Posted on July 19, 2016
WILLIAMSTOWN --- Two years after he helped draft and pass the Community Preservation Act, developer Bob Kuehn traveled to Williamstown to look at an abandoned factory the town desperately wanted to see developed.
After touring the site, Kuehn went to lunch at a restaurant on Water Street with local developer Peter Lafayette. When they emerged, Kuehn looked across the street, saw another shuttered factory and asked, “What about this building?”
The building was Cable Mills and 14 years later, a grand opening was held to salute the local leaders, developers and funders who stuck with the deal and to remember Bob Kuehn, the man who envisioned how to turn this 143-year-old symbol of the town’s industrial history into 61 apartments near downtown and with views of the Green River and Berkshire Mountains.
“This was the perfect Bob Kuehn project and a perfect deal to illustrate his ideas about how the Community Preservation Act can work,” said Susan Connelly, MHP’s director of community assistance.
Kuehn acquired the property in 2003 and spent the next three years figuring out how to redevelop the three main buildings. He visited many times, often flying out in his own plane with staff or friends. “Bob delighted in telling people who hadn’t flown with him that he had narcolepsy and to wake him up if he dozed off,” cracked former longtime Town Manager Peter Fohlin at grand opening ceremonies on May 25.
Kuehn’s many visits sewed a strong relationship with the town and Fohlin was emotional in recalling Kuehn’s dedication to Cable Mills. “If he had a weakness, it was that he could not stop tweaking the design,” Fohlin said. “He passed away at his desk in 2006 while he was working on the Cable Mills plans.”
Kuehn’s heart attack put the project on hold until developer Bart Mitchell of Mitchell Properties bought the property in 2007, Together with project manager Dave Traggorth, they worked through the ensuing economic crisis to finance and complete phase one of the project.
“Success has many fathers,” said Fohlin. “The first was Bob Kuehn. The second was Bart Mitchell. The third was Dave Traggorth. They are the heroes of Cable Mills.”
Cable Mills features 16 one-bedroom, 37 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom apartments, all with spectacular views of the river and the mountains. Thirteen are affordable to households below 80 percent of area median income. Phase two will feature 21 townhouse units along the river. Phase three has yet to be determined.
“The cool thing about working on these buildings is finding views of the river and mountains you didn’t expect,” said Traggorth, who added the apartments were 70 percent leased as of the grand opening.
The $26.2 million development of phase one was financed with federal and state historic tax credits, and a $15 million construction loan from Property Casualty Initiative and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp. MHP is providing $9.8 million in permanent financing. Additional financing was provided by Boston Community Capital and the state’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
The Town of Williamstown was also a strong supporter, approving an overlay zoning district to allow for multifamily housing and contributing $1.5 million in Community Preservation Act funds (CPA) to support both the development’s affordability and the creation of a pedestrian walkway to the Green River.
“I’d like to thank the town for their patience and support,” said Mitchell. “Being able to keep history alive and open up access to the river was the whole point. Cable Mills is an example of what can happen when you have a group of people like we have in Williamstown who work together and trust each other. When you have that, anything is possible.”
Cable Millis also stands as a final tribute to Kuehn's legacy as a pioneer in turning problem properties into assets and a leader in the community preservation movement. His list of adaptive reuse projects like Cable Mills includes Baker Chocolate Factory in Dorchester, the Chelsea Post Office and Kennedy Biscuit Lofts in Cambridge while CPA has now been adopted in 161 communities and has been used to support over 9,400 units of affordable housing.
“Cable Mills captured Bob’s vision of how you can save history and meet a community’s housing needs,” said MHP's Susan Connelly.
For more information about Cable Mills and MHP’s financing options, contact Senior Loan Officer Amanda Roe at aroe@mhp.net or 857-317-8599.
