Lofts spin new life for Atlanta cotton mill

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Daunting task

Neighborhood persistence

Almost history

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By Deb Krajnak
CNN.com Arts & Style editor

ATLANTA (CNN) -- The massive loft conversion of the century-old Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills, once the fabric of a thriving textile village east of downtown Atlanta, is nearing completion as the anchor for a revitalized neighborhood.

The Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts, a sprawling complex of buildings and smokestacks, is believed to be the largest loft conversion in the country by its developer, Aderhold Properties. The three partners are spinning the site's 750,000 square feet into 504 rental apartments, and already have rented nearly 360 units in the $50 million project.

ALSO

Cotton Mill a historical marker

Atlanta photographer probes mill community's soul

GALLERY

Visit one of the lofts

Tour the mill's unique features

MAPS

Click here for maps of Atlanta, the mill and Cabbagetown

IPIX

Take a 360-degree tour of the loft complex and the swimming pool area

FIRE VIDEOS

CNN's Tom Watkins reports on the mill fire and dramatic rescue (April 12, 1999)

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Hear from those who witnessed one of Atlanta's biggest fires (April 13, 1999)
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Tenants will start moving into the last building, the scene of a fire and dramatic helicopter rescue televised worldwide in April 1999, in August, said Tom Aderhold, company vice president. His partners are his father, John, chairman, and Louis Brown, president.

There are nine brick buildings left on 12.5 acres, most of them built between 1895 and 1922 in the neo-Romanesque style. They crouch on the edge of Cabbagetown, a community where the mill workers lived that has been declared a national historic district.

The project, Aderhold says, has been overwhelming but rewarding. The mill, which began operations at that location in 1881 as the Fulton Cotton Spinning Company before the name was changed in 1889, had been closed since 1977, and was an eyesore.

Daunting task

When the company began renovations in 1996, it spent $250,000 stabilizing the buildings, which had leaking roofs, holes in the floors and other structural problems, Aderhold and Brown said. The developer's crews hauled away tons of debris.

"Visually, it was intimidating," Aderhold said. "We felt like the dog that caught the car."

Since then, miles of cable and electrical wiring have been installed, he said, and all the windows replaced. A few small buildings too dilapidated to preserve were removed.

Most of the old bleachery, where cotton cloth was bleached and made into bags for flour and other products, was demolished. A remaining wall with huge window openings -- resembling a Roman ruin -- now forms one side of the swimming pool enclosure.


Tom Aderhold, one of the lofts' developers, calls the mill's rehabilitation "an incredible journey." In the background is the brick building that was gutted by fire in April 1999

In keeping with historic guidelines, most of the elevated support trestles for the railroad line that ran through the mill have been left intact, and two smokestacks and the water tower remain. The developers plan to decorate the smokestacks with lights as was done decades ago, Aderhold said.

The building housing the old boilers likely will be fenced off and remain as is for now, he said. The multistory, eerily dark space, where large equipment dials are frozen in time, housed the four boilers that powered the mill's belts and turbine engines.

Around the site, truck-sized doorways are framed by brick-patterned arches, massive beams support wood ceilings, and features such as freight elevator doors have been left in place -- forming kitchen walls, in one section. Cotton looms, tubs of large spools and other vintage equipment are displayed in hallways like museum pieces.

Because the spaces are so different, the complex offers more than 80 floor plans, ranging from 700 to 1,800 square feet. In buildings B and C -- once, Mill 2 -- every other floor was removed to make two-story units with 16-foot ceilings.

Paul Raymond, who shares a 1,700-square-foot loft with Mike Olvey, loves the view of the Atlanta skyline from their huge windows.


Flames and intense heat from the 1999 fire melted the siding on this house

"We saw it in the evening, and were sold," Raymond said. The brilliant sunset left them dazzled, he said; so did the apartment. Their rent is about $1,650, which they consider reasonable. They work from their home.

Jewett Watson, who became the mill's plant engineer in 1946 and worked on the premises until 1998, welcomes the changes.

"It's very pleasing to see they've done something with it, because it had passed its useful life," he said.

Neighborhood persistence

In its heyday, the mill employed 2,600 people, many of whom lived in company housing within walking distance. German immigrant Jacob Elsas, the mill's owner, recruited workers from the north Georgia mountains, and the textile village where they settled became known as Cabbagetown -- a well-deserved name, according to some historians. The hardy vegetable, which simmered all day on the home stoves of the workers, was a community mainstay.

When the mill shut down, the close-knit neighborhood fell on hard times, becoming a haven for crime. The mill property was purchased by the adjacent railroad, CSX Transportation, and the old buildings stood mostly dark and silent.

Then, in the early 1990s, urban pioneers began moving to Cabbagetown, appreciating its proximity to downtown and interstates, low housing costs and quaint architecture on narrow streets.


Artwork decorates an apartment balcony in a former cotton warehouse

In 1996, a member of the fledgling Cabbagetown Neighborhood Improvement Association approached Brown, then president of Winter Properties, with an intriguing question: Would he be interested in buying the old mill and reusing it?

Shortly afterward, when he and the Aderhold brothers left Winter and formed their own company, they said yes.

"Everyone thought we were crazy," Brown said. No one would loan them money for Phase I until they received a federal Empowerment Zone loan. Of the 206 first-phase units, 40 percent were set aside for moderate-income renters.

"He [Brown] was the developer visionary who said, 'We can do it,'" said former neighborhood association president Pam Ahern. "We put a lot into it to see it come to fruition."

Almost history

Not even last year's fire destroyed hopes for the mill's future.

The April 12 blaze, which firefighters said was caused when a construction torch ignited trash, gutted the interior of Mill 1 (Building H). But the flames left the exterior walls largely intact, thanks to the design of the original heavy timber construction, said architect Jan Held. The support beams collapsed inward during the fire, sparing the brick walls of the five-story structure.


Carroll Street in Cabbagetown, the neighborhood where mill workers lived. The cotton mill is to the left, adjacent to the street

Damaged beams, each 25 feet long and 18-by-15 inches wide, were replaced; charred flooring also was ripped out in favor of new wood. In all, Aderhold said, the repair required a small forest of yellow pine -- about 2 million board feet. The adjoining Engine House also was damaged by the flames.

At the fire's height, a firefighter, tethered to a rope dangling from a helicopter, plucked a crane operator from his 250-foot perch above the flames and carried him to safety as crowds watched.

Aderhold was in his office when the fire broke out on the mill's upper floors. Within minutes, it was out of control, and his heart sank.

"All you could do then is contain it," he said. "That was a long day."

Current association president Gerry Weber calls the new lofts the "driving force" behind the area's revival. However, he said, some residents are concerned that the lofts -- and the inevitable rising housing prices -- will disturb the neighborhood character.

Also, some neighbors don't like having a gated structure such as the Cotton Mill Lofts in their neighborhood, and say they wish the property contained a mix of commercial and residential uses, Weber said.

But, overall, feelings are positive, he said. "You can see there's been a remarkable change in the neighborhood."

Brown has no regrets.

"It's the old saying, that activity begets activity, and that's what happened here."