The Rocky Mount Mills commercial and residential development is designing historic homes off Falls Road between Elm and Spring streets to have them, in phases, ready for leasing to future residents.
Not only that, but Rocky Mount Mills, which owns half of the former Burlington Industries Rocky Mount Plant off West Ridge Street, is also starting design work on what that part of the location might look like in the future. That future usage might be tied back to residential development currently in place on the Rocky Mount Mills campus.
The former plant is in the vicinity of the Nash County Farmers Market and adjacent to the future Monk to Mill Trail for bicyclists and pedestrians, with the trail to extend from the southern part of the city to the campus. The Monk part of the name is a reference to the late Rocky Mount native and jazz great Thelonious Monk.
Evan Covington Chavez, who leads the development of Rocky Mount Mills, made the announcements to Rocky Mount Rotarians amid a slideshow-like presentation about the progress of the development at the club’s luncheon Tuesday at Benvenue Country Club.
Rocky Mount Mills developers also have drawn up plans to have another pod to expand the development’s River and Twine Tiny House Hotel, which offers daily and extended stay rentals on the campus, Chavez said.
The Rocky Mount Mills campus offers craft beer and restaurants and has offices, retail shops, residences and the Power House event venue, all at a former cotton mill site in immediate proximity to the Tar River and northwest of downtown.
The mill was established in 1818 and closed in 1996. The site eventually would begin to be transformed after Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting Co. stepped in as the purchaser, with the vision being for having a mixed-use development.
Chavez, who long worked in affordable housing and real estate development in North Carolina and Latin America, told the Rocky Mount Rotarians that Rocky Mount Mills has been her project since the beginning.
“And it’s very heartwarming to see it coming to life,” Chavez said.
Chavez said that there are a cluster of houses off Falls Road between Elm and Spring streets that are in the Rocky Mount Mills Village Historic District.
Chavez said that the hope for those houses, which are just southeast of the development, is that a first phase of renovations should be complete by the end of the year.
As for half of the former Burlington Industries plant, which is just southwest of the development, Chavez said that the design work is in the preliminary stages.
As for having more space for tiny houses, Chavez did not have a specific timeframe other than to say a couple of years, but she said that they would be just west of the current tiny houses.
Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO David Farris was elated afterward with the announcement of the Rocky Mount Mills planning an expansion and exploring the possibility of transforming part of the former Burlington plant.
Farris said that he believes Rocky Mount Mills stays on the cutting edge of innovation and that they have injected energy and pride into the community.
Farris also emphasized that when recruiting business and industries, the Chamber often starts at the campus because no other community has anything like Rocky Mount Mills.
Farris spoke of the location having once been the scene of dilapidated fences and buildings imploding and falling in before Capitol Broadcasting entered and invested tens of millions of dollars.
Farris made clear that he believes substantial investment can be made downtown, that this is beginning to happen and that developers are looking at Rocky Mount Mills and saying, “Wait a minute. This has worked. It’ll work here.”
Rotarian Brenda Shaw was heartened afterward and said that she told Chavez, “Thank you for your company having an interest in Rocky Mount.”
Shaw also spoke of pushing some of that emphasis toward the downtown area and making Rocky Mount look as it had in the past.
“It was a beautiful city when I was young,” she said.
Rocky Mount Mills has 52 houses renovated and leased in what is the Mill Village part of the campus and has 75 apartments in the former mill building.
Chavez told the Rocky Mount Rotarians that there have been instances of tenants remaining on a lease at the Mill Village for as long as six years before moving out and that finding a home in the Mill Village for rent is hard.
Rocky Mount Mills has 24 tiny houses on the southeast side of the campus. Chavez noted that the tiny houses sit in pods of four or six.
A guest house composed of three units is in a renovated duplex at the southwest corner of Falls and Elm on the southwest side of the development.
Chavez said that the guest house is for those staying in Rocky Mount for maybe three to six months to do contract work.
During her presentation to the Rocky Mount Rotarians, Chavez also said that she and fellow Rocky Mount Mills officials are going to do something big to celebrate a decade of being open for business in the city.
“As we’ve looked back, I think one of the things that we haven’t really talked much about has been how we’ve tried to work with partners throughout the city and county as a whole,” Chavez said. “And, so, going into the 10th year, I think we’re going to be much more intentional about how we do that.”
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