Six firms vying for the job of redeveloping historic Trenton Mill

Half a dozen firms have turned in proposals for redeveloping the Trenton Mill as a part of Gastonia’s new Franklin Urban Sports and Entertainment District.

The six companies that are vying for the job all submitted their detailed pitches before a deadline on June 1. The city put the word out about what it was looking for earlier this year, then allowed roughly three months for developers to offer a formal vision.

Gastonia Economic Development Director Kristy Crisp said she has not had time to examine all of the proposals, but every one she has scanned so far has suggested adaptively reusing existing portions of the mill along West Main Avenue, rather than tearing it down and building from scratch. That was something City Council members cited as a priority when beginning the process.

“We were extremely excited that we got six,” said Crisp. “I think it’s such a great indicator of how the development community is really embracing this project.”

The city had conversations with upward of 40 different developers over the last three to four months, Crisp said. Some realized it wasn’t something they wanted to pursue, while others had conflicting projects going on that would preclude them from taking the work, she said.

“We certainly wanted to reach as many developers as we could, mainly because it’s helping to build relationships and build ground for other development options, either with FUSE or Gastonia in general,” she said.

Period of review

Crisp and other staff will review the six proposals in detail in the coming weeks. They’ll decide which firms to call in for more interviews, and could make a recommendation to City Council within a couple of months, she said.

The city recently acquired and directly controls 16 acres of land just west of downtown where it is cultivating the FUSE District. The plan is to construct a multipurpose stadium and events complex that could cost $21 million, serving as a centerpiece of the entire area. Land surrounding the stadium will be cultivated as “development pads,” where private investors would bring in mixed uses such as retail shops, apartments, offices and the like.

Trenton Mill represents one of those development pads. The city has envisioned developers carving out a new identity for the property, creating 65 to 75 residential units surrounded by 140 parking spaces, along with 1,800 square feet of ground-floor retail. The entire pad there would be able to handle 82,000 square feet of space for a variety of uses, according to consultants with the UNC Chapel Hill Development Finance Initiative.

What of the area surrounding FUSE?

As the city moves forward, it will also continue to think about how properties and businesses surrounding the FUSE District can work in concert with what it is trying to achieve. But the city has no immediate intention of buying more property itself, Crisp said.

“Our focus is on making the existing project successful,” she said. “We’ve been in contact with surrounding property owners, and if they’re interested in selling and express that to us, if we’re able to pair them directly with a developer, I think that would be a best case scenario.

Crisp said the goal is to “shift the market” in the area around Trenton Mill and FUSE as a whole.

“We want to certainly be mindful of uses that are surrounding it and continue to look at those,” she said. “At this point, we have no plans of going in and changing any existing business.”

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or on Twitter @GazetteMike.

Here's a breakdown of the real estate the city of Gastonia has acquired since late 2016 for the Franklin Urban Sports and Entertainment District.

Coca Cola bottling plant/former Fab-Tech building

Purchase price: $1.2 million

Acquisition date: August 2017

Gaston County tax value: $597,299

Land size: 3.8 acres

Trenton Mill

Purchase price: $495,000

Acquisition date: January 2017

Gaston County tax value: $363,452

Land size: 3 acres

Former Sears property

Purchase price: $350,000

Acquisition date: October 2016

Gaston County tax value: $500,588

Land size: 6.1 acres

Budget Inn

Purchase price: $1.2 million

Acquisition date: December 2016

Gaston County tax value: $771,639

Land size: 2.1 acres

Source: Gaston County Tax Office