The Judson Mill District, in partnership with Judson Mill Play Café, is launching Makers at the Mill, a new event that brings together the Upstate’s most creative makers for an evening of shopping, connection, and community. Scheduled for Thursday, June 26, from 5:30 to 8:30 PM, the family-friendly event will feature handmade goods, live music, art in action, and games in the unique historic setting of Judson Mill’s campus, formerly the largest textile mill in Greenville County.

The project, co-developed by Taft Family Ventures and Belmont Sayre, has addressed critical community needs including food security, affordable housing, and support for minority- and women-owned businesses. Key achievements include the creation of the Jud Hub innovation co-working space, implementation of Feed & Seed to combat food insecurity, and partnerships with local organizations to enhance community well-being.

This award underscores Judson Mill District’s commitment to sustainable, community-driven development, preserving the area’s rich textile heritage while fostering new opportunities for residents to live, work, and play in a revitalized urban setting.

Here is a link to the online story.

Let me know if you have any questions, and congratulations!

Located at 701 Easley Bridge Road in Greenville, Events at Judson Mill features more than 8,000 square feet of space for any kind of event from weddings to benefit galas to corporate parties.

It’s the latest venture from High Spirits Hospitality, a woman-owned event and catering business whose brands also include Liquid Catering, Bravo1 Protection, High Spirits Events, The 405, and the management of Topside Pool Club.

“This has been months of hard work by our team, and we are glad to finally be showing off the site to all of the Upstate,” said Tammy Johnson, High Spirits Hospitality president and CEO.

Events at Judson Mill is part of the $75 million redevelopment project to revitalize the historic Judson textile mill.

Opened in 1912, Judson Mill was once the largest textile mill in Greenville County and served as more than a workplace. The mill was a thriving community of neighbors, friends, and family. In 1933, the Deering-Milliken company purchased the mill and operated it until it closed in 2015.

Belmont Sayre Holdings purchased the 819,000-square-foot set of buildings and 36-acre campus in 2017, joined later by equity partner Taft Family Ventures.

The development team, specializing in urban transformation, began reimagining Judson Mill District as a community hub that aims to provide affordable places to live, work, and play, as well as opportunities to enjoy green spaces, recreation, and a diverse mix of communal activities and amenities.

Events at Judson Mill features three separate spaces: The Annex, The Smokestack, and the South Courtyard.

The Annex features 5,600 square feet of event space, all in the same room. Clients who book their weddings in the Annex may draw ivory theatrical curtains to divide the space in two.

Tall mill windows fill the room with natural light, from the refinished maple floors to the 16-foot ceilings. Historic features like original timber beams and exposed brick masonry complement the venue’s more modern touches.

The space includes everything a client might need, including a dressing room, a family-style restroom, and a full catering kitchen. It will comfortably seat up to 350 guests.

The Smokestack offers 3,200 square feet of event space, suitable for celebrations of up to 200 guests. The venue’s industrial feel stems from its exposed brick architecture, finished concrete floors, tall windows, and the painted ironwork rafters that span the 30-foot-high ceilings.

Guests will note the soaring smokestack that gives the venue its name, as well as the vintage water tower that distinguishes the building’s exterior.

Grand double doors open to the South Courtyard, an outdoor event area for after-work fetes, wedding ceremonies, social mixers, and more.

Sponsors for the April 6, 2023, grand opening included Alpha-Lit Marquee Letters, Bravo1 Protection, Cakes to Dye For, CHEF360 Catering, Clare’s Creamery, Collective Music Solutions, Complete PR, Cotton Rouge & Company, Couture Cakes, FamZing Studios, The Fun Box Photo Booth Company, Good Life Catering, Holly’s Cakes, Holmes Catering, Ice Age Ice Sculptures, Laurenda’s Family Restaurant & Catering, Nard’s Backyard BBQ, The Phoenix Coalition, Renee Burroughs Design, Southern Way Catering, Synergy Coffee, Table 301 Catering, Tri-County Rentals, and Uptown Entertainment.

Historic preservation is rooted in stewardship, continuity and connectivity. Preserving an aging building presents architects with the challenge of maintaining a cultural resource while transforming it into a relevant space for future generations.

When McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture was commissioned to repurpose a century-old South Carolina textile mill, it was an opportunity to elevate the mill’s historical relevance and create a mixed-use campus that prioritizes advancement opportunities for underprivileged community members.

Judson Mill: A Historic Opportunity for Meaningful Revitalization

At the turn of the last century, Greenville was home to dozens of large cotton mills and widely considered the textile capital of the world. Decades later, these mills, once filled with bustling workers, were shuttered amid a recession.

In 2017, developer Kenneth Reiter purchased the property in a joint venture and commissioned MPS to address the neighborhood’s need for affordable housing, access to food, and workspaces for nonprofits and mission-driven startups.

”There’s more than 100 years of history here, and we saw this campus as an opportunity to help lift this community,” said Reiter, co-developer of Judson Mill and president of Belmont Sayre. “Our goal has always been to find a modern version of this mill that preserves its spirit and features while knitting the neighborhood back together through innovation that fosters equitable entrepreneurship and inclusive community outreach.”

Honoring the Past While Reimagining the Future

The multi-year contract to transform the 800,000-square-foot campus presented several redevelopment challenges. Over its 100-plus years in operation, the mill had undergone several process innovations and additions, obscuring the original architecture and making it difficult to navigate the 36-acre campus. After a careful study of the original buildings and the subsequent renovations, the team created a plan for the site’s adaptive reuse into an innovative social hub that includes:

• 204 apartments with refined residential amenities
• 215,000 square feet of office, retail, entertainment and recreational space
• Roughly 250,000 square feet for rehabilitation of additional historic structures for commercial and residential uses
• 12 acres of land for additional development
• A large-capacity concert venue

Before construction on the urban mixed-use redevelopment project began, the team applied for historic designation with the National Register of Historic Places, securing federal and local tax credits that helped meet the developer’s financial goals.

The design’s guiding principle was to complement the existing architectural fabric of the original buildings and surrounding campus with a sharp, tailored, clean aesthetic. The clear delineation between the existing historic framework and new additions provided a lively design juxtaposition while satisfying the requirements laid out by the National Park Service and the State Historic Preservation Officer.

“Everything—from the design of the kitchens in the residential units to professional office upfits in other parts of the campus—was done with the intent of contrasting the warmer wood and brick materials of the existing structure with graphically bold, black and white interventions,” said MPS interior designer Missy Games. “This clear, consistent design approach throughout the campus helped blend the multiple individual projects and phases.”

To address the challenge of Judson Mill’s accessibility, the design team restored connections, removed the surrounding fence and created pedestrian pathways throughout the mill campus to reconnect it to the mill village. Although the design and development team sought to retain as many historic additions as possible, some were pruned away or repurposed to strengthen site circulation. For instance, some 1940s and 1950s additions were renovated to connect the eastern residential portion of the campus to the western commercial side.

An original two-story building dominated the residential portion of the development. MPS designed a series of open courtyards in the center of this structure to organize the interior residential units and provide light, air and exterior living spaces. Designers also pulled back the grade around the building to offer full-height windows and doors and reopened masonry-infilled windows to reveal the original elevations and even more natural light.

A Sustainable Redevelopment Approach

Adaptive reuse is more environmentally friendly than new construction, but Judson Mill’s redevelopment prioritized reducing the campus’s carbon footprint through additional measures. Selective demolition allowed MPS to reuse the original brick, steel, and heavy timber—materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill—throughout the project.

To increase the building’s energy efficiency, designers removed obsolete mechanical additions and replaced translucent plastic clerestories in The Warehouse Building with curtainwalls to increase daylight penetration. Specifying LED lighting, ENERGY STAR-rated appliances and low-flow plumbing fixtures throughout also improved sustainability.

The residential units include various sustainable features as well. For example, lofted units make use of mass timber platforms to capture additional density in the apartments. Though not required for this particular project, MPS added enough roofing insulation to the buildings to bring them up to the prescriptive requirements of the South Carolina Energy Conservation Code.

To improve the campus’s walkability, the team created numerous sidewalks and increased pedestrian access from the site to the surrounding neighborhoods. Residents also have access to sheltered bike parking and dedicated locations for ride-share pickup and drop-off, reducing car pollution.

From Commercial Development to Community Development

The nearly $100 million investment in Greenville’s Judson Mill created 197 new jobs and added more than $75 million to the city’s tax base—and it has also yielded a social return. As a designated Appalachian Regional Commission Distressed Area with a staggering 44.2% poverty rate (compared to 12.8% nationwide), the project already had the potential to bolster the local economy. Still, developers further amplified economic impact through strategic partnerships.

During the commercial development phase, a portion of the campus was transformed into the Judson Mill Community Innovation Hub (JudHub). Employing cost-saving measures during the planning and construction phase allowed developers to offer JudHub tenants 51% below-market reduced rent.

The innovative entrepreneurial center provides meeting and retail space to local nonprofits, including CommunityWorks. As an early investor in the Judson Mill redevelopment project, the organization provided a $500,000 early acquisition loan and another $500,000 to develop the JudHub. In fall 2022, CommunityWorks opened a JudHub learning center offering underserved entrepreneurs educational support, economic development training, and pro bono legal, accounting, marketing and grant-writing services.

“CommunityWorks is committed to creating a brighter future for financially underserved people in South Carolina. After investing in the redevelopment of Judson Mill, it was a natural fit to be a part of JudHub’s vision to provide resources to the Judson Mill Community,” said CommunityWorks CEO LaTorrie Geer. “The CommunityWorks Learning Center has allowed us to expand our services and resources as we work toward financial equity.”

The mixed-use development of Judson Mill also improved access to affordable groceries in what was once a food desert per the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. MPS designed a unique 18,000-square-foot commercial space for Feed & Seed Co., a nonprofit with a mission to increase food security area-wide. In addition to selling fresh, locally grown produce in their market and cafe, the facility includes warehouse space for processing FoodShare boxes sold at a competitive rate to underprivileged Pickens County residents.

The project’s unique, community-minded approach proved a multimillion-dollar investment in one property can bring demonstrable economic benefits to an entire community—transforming commercial development into community development. It was also named CREW Upstate’s “Development of the Year” at the organization’s Development Impact Awards, which honor projects that have had a significant and measurable positive impact on the Upstate community.

“Our efforts have focused on bringing the century-old soul and spirit of this beloved community back to life,” said Thomas F. Taft, Sr., chairman and CEO of Taft Family Ventures. “In just a few years, we’ve built an affordable community with diverse communal activities and amenities where people can live, work and play—and it’s just the beginning.”