Historic designation would be grist for Hawthorne Mill

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CHARLOTTE – Louise Cotton Mill, now known around town as Hawthorne Mill, is one of several old textile factories that serve as a historic reminder of what became known as Charlotte’s first true industry in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

And like some of those other old textile mills before it, Hawthorne Mill is set to be redeveloped into a mixed-use, multifamily project that to future generations will serve as a reminder of Charlotte’s apartment explosion of the early 21^st Century.

But the redevelopment of Hawthorne Mill differs from new multifamily development in that developers can’t just come in and put up projects as they wish. There are strict guidelines governing historic properties that don’t apply to new projects.

So as developers across the city pontificate over which amenities are most likely to capture the interest of the fickle Millennials, Clachan Properties, out of Richmond, Va., will be more consumed with maintaining the integrity of a mill that’s more than a century old.

Not that Clachan sees that as a problem. Walter Fields, a zoning guru with the locally-based Walter Fields Group who earlier this year assisted the developer in getting a rezoning on the mill, said Clachan started the discussions to bring a historic designation to the property at 1101 Hawthorne Lane, just north of Central Avenue.

“They initiated this, it’s part of their overall financing plan,” Fields said. “Clachan has done a number of historic renovations and is interested in this property because it does have historical significance.”

But historical significance as a financing plan? That’s because the historic designation opens up an avenue of tax breaks and credits that make lighter the burden of redeveloping such properties for Clachan.

Clachan didn’t respond to repeated calls and emails for this story, but based on the company’s website, Clachan specializes in redeveloping historic properties, with several projects in Richmond. Fields said the company also has projects in Winston-Salem.

According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, owners of income-producing properties in the county can qualify for a 20 percent state tax credit and a 20 percent federal tax credit. But only if those properties have received a historic designation, which Hawthorne Mill doesn’t yet have.

The Charlotte City Council on Oct. 21 is set to vote on the historic significance on the old mill, possibly holding the future of the redevelopment in their bureaucratic fingers.

Dan Morrill, the director of the Landmarks Commission, declined to predict what City Council would do Oct. 21, but said Hawthorne Mill, to him, is a historically significant property.

“(The mill) opened in late 1890s and was one of several cotton mills in Charlotte in the 1880s and 1890s and first decade of 20th century that made Charlotte a major textile center,” Morril said. That’s really what drove the economy of this town from the 1880s until World War II.

“That’s why it really has historic significance and it has a lot of physical integrity.”

The Louise Cotton Mill began operations in 1897 and, when it opened, was the largest textile mill in Charlotte, according to the Landmarks Commission report on the property. The mill was a textile plant until the 1960s and has housed several different businesses since, the report says.

Clachan plans to take the textile mill and transform the old spinning rooms and warehouse space into 150 apartments and about 9,000 square feet of office space, according to documents Clachan has filed with the city.

Even if the official historic significance of the mill remains up in the air until after City Council’s vote on Oct. 21, that didn’t stop the designer of the project from treating it as though it’s already gotten the distinction. In order to receive any of the tax credits for being a historic property, the redevelopment must maintain the historic character of the property, Morrill said.

Sean Wheeler, an architect with Richmond-based Walter Parks Architects, who’s designing the project, said working around the historic properties is the most difficult thing about any redevelopment.

“Inside, most of the units are going to be lofts with those exposed structures, wood beams and wood floors in the tall two-story space,” Wheeler said. “All the windows are going to be uncovered and exposed.”

At some point in the mill’s history, the windows were bricked over, but Morrill said they’ll need to be exposed and the rest of the façade should be reminiscent of the original structure if Clachan expects to get the tax credits.

Wheeler said there shouldn’t be an issue in keeping the façade of the building, as the structure “is in excellent shape.” Not that it appears so to the eyes of those living in the surrounding neighborhood, Belmont.

Vicki Jones, president of the Belmont Community Association, the neighborhood, not to be confused with the Gaston County town, that sits north and west of the mill, said right now Hawthorne Mill is “inconspicuous and nothing special” in the neighborhood.

“We’re really excited about the upcoming redevelopment,” she said. “(Clachan) approached us very proactively and went over the plans for the mill and they’ve done some other things to make sure our concerns were met.”

There’s no official word on when development will start on Hawthorne Mill or what will happen if the property isn’t granted historic significance.

Jones said that in her meetings with the developer, she was told that construction would begin soon after the property was given historic consideration and would be completed within two years.

“We’re ready to get some market-rate rentals in the community,” she said. “We’re a high rental community and Belmont is well below market rate.”