Historic Mill Site Gets Multi-Family Makeover in Melrose
- By
- Oct 04, 2011
The transformation of an historic mill building into an apartment complex is under way in Melrose, Mass. Wood Partners is redeveloping the 129-year-old Boston Rubber Shoe Co. factory site into a 300-unit multi-family property.
As the Boston Globe reported, Wood recently started construction of on the 212-unit first phase of the project, dubbed Alta Stone Place. The Atlanta-based firm acquired the property in May from a previous developer, Stone Place L.P. A former mill building will house 93 units, and tjhe additoonal units will be developed in three new wood-frame buildings with ground-level podium parking. A century-old, eight-story-tall brick smokestack will remain as a signature element and the centerpiece of the complex’s garden. Completion of the first phase is scheduled for Feb. 2013, the newspaper reported.
- Courtesy of Wood Partners
In detailing the project last May, Wood said that it would retain and enhance the historic building’s original features and style. Designed by Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc., the units in the mill will feature 10-foot plus ceilings with exposed wood beams, brick exterior walls, and oversized wood mill windows.
Following completion of phase one, Wood will build another 88 units in two buildings on a nearby 2.6-site. A mill building deemed historically insignificant will be demolished to make way for the project, the Globe reported.
Elsewhere in local residential development, AvalonBay Communities Inc. broke ground on a Back Bay apartment project that will complete the Prudential Center complex. Designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects, the 242,000-square-foot Avalon Exeter will offer 187 market-rate units—20 of them penthouses—ground-floor retail and 131 parking spaces in the Prudential Center garage, the Globe reports.