Last year, when we began salvaging an Old Mill in the NW Atlanta ‘burbs (Acworth), I posted some info and several posters expressed interest in seeing the end result and final product.
You can see it all here: http://www.acwortholdmill.com/
Turning a burned-out 19th century mill into a stable, structure capable of supporting a business (and, turning heads) while preserving its historic integrity was every bit as difficult as expected, but the end result was worth it – and visitors seem to agree. The main dining room – 3 open stories – draws gasps.
I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts/questions/comments.
Jay
Replies
By the way, I should have included a direct link to the video tour, which shows the construction process (since this is a construction web site).
http://www.acwortholdmill.com/video/index.html
Sorry about that.
Jay
That's OK, us dialuppers don't do video.SamT
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. [Einstein] Tks, BossHogg.
Can you tell me what "components" that page tried to install on my computor?
(|:>(
SamT
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. [Einstein] Tks, BossHogg.
Edited 3/9/2007 11:19 am by SamT
Sam - You crazy dial-up guys! All it was doing was checking your flash/java to make sure you could play the video. Odds are, if you're on dial up, you don't do much with flash/java.
Sorry about that - we sometimes forget that not everyone is cable/broadband/high-speed ready yet.
Jay
Odds are, if you're on dial up, you don't do much with flash/java.
You're right about that. I put all of the macromedia flash download sites in my hosts file beause another favorite forum automatically made my box download Flash if it was not installed.
Flash installation is curteous, of course. It'll ask if you want it to install itself.
After downloading MegaBytes!
That site took for freakin' ever to open every index page. I looked in the cache and found 32 copies of the Flash installer! MEGABYTES each!
Java's a different story since the scripts are embedded in the page code, so it might as well be enabled, and, I have the latest JRE installed, because I run some Java programs.SamT
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. [Einstein] Tks, BossHogg.
Jay
WOW, you guys brought that thing back from the dead!
Nice job - always like to see something saved. You should be proud.
Doug
Pretty awesome, Jay.
There used to be a bar on the square in Marietta that gave out free shots anytime a train went by (only about 20'(?) away). Does this place do that?
I admire old buildings such as the one you've done and really appreciate owners that can work with them as opposed to dozing it to start anew. Job well done, will have to stop by next time I'm up that direction.
Are you talking about Crystal's? I used to hang out there. And Hemingway's a bit, too.
Crystal's had good Guiness on tap way back when that was hard to find around Atlanta.
No, we aren't giving away shots when a train goes by. Those walls are so thick, you have to listen to hear the train (there's no crossing at that point, so no whistle, just a rumble). It's pretty surprising, to me, how little train noise you notice.
Jay
Hey Jay-
I live in Kennesaw and drive by the Old Mill quite often on my way up to Allatoona. I've admired that building for years and often remarked to my wife about what a neat building (even when it was just a burned out shell). I'm glad someone has taken that thing on and made it into something beautiful.
I've watched the progress you guys made over the last year or so and I must say you've done yourself and downtown Acworth proud. I have yet to visit the restaurant since completion, but hope to soon.
Now hop on down the road to Kennesaw.. there's an old 3-story brick building right next to Wildman's that I've been dying to see something good happen to. Maybe condo's in the top 2 and storefronts below?
Joel
Edited 3/9/2007 3:20 pm ET by jganyard
Edited 3/9/2007 3:23 pm ET by jganyard
Joel - There are several ideas for downtown Ksaw on the drawing boards and - if they can get through some legal tangles - you should see some pretty good revitalization down there soon. With the rebuilt downtown streets, the museum and a couple of good restaurants, and all the restrored homes, you guys have a starting point - however, Wildman sure makes it tough to invest big bucks down there on Main St.
We're doing all out work in Acworth, including the new townhomes going up at Glade Road and 92 and a couple of other deals that, for obvious reasons, I can't discuss yet, although one of them will be much closer to K'Saw.
Jay
Yea, Wildman certainly is an eyesore and a blight. Unfortunately I see him being a hold-out longterm. Last I heard that jerk (Popham?) filing suits against everyone to stop the developments has agreed to chill. I live right off of Main st and can't wait to see the new Kennesaw get underway.
I've seen your townhouse development at Glade and 92... did you all scale back the number of residential units from orginally planned? I noticed that there is now a commercial parcel for sale on the corner that I didn't recall being the case before. I've also seen your pre-construction pricing increasing. ;-) Good job.
I do feel sorry for the folks that are going to grocery shop at that Ingles. Good lord what a horrible grocery store. LOL
Between Popham and Wildman, you guys have some extra problems down that way that we don't really seem to have in Acworth. From what I've read and heard, however, it looks like the downtown project is back in business. Good luck.
The Glade/92 project (http://www.lakeacworthvillage.net), although a month or two behind our (overly optimistic) projections, is the same size we'd always intended - 158 townhomes. The difference is that originally we'd planned to do the commercial development on the corner in-house(it was already zoned commercial, but the trailer park was grandfathered) but with a couple of other projects looming, we decided to just cut bait on the commerical corner and sell it. For the foreseeable future, we'll be doing residential developments only.
Jay
Might've been Crystals. Not that I actually knew the names or was sober enough to recognize them but I do remember where Hemingways was and that wasn't it.
Nice job!
The b/4's and after's are nice. Did you take any "durings"?A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
around hear old mill mostly get destroyed.
sad.
Calvin - Hmmm, I haven't looked at the Web site enough recently. The old slide show showed a lot more construction work, but it has apparently been updated.
There were some great shots of the basement being dug out (by hand), and some shots of the steel supports going over the wall on a windy day last March (we were standing around with out arse's so tight, well you know the cliches - if one of those steel beams had touched that old brick, we'd have been starting over. The building is now supported by 4 steel beams, with the roof, walls, everything tied back to that structure - the bricks don't actually support anything.
I'll see if the old slide show is still out there somewhere so you can see the build out.
Jay
Beautiful job Thichasabrick!!!! I'm impressed.
You've also gave me an idea for an old historic, nasty looking building downtown that I didn't ever think about before....but I have an idea now!
blue
"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Blue - Just to make sure I'm clear on this, my business partners were the builders/developers on this project. I wish I could take credit on this project, but that just wouldn't be true. Chris and Tommy deserve all the plaudits for this one. I'm just the finance guy for our residential work.
And let me tell you, it would have, in truth, been a good bit cheaper to tear down the old mill and build something that looked just like it. However, we'd been trying to find a way to save that place since I sat on the local HPC in the early 90s. My partners pulled this one out of the fire.
Jay
If you don't mind my asking, what was the pricetag to save that building and how much would it have been to build a new one just like it?
By the way, it looks great. I could spend a whole day asking you questions. Three Qs that are on the top of my head now are 1. did you coat the brick inside or out to keep debris from being everywhere during the course of business? 2. the archway next to the bar doesn't appear to have a lintel or keyed arch, how is this safe or code-compliant? 3 The brick "finish" on the exterior appears to look exactly as it did beforehand... was there a large amount of work done to the brick like pressure washing and repointing?
When you're this good, EVERYONE wants a crack at you!
http://www.petedraganic.com/
Peter - I hope I don't offend here, but we're not really releasing those numbers. Suffice to say, it was almost double the first-guess estimates, but well within the bounds of profitability. Sorry to be so vague, but it's just not a number my partners want to release
To answer your other questions: The brick was cleaned and remains uncoated (except for the chimney, which had some new mortar and concrete work.) The back-of-the-house kitchen area is new-build. The brick is in remarkably good shape and outside of some minor maintenance is as it was 140 years ago. In the almost-six months it has been open, we've had no problems with excessive dust/debris.
That archway is just as it appears, as is the opening on the other side of the bar. A bunch of engineers and code compliance officers spent a lot of time examining and scratching their heads on that one before finally deciding that these rough openings, which have been stabilized for decades, can remain. I'm not an engineer and I thought something would have to be change, but between our engineers, the city engineers, a third-party engineer and the city code folks, it was allowed to remain as the rough opening it has been since at least the mid-60s.
As for the exterior, there was some pressure washing, plenty of tuckpointing and a whole lot of hard labor. The idea was to leave the facade as close as we could to what it was. All those patches of plaster on the inside as real 150-year old plaster (quite a bit of that was torn off, of course, because it wasn't stable - but no new plaster was added). In the bar, you can see where the old mill house used to attach to the mill (the millhouse where the bar and kitchen are, as well as the office space are in the new build).
Sorry I couldn't answer your first question, but I hope I answered your other questions adequately. Sufice to say, there's a lot of epoxy mounting/stabilizing going on, but we tried to keep as much of the old as we could.
Jay
Jay, Real nice!Nice job with the preservation, and very nice with the details.And that "broken brick" arch near the bar that Pete mentioned? Fabulous detail that lends a bit of historical integrity to the restoration.Mongo
Yeah, I really thought that archway gave the place the right character... I was only suprised that the building officials allowed it to be so "characteristic" ...LOL.
When you're this good, EVERYONE wants a crack at you!
http://www.petedraganic.com/
No offense at all. I understand. I was just asking as a point of reference to restore such a building.
Also, do you have any original pictures of the building from when it was still in operation?
And, why the big porch instead of something that fit the original profile... is it used for customer seating in good weather?
When you're this good, EVERYONE wants a crack at you!
http://www.petedraganic.com/
Peter,
I just emailed a lady who did a book on local history and asked her to email me a shot or two or the mill when it was operating. I'm pretty sure I've seen a couple of shots, so I'll post those when/if I get them - as with the "during" shots of construction.
You pegged it on the big porch, at least in part. It's patio seating in good weather, and since this Atlanta, that's pretty much year 'round (I think in that photo you saw, it had those curtains up for winter). It serves a secondary purpose in giving depth to that side of the mill. That side is visible from the shops and restaurants on Main Street and the original drawings with a porch that matched the old profile looked pretty weak. A building of that size needed more visual depth - or at least, that was the thinking. The fact that we get 15-20 extra people seated for Sunday brunch or dinner 5 nights a week doesn't hurt. It amazes me how many people enjoy the novelty of sitting out there with the train.
Since I live and work within a few hundred yards of the train tracks (my office is almost a quarter mile from my house), the novelty has worn off after 13 years. I never notice it, either, but there's certainly no novelty.
Also, check your email.
Jay
No email yet. I'm not sure if the address they have on file here has been updated.
you can use the address at my website, through the link below... or just email me at cdcohio "AT" sbcglobal.net
When you're this good, EVERYONE wants a crack at you!
http://www.petedraganic.com/
Beautiful work. More than I would have taken on that's for sure. Great to see the old mills brought back to life with such finesse. Congratulations on a job well done.------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."