Revitalization of the village surrounding the historic Drayton Mill in Spartanburg County will soon take another step forward.
Greenville-based homebuilder Quinn Satterfield Inc. will build five speculative homes on more than 1 acre of property on the east side of Floyd Street between Calvert and Carney streets.
Rick Quinn, a principal of Quinn Satterfield, said the homes would be similar to houses his company constructed on Haynie Street near downtown Greenville. They will be upscale, modern and comparable to homes cropping up in heavily urbanized areas across the country.
The homes will be between 1,265 to 1,300 square feet, with three bedrooms, two and a half baths and spacious front porches. Pricing will start at $149,900.
“We’re very excited about this opportunity to build at Drayton,” Quinn said. “We have a history of building in areas that are being revitalized, and we see a lot of potential in Spartanburg.”
Quinn Satterfield serves as a builder for the nonprofit Homes of Hope in Greenville, a faith-based organization that provides affordable housing for low-income families.
The company has been involved in several Homes of Hope builds in Spartanburg’s north side, Quinn said.
Concrete steps connecting to the sidewalk are all that remain of the three mill homes that once occupied the Drayton property.
Quinn Satterfield will purchase the site from Pacolet Milliken Enterprises Inc., which owns more than 200 acres surrounding the textile mill.
Quinn said construction will begin soon and should be completed within five months.
“I think there are opportunities for neat, affordable housing in Spartanburg,” he said. “We’re impressed by the revitalization of downtown and the Northside Initiative. I think there’s the same sort of excitement in Drayton.”
The mill was originally built in 1902 and ran continuously before Spartanburg-based Milliken & Co. shuttered it in 1994.
Generations of local families worked at the mill and grew up in the community that surrounded it.
Without the economic engine of the mill, the community began to fade. Residents moved away to find work. New residents with no prior knowledge of the mill moved in. Homes fell into disrepair and the sense of pride that once permeated the neighborhood evaporated.
In 2014, Pacolet Milliken, a private investment company formed by shareholders of Milliken & Co. in 2007 to pursue and preserve high-quality real estate and energy assets, launched an effort to transform the community.
The company sold the 114-year-old mill to Charlotte, N.C.-based TMS Development. TMS constructed 289 luxury apartments, a 60-foot lap pool, fitness center and other amenities in and around the 114-year-old mill’s spinning and weaving plants.
In October, Pacolet Milliken unveiled a one-mile walking trail connecting the mill with Mary Black Health System’s property. The trail is only one block from the site where Quinn Satterfield’s homes will be built.
“We are excited about the new development that is occurring at Drayton – from the loft apartments and retail spaces to the greenway to newly announced elementary school and, now, new single family homes,” said Clay Adams, vice president of Pacolet Milliken’s real estate division. “The next stage of growth at Drayton is likely to be led by residential developers like Quinn Satterfield, which want to participate in the creation of mixed use environments with a high quality of life at a reasonable price point.”
Pacolet Milliken sold the mill’s warehouse and Romanesque Revival company store earlier this year to Tara Sherbert, a partner with TMS Development, and John Montgomery, principal of Montgomery Development, whose great-great grandfather, John H. Montgomery, helped organize the mill.
Sherbert and Montgomery are redeveloping those facilities for 60,000 square feet of commercial space for a mix of retail, restaurant and office tenants.
“We’re very excited to have someone make an investment in this community who believes there is a market here,” Montgomery said. “Rick is an experienced builder who has had a lot of success. We like his design and the quality of his work and believe this will help move the residential side [of the Drayton community’s revitalization] forward.”
Montgomery said master plans for the community include a variety of residential units, which is something he said the east side hasn’t had a lot of for several years.
In addition to new residential and commercial opportunities, Montgomery said there are plans to connect the Drayton trail with the Cottonwood Trail.
He said the goal is to make the Drayton community a “destination” for Spartanburg.
“John has a great vision for where he wants this thing to be,” Quinn said. “It has been my experience that projects with a developer who is focused tend to be much more successful.”
