The first phase of Revolution Mill, the $91 million mixed-use development in northeast Greensboro, is an unqualified success with 95% occupancy of its 150 loft apartments, three restaurants and more than 100 commercial tenants.
Now Self-Help Credit Union, the owner and developer of Revolution Mill, is now ready to move forward with a $35 million Phase 2 that it hopes to have completed in 2022.
By a vote of 8-0 Monday night, the Greensboro Zoning Commission approved rezoning 3.5 acres to light mixed industrial at 2005 Yanceyville St., clearing the way for a 145,000-square-foot mixed-use development in the Mill House, a five-story building that sits at the front entrance of Revolution Mill.
No one spoke in opposition to the rezoning proposal and no neighbors came forward with any grievances at a public meeting Self-Help organized. Hugh Holston, chairman of the zoning commission, summed up the lack of resistance and the unanimous vote in favor of the rezoning request.
“Revolution Mill has been an outstanding project for Greensboro,” Holston said.
Emma Haney, project manager of the Self-Help real estate team, called the Phase 2 of the project a “mixed-use microcosm” that has been greatly influenced by the success of Phase 1, which was completed in 2019.
“One of the most compelling parts from an underwriter’s perspective and from a real estate developer’s perspective is it’s just a little more of everything we’ve already seen have success in Phase 1,” Haney said. “That’s really informed the thinking for redevelopment of the Mill House.”
Plans call for 33 apartment units, 55,000 square feet of Class A office space, 10,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space and a co-working space. Eighteen of the apartments will be one-bedroom and 15 will be two-bedroom units.
The ground floor of the Mill House features 19-foot-high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows, and plans call for apartments, a co-working space with a mezzanine level and three retail spaces ranging from 1,300 square feet to 5,800 square feet. The largest retail space offers a deck overlooking Buffalo Creek and is seen as potential space for a restaurant.
“The retail spaces can still be informed by the tenants,” said Haney, who said the campus could support another one to two restaurants. She also suggested a boutique fitness option is another possibility.
The second through fifth floors will all be a mix of apartments and commercial space, and an atrium in the center of building will extend from the floor to the roof.“The market is at a place that it can comfortably support what we’re bringing online,” Haney said. “When we started Revolution Mill, there wasn’t an apartment market in this area. We’ve created a sub-market.”
Haney termed the area on Yanceyville Street as the Mill District, with Revolution Mill complemented by the 217 units at Printworks Mill Apartments that opened two blocks away earlier this year.
