Quote:
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Originally Posted by SayTownboy
Has anyone heard of the new 40 million dollar mix use project going on in New Braunfels?
The Mills?
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Yes, it's a mixed use redevelopment of an old Mill along the Guadalupe River. The following is an article which ran in the AAS on Dec. 31, 2005:
[b]
CENTRAL TEXAS HOMES
Old Mill to Churn Out Condos
Developer has grand vision for historic New Braunfels site.
By Kate Miller Morton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, December 31, 2005
The eerie quiet surrounding the massive, stark-white Mission Valley Textiles mill on the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels belies the historic structure's former place at the heart of the town's economy.
The vacant mill was New Braunfels' largest employer for decades. But felled by cheaper foreign competition over the past four years, it closed this year. It soon could become condos, retail shops, restaurants and work space called The River Mill. California-based Urban Pacific Builders LLC plans to invest $38 million to $45 million to redevelop the 633,000-square-foot former mill.
Environmental cleanup has begun and construction is scheduled to begin by March. The first residents could move in by late 2006.
The project will be the first in Texas for Urban Pacific, which was founded in 1999 by developers Mark Tolley and Scott Choppin. The company, which is involved in two historic reuse projects in downtown Los Angeles, discovered the mill in September 2004 while Tolley was visiting friends in New Braunfels.
Jogging over the river on the Faust Street bridge adjacent to the 40-acre mill site, Tolley was immediately taken with the sprawling concrete-and-brick building and its lush grounds.
Urban Pacific plans to remove exterior storage tanks and demolish about 100,000 square feet of the building's interior, mostly in newer additions to the building. But most of the structure will remain.
"This is a building that's been there since 1922, and thousands and thousands of people have worked there, and it's produced denim for the entire world," Tolley said. "From an historical perspective I think it's very interesting, and I think it would be a travesty had it been demolished just to put up another run-of-the-mill commercial and industrial building."
The mill was built by San Antonio-based Planter's & Merchants Mill to make fine cotton gingham. From the 1930s to the 1970s, it was the city's largest employer and at one time had more than 800 employees.
The mill was sold four times from 1972 to 1998, the last time to the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association.
Hammered by cheaper foreign competition, the mill eliminated 60 percent of its work force in 2001, keeping just 200 jobs involved in denim production. Earlier this year the co-op completed consolidating its denim operations in Littlefield just northwest of Lubbock, and after eight decades the mill went quiet.
But few in the town of New Braunfels describe the same emotional attachment to the building as the California developer.
"I've never had anybody indicate to me that it was somehow historically or architecturally significant to retain the building," said Frank Robbins, director of planning and community development for the City of New Braunfels. "I don't think that's an issue for us."
The building Tolley jokingly refers to as the "proverbial white elephant" will be a challenge to convert into a mostly nonindustrial space. But he said it has many valuable assets, including 6-to-10-inch-thick vintage oak floors, a wood truss roof and acres of wide-open interior space.
Urban Pacific plans to construct about 100 condos in the building. Most will be two-story units with exposed duct work and brick walls, poured-concrete counters, brushed steel fixtures and appliances, and wooden floors.
The company originally planned to do more in the building, but the dim and cavernous structure made it difficult. To accommodate the 100 planned units, the developers plan to make a floor-to-ceiling opening to create a courtyard with natural light.
Urban Pacific plans to put another 72 units with floor-to-ceiling windows in a new seven-story building just south of the former mill. Also planned is 80,000 square feet of retail and commercial space including five restaurant sites.
The mill is Urban Pacific's largest historic adaptive reuse project to date — the next biggest was just 211,000 square feet.
The project is near the New Braunfels Factory Stores and a movie theater. But there is little development between Interstate 35 and the river. Tolley hopes to entice some traffic by providing a reasonably priced home to artists from across Central Texas who need industrial space. The artists would occupy a small portion of the project's 250,000 square feet of industrial-flexible work space.
The first phase will use just 18 of the mill's 40 acres, and Tolley expects the first phase to take three years to develop. The company does not yet have plans for the remaining land.
Capitol Market Research President Charles Heimsath, who is a paid consultant on the project, said he expects the condos to be well-received by a varied group of buyers.
"When you get up off the street, you have these nice views down the Guadalupe River," Heimsath said. "At the same time you are a quarter of a mile from the interstate. I think there will be quite a number of second-home buyers and retirees — as well as some couples, typically young professional couples — that split the driving difference between Austin and San Antonio."
kmorton@statesman.com; 445-3641
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