A mill, a new life

Developer takes on series of loft renovations

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Monaghan Mill, City View, Pace Burt

By Charles Sowell

AUGUST 5, 2010 9:08 a.m. Comments (0)

Monaghan Mill steadily produced cloth and livelihoods for the residents of City View for more than a century and now is leading the way into a new era in one of the most economically challenged areas of Greenville County as the Lofts of Greenville.

Eventually the Lofts of Greenville could take on even more luster if the owners decide to convert the 190 unit complex into luxury condos.

Kelly Beasley, manager at the Lofts, sees good things ahead for the complex and for the City View area as a whole.

“We’re in the process of connecting to the Swamp Rabbit Trail (which follows an old rail line adjacent to the property) and the new Legacy Charter School is opening soon (in August).”

Gradually the detritus of the collapse of the textile industry is being cleared away in neighborhoods like City View and being replaced with new infrastructure, homes and possibilities.

The Lofts of Greenville is one of three renovation projects undertaken in the Greenville-Spartanburg area by Pace Burt, a Georgia developer, to take advantage of the millions of square feet of potentially useable space in old mills.

He has two projects up and running. Mayfair Lofts in Spartanburg and Lofts of Greenville are mature projects. Work at Arcadia Mill in the Arcadia community outside of Spartanburg is slated to start as soon as the economy picks up, Burt said.

The Lofts of Greenville is a much larger project than the two Spartanburg renovations and was made possible by federal grants used to offset the higher costs of renovating historic buildings.

Burt said costs associated with renovation are about 30 percent higher than the costs of building from scratch. And it is required that the renovated building be used as apartments for five years. After that the structure can be converted to condos.

Beasley said a two-bedroom apartment at Lofts of Greenville rents for about $1,000 a month and feature ceilings that are from 14 to 18 feet tall, high end fixtures and appliances and stunning views of the Greenville skyline from the top floors.

Monaghan was finished and started production in 1900 Beasley said. For most of its operating life the mill saw a steady stream of textile workers flowing through the turnstile gates for three shifts a day.

Today residents have a pool to frolic in, access to two fish ponds. “Catch and release only,” said Beasley.

But it is the ambiance of the mill itself that hooks most residents. With 12 by seven windows and brick with a character that can’t be found in modern firings.

Beasley and her staff have explored the old mill with the help of former workers. Those former mill hands have come back for the memories and to see what has become of the place they spent such a large portion of their lives.

The man in charge of the cooling system came back and gave the staff a tour of the places he worked. At one time Beasley found herself in the mill’s old septic tank after taking up a manhole cover to explore.

“It wasn’t smelly,” she said. “It had been a long time since it had been used.”

The fire-blacked brick of the mill’s massive smokestack fills one corner of a courtyard next to the main entrance and office.

“It was stuck by lightning at one point,” Beasley said. “And they had to rebuild a lot of the top.”

Lightning arresters were installed after that incident.