Prattville's historic gin shop reborn as loft apartments after $37M, eight-year project
PRATTVILLE ‒ After an eight-year, $37 million effort, the work to preserve Prattville’s iconic downtown landmark is a wrap.
The Mill at Prattville now has 127 loft-style apartments across five historic, masonry buildings that are known to locals as “The Gin Shop," what was once Daniel Pratt’s industrial complex.
The buildings at the foot of Main Street, along the banks of Autauga Creek, are why Prattville is here. Daniel Pratt founded the town that now bears his name in 1839. He picked the fall line of the creek to power his industrial empire, which began making cotton gins, and to support his town. He also added a cotton-spinning plant, a lumberyard, a foundry and other industries on the site.
Now, the complex has been reborn. Work on the final two buildings was completed the last week in December, and more than 100 apartments have been leased.
The response has been “amazing,” said Kea Calame, senior vice-president of asset management for Envolve Communities, the Montgomery-based realty firm doing the work. Calame has shepherded the project since it started in 2015.
“From the very beginning, we did not just want to be ‘the apartments across the creek,'” she said. “We wanted to be a part of Prattville and a part of downtown Prattville. We wanted to build a community, and that’s what we have done.”
The project is a lot more than just another apartment project. It’s been credited for saving a large chunk of the city’s history and kicking off another round of downtown revitalization.
The buildings may be historic, but the apartments will offer modern conveniences. There are quartz countertops, units with 25-foot ceilings and, in an homage to its industrial roots, the buildings have plenty of exposed hand-made brick, massive timbers and steel beams.
The 1912 building offers a first-floor common area with fitness room, mailboxes, a package delivery room and a kitchen, of all things "in case you invite 20 people over and need a little more room,” said Ashley Stoddart, community manager, in an earlier interview.
Envolve, formerly LEDIC Realty, originally planned to build about 150 apartments on the property. The lower number reflects design changes, Calame said.
“We went with what the buildings gave us,” she said, in an earlier interview.
There are one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, each with a unique floor plan.
The massive heart of the complex beat for well over a century before it's current rebirth. At its peak the gin shop was the largest cotton gin factory in the world. During World War II it made 5-inch gun mounts for the Navy and casings for 250-pound bombs. Recently found files also show that it built high-pressure steam and water pipes for the Manhattan Project, the massive nationwide effort to build the atomic bomb.
Local production ceased in 2012 when Continental Eagle shipped the work overseas.
The Historic Prattville Redevelopment Authority bought the sprawling site during as mortgage foreclosure sale on the grounds of the Autauga County Courthouse for $1.7 million on Dec. 18, 2014.
The preservation group began to market the property almost immediately.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: The Mill at Prattville's historic downtown gin shop wraps construction
