Mill to get new life as condos

 Saturday, December 08, 2007 By JOHN PECK Times Staff Writer john.peck@htimes.com

$20 million Lincoln project 'will do wonders' for area

Plans are in the works for a $20 million renovation of a former textile mill that helped propel Huntsville into the space age.

The makeover would transform the turn-of-the-century Lincoln Mill building into a mix of eateries, offices and as many as 70 condominiums, which would be "loft" units with tall ceilings and stylish interior features, said Dr. James Byrne, a Huntsville eye doctor who now owns the old mill. The condos will range from 1,000 to 2,000 square feet, with prices perhaps starting between $100,000 and $150,000, Byrne said. Tenants would park in what is now the basement.

The smaller old building in front of the main one also will be renovated for restaurants, shops and possibly an independent film theater. Byrne said he hopes to start renovations on the smaller building early next year, and maybe open some of the shops and restaurants by the end of 2008.

The renovation work on the larger building, which would house the condos, will likely take about three years, Byrne said.

Only a handful of operations are in the drab Lincoln building now, including a dance studio, startup engineering offices and other small businesses.

Byrne said he's excited about the prospect of jumpstarting redevelopment in the old mill village.

"The neighborhood is a little run down, but could be brought back to life," Byrne said.

Assistant City Planner Marie Bostick said the project will preserve a key historic landmark while helping city efforts to revitalize an aging part of Huntsville.

"We hope it will be a catalyst for continued redevelopment and the reinforcement of the residential character of that neighborhood," Bostick said Friday.

City Councilman Mark Russell said Byrne's investment "will do wonders" for the Lincoln Mill village area.

"Having people there will bring shops and hopefully a grocery store," Russell said. "Anytime you have an investment like that in an older neighborhood, it helps with revitalization."

Lincoln Mill is among the last of Huntsville's former textile mills. Cotton mills were part of Huntsville long before Wernher von Braun and his rocket scientists turned the city into the high-tech center it is today.

Lincoln literally helped bridge those two eras: Brown Engineering (now Teledyne Brown Engineering) performed some of the early contract missile work from Lincoln until moving to newly created Cummings Research Park in the early 1960s. Lincoln was built by Madison Spinning Mill in 1900 and operated as Lincoln Mills from 1918 to 1957.

Today, only the Lowe Mill (circa 1900) and a portion of Lincoln Mill still stand. Nearby Dallas Mill burned in a spectacular fire years ago, leaving only its steel fire suppression water tank on stilts. Merrimack Mill off Triana, was razed because of safety concerns. Huntsville Utilities is refurbishing the rusting Lincoln-Dallas water tank with a shiny coat of paint and a spiffy new cone top.

Local architect Paul Matheny said the residential units in Lincoln Mills should be attractive to young professionals. The building is solid throughout and still in relatively good shape. While the metal panels retrofitted over the window openings gave the building a warehouse look, they protected the frames and window panes, he said.

"The intent (with the renovation) is to do everything possible to preserve the image of the building and restore it as much to its original character as possible," Matheny said.

City leaders have been trying to spark redevelopment along Meridian Street and other areas immediately north of downtown through rezonings, pedestrian-friendly amenities like sidewalks and greenways and landscaping.

Bostick said Meridian will soon be resurfaced and lined with sidewalks and trees and better lighting. A recent rezoning created a new zoning category designed to protect residential areas that abut industrial areas.

Lincoln Mill to be renovated for condos, lofts

One of Huntsville's former mill villages is getting a facelift. Local eye doctor James Byrne recently purchased the old Lincoln Mill building along Meridian Street with plans to renovate it into shops, offices and as many as 60 condominiums.

Matheny Goldmon Architects of Huntsville is handling the design. Lincoln Mills operated from the 1920s to the 1950s during Huntsville's textiles heyday, employing as many as 350 people at its peak. It now houses a handful of small businesses.

The estimated $20 million project calls for massive renovations to the main building into offices and possibly retail on the first floor, and condominiums on the second and third floors selling between $150 to $200 per square foot.

Parking will be in what is now the basement. The smaller old building in front of the main one will be renovated also for restaurants, shops and possibly an independent film theater.

Lincoln Mill news - it's good for us all

Huntsville Times Saturday's news that the old Lincoln Mill will become condominiums and shops is the best Christmas present to Huntsville since Lloyd Tygett declined to cast me as the Prince in "The Nutcracker" all those years ago.

It isn't "Snoopy dance" great, news that makes you throw your head back, hold your arms by your sides with your paws out, and bop around to cool jazz. There are a few risks and downsides. But it's plenty good enough.

The old mill on Meridian Street is Huntsville history. Saving places like this is almost always right, and here's more proof. When the time came, the old mill could have new life because it was still there. And it's real history, down to the beams and floors, not just a few vintage signs and tools nailed to a restaurant wall.

Only two of the old textile mills survive - Lincoln and Lowe - and both are in the control of the kind of people you wish owned everything historic. Jim and Susie Hudson, who own Lowe Mill, and Dr. James Bryne, who owns Lincoln, see the value of a city's story, not just the profit in a plot of property.

A city needs people like that, and Huntsville is generating them now in numbers. May their numbers increase.

It can get tricky, however, when people who aren't developers by trade get into development and historic renovation. They can love their buildings too much, believe it or not, adding features and fine details that make them incredible to behold, but too costly for most people to afford. We have a few examples of that downtown, too.

With Lincoln Mill, Byrne is targeting a market than can pay between $100,000 and $200,000 for a downtown condo. If he can bring his units in at that price, or even close, this could be sweet, indeed.

There is at least one other cloud here, so let's talk about it, too. City leaders want to extend "downtown's" identity and sphere of influence north along Meridian Street all the way to Oakwood Avenue. There are many good reasons to do so.

But this area is also home to economically struggling families, and also, to be honest, some folk who won't be nominated for citizen of the year anytime soon. As gentrification, another name for renovation, pushes north, these people get pushed north, too. That stresses other neighborhoods but, more than that, it can leave a sanitized bubble of young professionals, artists and entrepreneurs. They have a name for that: theme park.

But the benefits here far outweigh those risks, in one man's opinion. New life for the mill means new life for Meridian Street, more support for businesses along Andrew Jackson Way and, possibly, the critical mass to bring a new grocery store to an area that really needs one.

Imagine a nice spring night 10 years from now.

A trolley runs from Five Points north up Andrew Jackson Way to Oakwood Avenue, then west to Meridian and back downtown.

Young women whose skirts dance in the breeze and men alive with the anticipation of the weekend step on and off for dinner, drinks or shopping, or stay aboard to the downtown entertainment district and the Von Braun Center.

"Bridge Street?" they tell friends from out of town. "It's cool. We'll definitely check it out tomorrow. But Huntsville? This is it."