Judson Mill has long served as a kind of monument to Greenville’s historic might in the textile industry.
The former Milliken textile mill located at 701 Easley Bridge Road, just outside downtown and West Greenville, was once the largest mill in Greenville County.
Now plans to convert the 36-acre mill into a live-work-and-play mixed-use district are well underway, with about 110 workers on-site each day, in addition to architects, engineers and others working behind the scenes or off-site.
“We couldn’t be more honored or excited to be part of working alongside a mix of talented, experienced local partners to bring Judson Mill to life for a new generation of Greenvillians,” said Thomas Taft Jr., principal at Taft Family Ventures, a major investor in the project.
Charley Patrick, of Triangle Construction, had a more blunt assessment:
“Let me tell you, this project is ginormous,” Patrick said.
The sheer scale of the project — a transformation of more than 800,000 square feet of historic buildings — is why developers are splitting the work into multiple phases.
The first phase, which began in late 2019, consists of adding 204 loft apartments in addition to amenities such as a community pool, fitness center and courtyard. The completion of the first phase is scheduled for spring of 2021.
The second phase, which is running concurrently with the construction of the apartments, will add an entertainment center headlined by the upcoming Rockoon Climbing Gym.
Additional retail will feature Feed & Seed, a nonprofit food cooperative, and an as-yet-unnamed brewery/restaurant. Developers are also considering other sports and entertainment concepts to fill out around 8 to 12 acres of retail space along Easley Bridge Road near St. Francis Downtown Hospital. Taft said the second phase should be complete by the end of 2020.
The third phase aims to add more than 200,000 square feet of office space, with a focus on accentuating the structure’s historic design — think exposed beams, oversized mill windows, large floor plans and other mill-related features. This third phase will be a five-year buildout with possible light industrial/flex space as well.
Patrick said construction is continuing at a rapid pace and won’t be impacted by the coronavirus.
“We’re really ramping things up,” Patrick said. “And we’re hiring, too.”
