A long-vacant textile mill in Bessemer City now has 139 apartments to rent following a $36 million redevelopment. Construction on the Lofts at Osage Mill started in early 2023 and its redevelopers held a grand opening event Wednesday.
Some residents have already moved in, and developer WinnCompanies expects half of the affordable housing apartments to be leased by the end of April.
Vacant for almost 30 years, the former mill had become a downtown eyesore in the city of about 6,000 residents, located about 25 miles west of Charlotte. Open spaces had replaced windows in the brick facade. Weeds overtook the grass. Its rundown look occupied half of the total square footage of structures in the four-block downtown.
Its revitalization is now “a cornerstone of Bessemer City’s efforts to bring new life to our downtown and community,” Mayor Becky Smith said Wednesday. “It’s a transformational step forward in making our community a vibrant place to live, work and visit.”
Apartments will be rented to households earning 60% of the area’s median income, which is less than $53,880 for a two-person household. Monthly rent for the 50 one-bedroom apartments will be $1,125; rent will be $1,352 for the 77 two-bedroom units; and $1,16 for the 12 three-bedroom units, according to Boston-based WinnCompanies.
The redevelopment preserved the building’s brick exterior and historic features while adding amenities such as a resident lounge, business center and fitness room. Skylights bring natural light into the building’s interior atriums, illuminating its historic wooden beams and original flooring.
Town founder John Smith built the 250,000-square-foot plant in 1896 for his company then known as Southern Cotton Mills, and it became a major Gaston County employer. After 99 years as a textile mill, the final 250 workers left for good in 1995. The plant’s former owners, Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Reeves Brothers, couldn’t compete under the pressures of NAFTA and cheaper labor in Mexico.
Gaston County Commissioner Bob Hovis, a former town mayor, worked 27 years for Reeves Brothers and was the plant manager in Bessemer City when the mill closed. At its height, the mill produced 275,000 yards of fabric per week for use in high-fashion women’s apparel, he says.
“Having been part of the management of this facility as it closed before transitioning to this wonderful adaptive reuse, I know very well the special place it holds for the community and for me personally,” says Hovis. “It’s only fitting that a facility that once sustained so many families in the Bessemer City area has been reborn to deliver a high quality of life for a new generation of households living under its roof.”
The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA) supported the project with tax-exempt bonds issued by the Gastonia Housing Authority. Bank of America provided construction and permanent financing, as well as equity under the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, the federal Historic Tax Credit program and North Carolina’s Mill Rehabilitation Tax Credit program.
The Lofts at Osage Mill is WinnDevelopment’s first adaptive reuse project in North Carolina. The company has been responsible for the reuse and rehabilitation of 47 historic structures since 1981, creating more than 5,400 new apartments in eight states and the District of Columbia.
WinnResidential, its property management arm, now has a total of 1,318 apartments at six North Carolina properties, including locations in Charlotte, Kannapolis, Monroe and Raleigh. Winston-Salem-based Rehab Builders was the general contractor for the project, with Tise Kiester Architects of Chapel Hill serving as architect.