image description
Developer Bart Mitchell; Stacy Townsend, president of Property & Casualty Initiative, a community loan fund; and Town Manager Jason Hoch cut the ribbon at Cable Mills.
image description
Cable Mills encompasses 61 luxury units ranging from one to three bedrooms in former Carol Cable mill.
image description
A mix of stakeholders, interested residents and current mill tenants attended the event.
image description
The renovation of the 1870 mill was 14 years in the making.
image description
The mill's old chimney towers above the site.
image description
David Traggorth of Traggorth Companies, the mill's real estate developer, opens the event.
image description
Former Town Manager Peter Fohlin was there at the beginning, calling the late Bob Kuehn 'a hero' for his vision that led to the project.
image description
Stacy Townsend, president of Property & Casualty Initiative, calls out some of the project's participants.
image description
Andrae Baly of National Trust Community Investment Corp. spoke of the historic tax credits provide the project.
image description
Michelle Volpe of Boston Community Capital said the project was the definition of 'patient capital.'
image description
Fohlin, Bart Mitchell and David Traggorth listen to the speakers.
image description
Susan Connelly of Massachusetts Housing Partnership spoke to the 'affordable' part to the project.
image description
Developer Bart Mitchell, managing member of the development group, said Cable Mill would be 'a place for people of all incomes to fulfill their dreams.'
image description
Paul Harsch of Harch Associates, the mill's local broker, talks with Fohlin.
image description
More than a dozen people representing management and funding partners line up for the ribbon cutting.
image description
The development includes access to amenities such as exercise rooms and dog washes.
image description
Attendees view a model apartment on the fourth floor.
image description
image description
Elements of the mill's history, including several of its old track doors, are situated through the buidings.
image description
A kitchen in a three-bedroom apartment.
image description
A view from the top.
image description

Patience Pays Off as Ribbon is Cut at Williamstown's Cable Mills

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — It took 14 years to turn a decrepit hulk of a mill into 61 luxury housing units.

The project was halted by, among other things, the economic crisis of 2008 and sometimes seemed like a victim of bad luck.

But it was a stroke of good luck that sparked the Cable Mills project.

"We invited Bob Keuhn here in 2002 in hopes we could accomplish at [the Photech mill] what's been accomplished here," former Town Manager Peter Fohlin recalled at Wednesday's Cable Mills ribbon cutting ceremony.

"It did not take him very long to realize that no housing could be built at that property."

But after passing on the town-owned former mill on Cole Avenue, Kuehn stopped for a bite to eat on Water Street. Upon leaving the restaurant, he discovered the aging industrial site owned, most recently, by Carol Cable.

"He said, 'What about this building?' " Fohlin told the audience gathered under a tent in the apartments' north parking lot.

Kuehn ended up buying the Water Street property, and the rest is history — a tortuous history that required the fortitude of three separate developers and the forbearance of a variety of funders.

Fohlin, who was able to see the project enter brick and mortar development before his retirement last year, said the project has three "fathers": Kuehn, Bart Mitchell and Mitchell's former lieutenant, Dave Traggorth.

Keuhn, Fohlin said with a cracked voice, died at his desk in Cambridge while working on the Cable Mills project.

"Bob Kuehn was a hero in development and affordable housing across the state," Fohlin said. "And now they extend into Western Massachusetts."

Kuehn's estate put Cable Mills on the market, and Fohlin said 25 different developers kicked the tires before one, Mitchell, saw the property's true potential. As the principal of Mitchell Properties, he bought the mill and continued to make plans for the site. Mitchell secured a promise from the town to commit $1.5 million in Community Preservation Act funds to the effort.

"When we published a guidebook on how to use the Community Preservation Act, there is a depiction of Cable Mills on the cover, and the book is dedicated to Bob Kuehn," said Susan Connelly of the Boston-based Massachusetts Housing Partnership.


The town contribution was given in return for three benefits: 13 income-sensitive units, the preservation of an 1873 mill building and a pedestrian walkway allowing access to the Green River, which runs along the east side of the property.

"One of the funny things about this town is there is not much access to the Green River and not much access to the Hoosic River," Mitchell said. "That's why these mills wanted to come here. To keep that alive was the point."

Traggorth, who took the lead on the project in recent years said Wednesday it is gratifying to see how Cable Mills already is bringing vitality to the riverfront and the rest of Williamstown's downtown.

"To have people living here and enjoying it as we always envisioned is really fun to watch," he said. "I've just been here the past two days watching people from the general public come down and use the riverwalk, as we always talked about. I've seen residents come in and go out and walk down to Spring Street.

"It's really a rewarding thing see."

Current Town Manager Jason Hoch said he also appreciates the apartment complex's impact on the Water Street neighborhood.

"And on a personal note, this is a beautiful place," Hoch said. "I love living here."

In addition to the current and former town managers and developers Traggorth and Mitchell, Wednesday's ceremony featured remarks from several of Cable Mills' funding sources: Property and Casualty Initiative, the National Trust Community Investment Corp., Boston Community Capital and Mass Housing Partnership.

"This project helped us define what 'patient capital' is and why it's so important," said Michelle Volpe, president of Boston Community Capital's Boston Community Loan Fund.

"Bob Kuehn's estate chose wisely when they sold the property to the intrepid developer Bart Mitchell. … These projects are never easy. Fortunately, most are not as hard as this one. But it was worth every penny."

Once construction started on the project in the late fall of 2014, the progress was slowed by factors ranging from the bitterly cold winter of 2014-15 to the discovery of unknown foundations that needed to be dealt with on the property, Traggorth said.

But considering how long it took to get from Kuehn's purchase to this spring's occupancy, those delays were minor.

"We've learned how to be patient," Traggorth said. "A couple of months here or there don't matter. The most important thing was getting it right. That's what we were focused on."


Tags: Cable Mills,   historic preservation,   housing development,   mill reuse,   ribbon cutting,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories