplace, he has seen the real need for a CLT producer in the East. He said, “The next thing I know, I’m getting phone calls from developers, right and left. Because there are no manufacturers in the Mid-Atlantic or the Northeast for mass timber.”
Besides the strength of hardwood and the transportation savings, it has some potential moisture and fire advantages as well. Crosswood will only use kiln-dried poplar with a moisture content around 8-9%. The Crosswood team believes that hardwoods will result in less checking and panel movement over time. Adams suggested, “SYP CLT structures – they’re beautiful. But if you really take a close look at these buildings after they’ve been up for about a year, you will see where SYP had inherently dried down and some checking occured, you will see some movement. And you’re not going to even notice it with hardwoods.”
Crosswood also anticipates that hardwood will be able to achieve higher fire ratings than softwood panels due to the amount of sap in SYP. Sap can turn into an accelerant if exposed to fire. Adams noted, “I have heard that some softwood CLT products can’t get a two-hour fire rating certification on their five-ply SYP panels because of the sap.”
When it comes to aesthetics, hardwoods can be easier to stain or put a special surface on the panels to produce the desired look. Hardwoods offer many visual advantages and options.
Why launch this company now? Adams explained, “I’m an Army veteran and retired at the end of 2022, ready to start a business. As I was leaving the Army, I initially considered traditional building and timber framing. But then I discovered cross-laminated timber (CLT) and recognized a major opportunity. I saw a significant gap in the mass timber supply chain in this region and began connecting with university partners, including researchers at Virginia Tech who were exploring the use of yellow poplar and other hardwoods in CLT. At the same time, I was hearing strong interest from developers and builders looking for innovative materials and locally sourced supply options.”
Adams added, “Beyond that, I realized that creating a new, large-scale market for hardwoods would have far-reaching benefits—driving demand across the hardwood supply chain, supporting forest management, creating jobs in manufacturing and forestry, and strengthening rural economies. That’s what ultimately inspired me to launch this company.”
Since this initial introduction, the Crosswood team has worked closely with researchers and academics from Virginia Tech to commercialize hardwood CLT. Dr. Brian Bond (Ph.D.), professor at Virginia Tech, explained, “With this fledgling market for hardwood CLT in the region, there are benefits for the rural communities, our workforce and lumber producers…From a fiber perspective, Virginia has a 2.4 growth-to-yield ratio in hardwoods. We have plenty of raw material to sustainably supply CLT demand.”
Bond envisions hardwood CLT being used to produce a wide variety of buildings, from data centers to government buildings, such as structures for the Department of Defense (DOD). This major agency has already supported CLT as a good building material for the future. It has built barracks out of CLT as well as a hotel for temporary housing. Adams said, “The major benefit of mass timber is a faster construction process; they’re able to build these buildings 40% faster.”
CLT can help lower the environmental footprint of a building because CLT turns the entire building into a carbon sink. CLT is gaining traction because the panels can be easily assembled and reduce the construction costs and time required to assemble. Bond said, “Microsoft and Amazon are building all these data centers, and they want to offset their carbon footprint. CLT is a prime technology to achieve those goals. Where are those buildings going to come from?” That’s where Crosswood hopes to fill the void.
Bond also believes that hardwood CLT can develop into a major domestic market to help struggling hardwood producers. He lamented, “The hardwood industry is getting absolutely crushed. There’s a tremendous amount of low-grade material out there. This provides an opportunity for that lower-value material to go somewhere to have a higher use, to get a little higher value, to help those businesses stay around.”
Will this lead to more competition for pallet lumber? Perhaps, but Bond believes that CLT could become a major market in time to help those producers weather tough times with international markets. And that isn’t bad for pallets in the long run. Bond predicted, “I think growth in the hardwood CLT market will actually increase the demand for low-grade stock because right now nobody wants to dry it. They just want to sell it for pallet stock green.”
Commenting on international market dynamics, Adams said, “There’s a lot happening in our industry right now, particularly with the impact of the Trump-era tariffs, which have created significant challenges for the hardwood sector. Many suppliers have historically relied on export markets, and those avenues have become more constrained. However, this shift creates an advantage for us, as our focus is on utilizing American timber—specifically, timber sourced from the Appalachian region.”
And if poplar CLT is successful, it could open up more potential for species like soft maple or sycamore or others. Crosswood has already conducted preliminary tests on additional hardwood species. The company hopes to expand mass timber into other hardwood species in the future. For more information on hardwood CLT and Crosswood Mass Timber, visit www.crosswood.build/ or call (540) 914-0500.
