Streamline Training & Documentation: Working People of Holyoke V: Mill Reuse

Friday, March 05, 2010

Working People of Holyoke V: Mill Reuse

As textile and other mill jobs moved south, New England towns were left with numerous abandoned or underutilized mill buildings, often centrally located and generally occupying potentially attractive waterfront land.

Such was the case in Holyoke, which now offers an example of mill reuse that is representative of redevelopement of mill properties underway in a number of Massachusetts towns.

The front door of one of the mill buildings making up the redeveloped Open Square complex
(Open Square)
The Open Square project has been underway since 1996, when architect and principal John Aubin began gradually rehabbing the 685,000 square feet of space in the seven-building Lyman Mills complex, which his family has owned since 1969. Tenants are a mix of offices, retail stores, restaurants, artists, light industry, and condo owners. (A list of current tenants is here.)

Below are some more pictures showing what has been accomplished so far.

Open Square's favorite picture of what their refurbished interior space looks like. This particular space is on the fourth floor of Building 4, an area that has been configured for offices.
(Open Square)

The office of Cover Technologies,
an environmental services company,
in Building 4 of Open Square.
(Open Square)

The Open Square complex,
showing one of the canals between which it sits
(Open Square)

In November of last year, the local public TV station broadcast a feature on Open Square. You can watch the 5:49 segment, based largely on interviewing John Aubin, below. (BTW, the correct call letters for the TV station are WGBY.)

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Labels: Innovation

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