The White Mill roars back to life
For most of the 20th century, the massive White Mill towered over the Dan River, a giant among the oversized industrial buildings in the historic, commercial and cultural center of Danville.
The White Mill — like all of Dan River Inc.’s manufacturing in this community — eventually went silent. But in 2004, the building suffered an additional indignity when tornado winds bent the iconic “Home of Dan River Fabrics” sign mounted on its roof.
Over the next three years, the White Mill with its broken sign became a public symbol of Danville’s decline.
But that wasn’t the whole story.
In March 2008, work started to give the White Mill new life in this new century. That new life will eventually mean 400 good-paying high-tech jobs in the former mill building.
About $400 million will be spent to turn the former No. 8 Mill into a technology center that will be marketed to information technology clients, including companies doing software development, technology support and secure data storage.
The White Mill was “built stoutly” and is “well suited to be used for that purpose,” said John Gieser of the mergers, acquisitions and real estate section of Gibbs International in Spartanburg, S.C., which bought the building.
The one question that wasn’t answered Friday was who will eventually occupy the White Mill. Gieser made a point of saying that the stories circulating in the community that named the future occupant were wrong.
But the real story was what set the White Mill apart — the fiber optic connection that runs in front of the building and will give technology companies the connectivity they need. That fiber optic line was made possible by years of work to give Danville — and all of Southside Virginia — a faster connection to the Internet.
“It’s takes a team effort to make good things happen in the city of Danville,” Mayor Sherman Saunders said during the announcement Friday afternoon in a packed City Council chambers. That team included the Tobacco Commission, the Danville Regional Foundation and the state and federal governments.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, the work to transform the White Mill will mean construction jobs as the building’s new owners renovate and repair the structure. The project will include the removal of lead paint and asbestos.
The White Mill may have spent most of its life as a hulking example of the Industrial Age technology. But the Internet connectivity that runs in front of the White Mill will give it new life in the 21st century. We may not know exactly who will one day occupy the White Mill, but we know why they’ll be there.
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Reader Reactions
Dear Oops:
I have read with interest many of your reader posts to the various stories related to the White Mill project. Unfortunately, I am left with a somewhat negative impression based on the tone and content of your comments. If I have the wrong impressions, please correct me with a positive reader posting related to this project.
With respect to the Clayton, GA former Fruit of the Looms property acquisitions, this plant had been shut down for almost 2 years with all 930 jobs having been eliminated, and ...
1. Yes, we did out bid Jackson Paper for, and purchase, the former Fruit of the Loom plant in August 2007.
2. Yes, we did spend 3 - 6 months subdividing the property, at a significant out of pocket cost, to allow for the acquisition, upgrade and operation of the wood fired power plant by Multitrade Biomass Holdings (based in Virginia) so they could increase the generating capacity and generate up to 20 MW of environmentally friendly green power via renewable resources with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
3. Yes, we did provide Rabun County, GA with the opportunity to acquire the right to withdraw 4 million gallons per day of high quality raw water from the Little Tennessee River and the waste treatment facility that were a part of the Fruit of the Loom plant so they could upgrade the water filtration facility and the waste treatment facility to provide water and sewer services to the plant and the surrounding area to spur economic development. This was particularly important to Rabun County due to the severe drought that continues to plague the State of Georgia, and the strain on the State’s water resources.
4. Yes, we did provide the Rabun County Economic Development Authority with the opportunity to acquire all of the surplus land surrounding the plant for future economic development purposes.
5. No, we have not yet been successful in attracting tenants to this 1,000,000 square foot building, although we continue to work with the Economic Development Authority toward that end. Of course, there is no broad band fiber running in front of the Fruit of the Loom plant, either, as is the case at the White Mill.
6. With respect to Jackson Paper project, and the 280 high paying jobs that were quoted in the article, after we closed on this purchase of the former Fruit of the Loom property, it is my understanding that Jackson Paper considered alternative sites for their project, with similar incentives. To date, I am not aware that Jackson Paper has proceeded with their project.
7. With respect to the Dan River Schoolfield Complex as you quoted in your reader post, I as said in a prior post to a different article, we purchased the Schoolfield property and equipment along with equipment at several other Dan River sites in Danville, VA, in addition to property and equipment in North Carolina, in March 2006 and sold the Schoolfield property only in June 2007, so I am not sure where you are getting your information that “they have been in Danville with ownership of the DRM-Schoolfield complex for about 3 years”. We have not owned the Schoolfield property since June 2007, and we have had no interest in the property with the exception of the storage of equipment in 2 of the buildings through December 2010, since that time. The owner of the Schoolfield Complex since June 2007 has been Old Mississippi Brick Company through their holding company, OMBC Schoolfield Buildings, LLC.
Should you need further clarification on anything related to our White Mill project, please feed free to call me directly, rather than continuing with reader posts.
Thanks.
E-mail: jgieser@gibbsinternational.com
Office: 864-439-8752
Do NOT read the following article of the Clayton GA Tribune dated 1 Nov 2007 if you want a “glimpse” of the record of Gibbs Int & Mr Giesner:
http://www.theclaytontribune.com/articles/2007/11/01/news/news04.txt
Of course they have been in Danville with ownership of the DRM-Schoolfield complex for about 3 years. So…
Thank you Mr. Geiser for your openess and desire to move the White Mill and Danville forward. I am sure you will find the citizens of our City to be energetic and committed to make your and our) investment a long term success. As our economy has been through quite a transition, it may take time to lose some of the negativity, but the majority of us ready, willing and anxious to move forward.
To: The Danville Register Bee Editorial Staff
What a wonderful and thoughtful editorial about our recently announced White Mill project. Yes, it has been, and will be, an ongoing team effort to include all of the citizens of Danville, VA pulling together in the same direction with a common goal.
You “hit the nail squarely on the head”. It is not a question of which of our clients will occupy space in the White Mill. Rather, it is a question of why our clients will want to occupy space in the White Mill and when. Simple put, the answer is that our clients will have something at the White Mill that few other buildings in the area can offer; that being a very sound and secure structure with high speed, high volume and high band width data access to the world via fiber optics, at the front door step. That capability opens a whole new frontier of opportunities; from software development to corporate data processing operations; from secure records storage and retrieval to data processing disaster recovery; from third party suppliers of data processing services to data processing technical support. The potential opportunities are endless. Any company, user or industry that is data dependent and data driven is a potential client for space at the White Mill. Danville, VA is extremely fortunate that its local and state political and economic leaders had the foresight to understand the potential benefit and allocate the necessary funding to bring high speed broadband fiber through the middle of town. It certainly makes for a bright future for everyone involved.
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