Opportunity
The American Spinning Mill started it’s illustrious history in 1895 when construction was completed and operations began as the American Spinning Company. It was claimed in a Greenville newspaper in April of that year, “there are no mills either North or South that are superior…the building looks just like a big greenhouse there is so much glass in it.” The building onsite today was known as Mill No. 2 and was part of an addition completed between 1900 and 1909. At the height of its early production the mill was running over 1,000 looms. Operations stopped and the mill closed in
June 1990.
Solution
The revitalization design was challenging with numerous site constraints. Marrying new and decades old infrastructure together on a century old textile facility posed difficulties.
The building was renovated and upfitted with 254 apartments and new site infrastructure was built to support the residential development. The historic building and site is wedged between an elevated railroad and a tributary of the Reedy River with moderate floodplain coverage across a moderate portion of the area. Creative and shallow stormwater drainage solutions included reuse of the old fire pond as a detention basin and culverts with limited elevation fall and were critical for regulatory success.
It was necessary to close down Hammett St Extended which previously bisected the development parcels while the developer agreed to provide an extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail through the property to enhance local multi-modal transportation opportunities.
