In addition, the ownership team reused as many of the leftover textile materials inside the upper mill as possible and hired Saxapahaw artisans to fabricate these materials into unique furniture and fixtures. “One of the locals crafted furniture for the model condo units from sections of wood beams that couldn’t be reused in construction,” Wilson remembers. “There were old spindles that were repurposed into light fixtures. Old scales and controls for the textile equipment were reused as decorative elements.”
Haslam adds: “The mill workers would roll yarn bins down the aisles and toss spools of yarn; those bins are the façade of The Eddy Pub’s bar. There are also steam valves that are our draught towers and spools are our draught handles. Redwood slats from the cooling tower make up a couple textured walls in the pub.”
In addition to capturing the history of the mill through thoughtful design and reuse of materials, Wilson’s team used bygone construction techniques in areas that needed reconstruction. “The southern end of the building—closest to the river—had settled, so we had to rebuild the timber. It had been put together with old 60 penny [6-inch-long] nails and railroad spikes. We put it back the same way, so there were a lot of guys with 5-pound hammers driving nails all day.”
As Wilson alludes, soil compaction under portions of the buildings was the most costly and challenging surprise. Because the mill is located on the bank of the Haw River, much of it was essentially built on fill. Some compaction was expected based on visible settlement of the structure, according to Belledin, but the extent was not fully revealed until the construction team began cutting out portions of the original floor slabs. Although the north end, farthest from the river, had not settled much, the construction team soon discovered the space that would contain the Haw River Ballroom, in the middle of the mill, had voids under the slab. As the team moved south toward the river, conditions worsened. “We ended up cutting out most of the slab of the residential building closest to the river and rebuilding a lot of its timber structure to deal with the unsuitable soil it was built on top of,” Belledin recalls.
In addition, chemicals used for decades had deteriorated the rebar in the ballroom space’s elevated concrete slab and made it structurally unstable. Fortunately, Williams sees the positive aspect of this surprise. “Prior to cutting the ballroom’s slab out, we thought we’d have some rentable space under the ballroom but we ended up losing that square footage, which totally changed the look of the ballroom and actually was a blessing,” he explains. “We left a line in the ballroom where the floor had been; it has an artifact quality and is lit in a way that highlights where the old concrete beams came out and were chopped off. It has become a nice feature.”
Community Creation
Jordan had relied on government incentives to develop the lower mill into loft apartments, and he was not interested in being constrained by historic-tax-credit guidelines while developing the upper mill. In addition, the ownership team decided to privately finance the entire development themselves, which Williams says was a huge leap of faith.
“Just to say the word condo to a bank in 2008 when we started this project was out of the question,” Williams explains. “However, this is probably the most significant development that has taken place in Alamance County during the downturn. Yet it went forward without the help of banks—almost in spite of banks.”