DANVILLE, Va. – Vacant for more than a decade, the historical textile White Mill in Danville is getting a second chance at a new life.
The abandoned building will bring jobs, housing and a new way of life.
Standing with shuttered windows and paint peeling, White Mill became a home only for birds and a sign of Danville’s decline. But now, it will be revitalized and a focal point for the city.
At a price tag of $62.5 million, the City of Danville is partnering with The Alexander Company, a Wisconsin historical preservation and urban revitalization service, to revamp the bottom floor of 110,000 square feet for commercial use and the top three floors for 150 apartments.
A quarter of the apartments will be dedicated to families who make $30,000 to $50,000 a year.
“The workforce housing people have always been kind of left in the cold,” Alexander Company Development Project Manager David Vos said. “Those people their rents will be limited to 30 percent of their incomes.”
Another 100 apartments are expected to be built in the future.
Vos said revamping such a large structure in a town of only about 45,000 people made him hesitate.
He said the building is in good shape and plans to replace some of the windows with glass and bring back the wooden floors, but this structure built nearly 100 years ago, still shares generational ties.
Industrial Development Authority Chairman Neal Morris said his family and friends were some of the thousands of people who once worked for the Dan River Company, including White Mill.
“Every member of my family except me worked in Dan River textiles and many of my friends, people I went to school with,” Morris said. “I mean it was a way of life.”
Morris said this project is meaningful to him as a team will work to bring it “back in existence.”
“It’s just like when the textile was there it was producing something worthwhile,” he said. “This is going to produce something worthwhile.”
The rest of the funding will go to the addition of an easement to extend the Riverwalk Trail, a plan to use a south side canal for a whitewater feature and restoration of the covered bridge to connect White Mill to the former Long Mill site.
River District Association Executive Director Diana Schwartz said it’s time for the city to gain a new way of life.
“It is time to tell ourselves a new story,” she said. “Not just about what has been. But what will be.”
The first phase is expected to be completed by July of 2023 to coincide with the completion date of the new casino.