Our History

The foundation of Forest City Trading Group’s history cannot be told without reaching back to the roots of our former owner Forest City Enterprises; for the footprints of their history will forever shape the company we are today.  Starting with little more than the will to survive, and the drive to succeed, the Ratner family of Cleveland, Ohio started a small lumber yard to serve local builders in 1921. Through the depression era they gained a reputation for service and honesty. They pioneered innovations of their times by providing garage packages of lumber and hardware to the Midwest markets. In 1950 a buying office was opened in Portland, Oregon under the name of Buckeye Wholesale Lumber Company. It was important to maintain a presence in the western U.S. to ensure product availability to their yards in the Midwest.

In the late 1960’s lumber prices rose dramatically. A local Portland wholesale company, American International Forest Products (AIFP), did well in this speculative and volatile time and would soon be acquired for stock by Forest City Enterprises (FCE).  In early 1971 Jack McKinnon became President of AIFP, a subsidiary of FCE.  Buckeye Wholesale Lumber Company’s (BP) personnel and assets were absorbed into AIFP, although the BP corporate name was retained, later to be revived as a trading company in 1972.

Under McKinnon’s leadership and innovative thinking a new spirit was born.  He saw the value of an expansion business model that met the challenges of a changing industry while providing opportunity for entrepreneurial traders.  Similar to our original beginnings companies were opened close to their source of product. In 1974 AIFP Trading Group was established as a corporate office to handle the growing management and financial functions of the trading companies. This name was later changed to Forest City Trading Group.

Through 80's & 90’s our 10 companies became well established. Each started as a niche business and grew into a competitive entity of their own. The vision of the company’s leaders would put us in the forefront of our industry with state of the art computer systems and services, trader training, risk management and transportation efficiencies. Many of these innovations have yet to be matched in our industry.

In 2004 Forest City Trading Group was presented with the opportunity to become an employee owned company and control their own destiny. After an overwhelming response by our employee group to participate in this purchase, a 35 year solid relationship with Forest City Enterprises came to a close.
 
Today, as an employee owned company we are thriving and energized.  As the people before us, we too have the will to survive and the drive to succeed. We will earn your respect and provide exceptional service through hard work, ingenuity and integrity. We will continue to strive for excellence in every aspect of our business. We view each challenge as an opportunity for our future.