Plans to redevelop the former Poe Mill site into a mixed-use housing project are moving ahead after Greenville County Council voted unanimously to rezone the property on Jan. 19.
Michigan-based Contour Development Group has an agreement to purchase the property from the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority and plans to transform the 11-acre property into a massive development with 428 apartments, a restaurant and a clubhouse with green space, water fountains, community gathering areas and roadways.
The two iconic smokestacks, which are all that remain of the historic Poe Mill following a 2003 fire that destroyed much of the building, would be included in the redevelopment plans. The mill ceased operations in 1977.
The Greenville County Redevelopment Authority assumed control of the site after the fire to do environmental cleanup, working alongside the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to ensure all harmful materials were removed. Once the first phase of cleanup was completed, the Redevelopment Authority had to figure out what to do with the place.
That’s when Contour, which specializes in multifamily housing and mixed-use developments for working communities, stepped in with its proposal.
The site today is primarily used as a homegrown skate park, but the plans Contour presented for what the company is calling The Village at Poe Mill would add six buildings, each six stories tall, to accommodate the 428 apartments.
Half of those apartments would be used solely for affordable housing, according to the plan.
Staff writer Evan Peter Smith contributed.
