Partners plan 80 apartments in former downtown mill

Larry Cluff thinks that the people who once worked at Piedmont Mills had great views from the tall windows that let light into the otherwise-dark building.

Within two years, he wants loft apartment residents enjoying those same views.

“It’s got beautiful potential,” he said, pointing out a view of the Craddock-Terry Hotel from the second story of Piedmont Mills. Other windows in the building, which was built in the late 19th-century and is one of the city’s oldest commercial buildings, reveal views of surrounding historic buildings and the James River.

Cluff and his business partner Chris Chadwick are piecing together their plans to renovate the building, simultaneously saving it from demolition.

They plan to create more than 80 apartments in the brick structure on Jefferson Street and the tall white silos behind it.

They are currently taking bids from roofing contractors, Chadwick said. In coming months they want to begin putting up a new roof and stabilizing the building, which has been in such a state of disrepair that it’s on the fire department’s “no entry” list.

The pair has secured long-term financing for the project, and now is looking for a construction loan.

They expect construction to start in the spring and finish within a year and half.

Cluff and Chadwick were not the first people to try saving Piedmont Mills. At least two other groups of owners had bought it specifically to save it from the wrecking ball, only to run into financial problems that made them have to consider tearing it down themselves.

Cluff learned about the building this year when his brother, an investor in the Bluffwalk Center next to Piedmont Mills, told him that it might be demolished.

Chadwick said that he and Cluff bring something to the table that previous owners did not have: vast experience with historical renovations projects. He said he has worked with historic tax credits and other financing mechanisms enough that he knows who to talk to in order to get things done quickly.

There also is Cluff’s passion for historic renovations, which has led him to redevelop old fire engine factories and hospi-tals in the Richmond area. “My motivation will get this done, one way or another,” Cluff said.

Then there’s the fact that other restoration projects downtown have matured so that the downtown district is ready to support the project, and city staff was receptive of it.

“If Bluffwalk wasn’t here, and if Lynchburg hadn’t invested in the city, I don’t think this would be viable,” Cluff said.

“We came in with an idea and everyone was really, really helpful,” Chadwick said. “We don’t get that in Richmond or D.C.”

The team also might redevelop the Barker-Jennings Corporation building on Campbell Avenue. The wholesaling firm there has been looking to sell its building and move to a smaller facility. Earlier this year another investor who planned to buy the building failed to get tax credits to create low-income housing there.

Chadwick said he saw the Barker-Jennings building when he came to Lynchburg to see Piedmont Mills. He and Cluff are evaluating the project but they have already submitted a site plan to the city that calls for 107 apartments. The previous investor had planned for 67 units.

Chadwick said that they would not pursue low-income housing tax credits for the site because that would place greater restrictions on parking requirements, which would limit how many units could be there.

If they take on the Barker-Jennings building, it would be designed more for college students. The Piedmont Mills build-ing would be designed with young professionals in mind, Cluff said.

He’s counting on the views of the James River to help sell the building. “We’re definitely in a shaky economy,” Cluff said. “But there isn’t but so much waterfront and oceanfront, and we’ve got waterfront.”