Flour to flourish: Developer outlines future plans for former Fountain Inn grain mill

Holiday movies playing nonstop this time of year showcase familiar plot lines: Opposites attracting, rags to riches stories with warm-fuzzy endings and the classic love-at-first sight between two strangers who cross paths on an ordinary day.

It was like that for Bryan Beal, really, which goes to show beauty is in the eye of the beholder. His love at first sight is a collection of three dilapidated buildings — holes in the roof, charred cross-beams from a structure fire, questionable floorboards — near the train tracks in downtown Fountain Inn.

Beal’s vision for the plot, just shy of one acre, includes a brewery, food court, open-air indoor seating and an outdoor entertainment area with large TV screens and room to roam. He’s probably two years away from that dream being reality, but it was one worth chasing from the moment he saw the mill.

“We drove by this and I just became enamored with it,” Beal told The News.

The 80-year-old buildings have seen a grain heyday with trucks lining the street waiting their turn to unload and now sit in a state of disrepair, the victims of mother nature, fire and neglect. A slightly younger warehouse recently used as an auto repair shop has been maintained and poses the fewest problems.

Sneak peek: Here's the first look at a former flour mill as a brewery and restaurants in Fountain Inn

Its proximity to downtown, alignment with the city’s vision of expanding downtown and history as a town landmark made it an easy purchase for Beal. His instinct that the center building — which still houses milling equipment — would be razed may have been wrong.

Despite holes in the roof, visible burns on its wooden beams and floors that can’t always be trusted, structural engineers think it can be saved. If that’s the case, it’ll be an entry point for the brewery and restaurant complex — The Mill at Fountain Inn — Beal is dreaming up.

“My goal is to keep as much of the historical feel as building as I can,” he said. “I want to keep a lot of what history was here and what it will always be.”

The future of Fountain Inn Milling Company

Exterior metal siding will be replaced, hardwood flooring repurposed and roofs repaired. It will be nearly a bare bones operation for the building facing Ellison Street most recently used as an auction house. New electric, HVAC and plumbing are in order.

Beal plans for that building to house the brewery, though he’s not naming any names on what local name may take over. The auction house is lined up to have some seating and a bar area in addition to the brewery. The third floor will likely disappear, exposing ceiling beams to make the second floor feel more open.

The center building — the one in the worst shape — will be a focal point for 100 Ellison St., if it can be saved. For the mill building, Beal envisions keeping and possibly restoring original equipment, enlarged photos of the mill’s past and garage doors that open on nearly every side to allow easy access to dinner and drinks.

“I envision this being like an entryway into the green space,” he said. “It’ll be an homage to the history. I want to go to the museum to get a bunch of old pictures of the mill and put them all in here and have the equipment kind of be part of the story and part of what we're trying to build.”

Though it’s caught fire twice, it’s got a lot of life left, Beal said.

To the mill’s right will be a food court, a similar setup to the Commons or Warehouse at Vaughn’s. Multiple vendors with a variety of cooking styles and cuisines are lined up in Beal’s head, though there are no restaurants set in stone.

The city recently approved the property’s rezoning, the second step for Beal in moving forward with reconstruction and making the vision come to life. It won’t be a quick process, though.

“The goal is to be open in fall 2023,” he said, “but there are a lot of factors with supply, labor and preserving the history. I’d rather get it right than to rush.”

— Caitlin Herrington, local reporter and lover of alliteration, covers government and growth in the Golden Strip. Get in touch with her at cherrington@greenvillenews.com, support her work by subscribing and follow her on Twitter @GVLnewsCat.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Fountain Inn flour mill plans for brewery, restaurants to open 2023