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Chatham Mill

Project Impacts

Back to Project Details: Chatham Mill
Impact on
LMI Individuals
& Communities

  • Provides community services to an area of extreme poverty
  • Provides classroom and gathering space, with advanced AV
  • Executes food and resource drives for donation to local community
Minorities make up 53.8% of residents in the tract and 63.8% within a one-mile radius of the project. The census tract has a 62.4% poverty and 26.5%10 unemployment compared to 4.3%11 in Winston-Salem and 4.5%12 in the state of North Carolina. Both the poverty and unemployment rates are well in excess of the national average. More broadly, of the 14,000 people who live within a 1-mile radius of the Chatham Mill Phase II site, 7.8% are unemployed (compared to the national average of 3.8%)13 and 18.4% of households with children are in poverty (compared to the national average of 3.9%.14 Through use of the additional capacity and resources from this project, Two Cities Church will initiate community development and service programs to positively impact these underserved LMI communities.

Programs include but are not limited to:
  • Working with local youth
  • Neighborhood restoration and beautification
  • Community classes and learning opportunities
  • Food and medical resource drives

Economic Development Impacts

  • Furthers the injection of resources into the neighborhood 
  • Creates workforce housing thus spurring further development
  • Rehabilitation of vacant blighted sites boosts the area economy

The overall Chatham Mill project is creating over 200 units of workforce and affordable housing. This housing will encourage additional development as more residents move into the area to support local businesses and create demand for other services.

Additionally, the Chatham Mill Phase II project included the rehabilitation of two warehouses that now house TCC, a church, thus anchoring redevelopment and providing an economic boost to the area. TCC has several core services to support the surrounding community including providing education and job readiness to individuals. One of the redeveloped 7,800 SF buildings in Phase II will contain 10 flexible classrooms to benefit these core social and training mandates.

AREA REVITALIZATION

Chatham Mill is located within the Winston-Salem Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA). The objectives of an NRSA are directed at a federal level (through HUD) and require that the strategy developed by the City of Winston-Salem provide for economic empowerment of the LMI residents and achieve substantial improvement. This includes housing, job creation and adding to the aggregate public benefit in its delineated boundary.16 The renovations at Chatham Mill directly align with the goals of the NRSA program. The project transforms an abandoned mill into a permanent home for Two Cities Church, provides housing units, and adds to the aggregate public benefit through the removal of blighted former industrial stock.

Chatham Mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been vacant and abandoned since 2006. The Mill’s history began in 1907, originally as the Chatham Manufacturing Company, an American textile manufacturer producing blankets and home goods. Over the years, it changed ownership and manufacturing focus, until finally shuttering its plant in 1966. The threephase development plan implemented by TXMO, LLC will completely transform the entirety of the Brownfield site.

Chatham Mill is also in an area designated by North Carolina as an Urban Progress Zone (UPZ)—defined as a project that gives state tax credits to new and existing companies to increase jobs and investment in distressed areas throughout the state. This project supports the UPZ’s goals by creating housing for local populations and revitalizing a neglected site.

ALIGNMENT WITH LOCAL
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Chatham Mill is well-aligned with the County of Forsyth and the City of Winston-Salem’s economic development plans. The project is part of Forsyth County’s Legacy 2030 plan which serves as the framework on which all area plans are built. The plan’s objectives are to provide a diversity of residential options, improve accessibility and livability, and help the community thrive in the new economy. Chatham provides much greater diversity of residential options and will help this community thrive by removing one of its core sources of blight—a vacant unused property.

It also fits under the North Central Winston-Salem Area Plan, which is directed by the Legacy 2030’s Growth Management Plan and specifically focuses on redeveloping former industrial sites for the benefit of the community. The goals of the plan are to develop walkable neighborhoods and revitalization of older/underutilized commercial and industrial sites. Chatham Mill meets these goals because it is in this designated region and all of the workforce and affordable housing residents have an improved situation due to this redevelopment.

Chatham Mill supports these defined recommendations presented in the land use and
development planning policies expressed in the North Central Winston-Salem Area Plan guidelines:

Developing walkable neighborhoods and creating a network of bikeways, sidewalks and greenways will provide for needed transportation choices for all segments of the population; 
Chatham Mill creates on-site, and connected,
biking and walking paths

Site design should incorporate pedestrian-oriented design elements such as street trees, building located close to the street, building façade articulation and variety, and transparent windows and doors;
 Chatham Mills is a transit-oriented development project since it is located along a City bus line

The mix, type, and design of development should facilitate walking and bicycling where feasible;
Chatham Mill is a mixed-use development that utilizes a cluster of buildings for housing and incorporates biking and walking paths

The revitalization of older/underutilized commercial and industrial sites and buildings is encouraged.
Chatham Mills revitalizes multiple historic commercial
buildings to create housing and community space.

Lastly, Chatham Mill aligns with the Winston-Salem Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (“WinstonSalem NRSA”), which is intended to address economic development and housing needs within economically disadvantaged communities. The Chatham Mill redevelopment is called out within the WinstonSalem NRSA, with the ASREF investment achieving the expressed goals of expanding economic opportunities, especially in available idle or vacant properties, and rehabilitating units at a lower average cost before site deterioration makes rehabilitation infeasible and costlier.
Community and
Social Impacts
  • Volunteer time and resources to underserved, local organizations
  • Connects the neighborhood to volunteer organizations in the area
  • Hosts community-building events and social gatherings
  • Facilitates community classes and education
  • Volunteers to neighborhood beautification and rehabilitation
  • Provides gallery and performance space for local art community
By focusing on the core concerns of LMI individuals —education, childcare, family health, community restoration, homelessness and job-readiness—Two Cities seeks to strengthen the surrounding LMI communities. The results of these efforts can have far-reaching impacts on the health and vibrancy of the people it intends to serve.  The establishment of a permanent home for Two Cities Church at Chatham Mill has catalyzed growth and improved quality of life in this community. 

“We’re grateful to ASREF for being a part of making our partnerships in the Northwest Boulevard community of Winston-Salem a possibility.”

David Vogel, TCC Executive Pastor 
Launched in 2017, Two Cities Church (or “TCC”) follows a mission to, “Love God, Love Each Other and Love the World.” TCC has grown rapidly and now has 550-600 members with a regular weekly attendance of 1,100. TCC organizes smaller organizations called community groups. The Church just launched its 46th community group and each group has a leader who organizes 15-20 adults and each group works with a classroom, teacher or administrator to achieve tailored goals. These goals often include fostering children, providing education services and helping the homeless throughout the City. TCC’s building has provided these community groups with a central location to support continued growth. The groups collaborate extensively and directly with existing church support partners in the areas in order to ask the question of “what is needed most?” These groups aim to perform real, concrete change and are integrating with existing service providers, such as Goler AME Zion Church, an African American church, to provide education services to children grades K-12. Goler AME has been in the community for 100 years. The main focus of the TCC and Goler AME partnership is on being able to ensure that the most needed, impactful community programs become long-term and not shortterm events that cannot rise to meet the greatest need.

“We have had an incredible eight months 
in the community on property. We have 
developed deep relationships with educational community leaders and have honed our effortson Cook Literacy School as well asCrossnore Children’s Home.”

David Vogel, TCC Executive Pastor 

The first building is located at 854 W. Northwest Boulevard.

The second building is immediately next door at 870 W Northwest Boulevard: 

A core purpose of Two Cities Church’s new facility is to administer all the volunteer community services TCC was previously active in, as well as the new activities. TCC has made the tutoring and mentoring of at-risk youth and other assistance for the local elementary school and the children’s home (detailed below) its two top community service activities. TCC’s goal is to elevate the volunteer hours of its members from approximately 600 hundred hours a year to more than 1,500 per year. Having permanent space from which to administer and organize these many volunteer efforts has enabled TCC to more actively improve and engage its local community.

TCC is willing to learn as they go, and as conversations continue, they will better understand the needs of these organizations and communities and work to build trust with established leadership and members. Within easy walking distance of Boston Thurmond and Kimberly Park Neighborhoods, Two Cities Church will have countless opportunities to help meet the needs of adjacent LMI neighborhoods, including beautification, community building, and restoration through Habitat for Humanity.

TCC will most greatly impact the area with its planned social services and community programs. TCC has targeted efforts at the nearby Cook Elementary School and the Crossnore School and Children’s Home, which stand to benefit from the injection of resources.

Having permanent space from which to administer and organize these many volunteer efforts has enabled TCC to more actively improve its local community.

Cook Elementary has been classified as the lowest performing elementary school in the state of North Carolina. Cook is located in a Low-Income census tract wherein 44.8% of inhabitants earn income below the poverty line. The entire school district from which Cook draws students is LMI. Additionally, it has been identified as a “priority school” by the Federal Government (meaning that it fits the criteria as one of the lowest performing five percent of Title I schools in the nation). TCC, as is its practice, has asked “how can our community groups be most beneficial to helping the children.” 
Throughout 2018 and 2019, TCC has focused its community service programs on the Cook literacy school. The Church renovated the school’s storeroom and completed several beautification and cleaning projects on the campus in the last year. It also started and operates a watchdog program on campus. The church also served the staff and teachers by hosting a Christmas party for them in 2018 and continues to support them by regularly giving out gift cards to teachers. TCC’s plan for the coming years is to provide services for the school is to provide further volunteer assistance to teachers and administrators and provide school supplies and food for students in need. 
Crossnore offers group residential foster care in homes on campus, community-based foster care and adoption services, outpatient therapy services, and educational services to many children from the Piedmont and Western North Carolina areas.
In 2019, TCC purchased lunches for the entire campus during the week of spring break to meet the needs of the school’s students. Additionally, TCC is in communication with the Crossnore administration to develop a plan for the partnership going forward.

Love Out Loud is committed to helping transform the City by connecting and mobilizing people, organization, and resources.

Over 50 churches partner with other local community organizations (120 nonprofits and scores of marketplace and civic leaders) for the benefit of this City, including supporting LMI individuals and their various needs.

In September 2019, TCC participated in a City-wide initiative organized by Love Out Loud called Crash the Dash. Fourteen churches representing seven denominations participated in thirteen service projects over the weekend. Five of the churches participated in a food drive that donated over 9,200 pounds of food to Crisis Control for an estimated retail value of over $20,000, a 3,000 pound increase in donations from the last year of the program. 
Further, Two Cities Church financially supports local organizations and utilizes its community groups to partner with these organizations to meet the needs of the community. TCC Executive Pastor David Vogel said this decentralized structure of community groups allows them to more closely work with these organizations and effectively help each. 

Such organizations include:
Winston-Salem Rescue Mission provides a wide variety of services to the surrounding community of LMI census tracts, including short and long-term addiction and recovery programs, food and clothing distribution, occupational education, dental care, and medical care. In 2018, Two Cities provided over 400 hours of volunteer services for Winston-Salem Rescue Mission. 
The Bethesda Center works to reduce homelessness in the community by providing temporary shelter and support services. 
Samaritan Ministries functions as Winston-Salem’s only soup kitchen.  Samaritan Ministries also provides shelter for the homeless, offers programs for substance abuse recovery, and facilitates programs for homeless and mentally disordered adults to help them acquire permanent housing, adequate healthcare, and income. 

OTHER FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS
TCC’s desire is to partner with other faith-based, multicultural organizations that are rooted in the community. 
One example is Goler Memorial AME Zion Church, one of the most historic and active African-American churches in Winston-Salem. Throughout 2018, TCC was able to partner with Goler Memorial as it shared a worship space. Additionally, TCC invested $40,000 into their ministry to enhance their facilities to better minister to their community. 

Environmental
Impacts

  • Adaptive Reuse of a National Historical Place (Register No. 11000509)
  • Build upon Brownfield remediation of Phase I site
  • Transit-Oriented Development: Located along City bus line
  • On-site and connected biking and walking paths
  • Takes optional steps to remediate the site and reduce exposure to contaminants
FACILITY SUSTAINABILITY CHARACTERISTICS

The building was designed to create a more productive and environmentally-friendly surrounding. Table 5 is an overview of the project’s sustainable features. 
RESOURCE CONSUMPTION, COSTS AND EMISSIONS
ASREF’s investment builds upon the Brownfield remediation performed during Phase I of the Chatham Mill rehabilitation. Chatham Mill Phase II is a restoration of an existing building, which makes it inherently an environmentally sensitive project. Restoration requires the developer use less material and energy resources to construct the project and creates much less construction and demolition waste.19 In an effort to reduce tenant emissions, the developer has stated its commitment to maximize public transit ridership and decrease reliance on automobiles. The site will also offer bike and walking paths, providing an additional eco-friendly option for attendees to come and go.
BROWNFIELD CLEANUP

Chatham Mill represents a major environmental cleanup effort that transformed a severely contaminated industrial site (under a Brownfield agreement with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality) into a mixed-use project offering workforce housing and affordable housing. 

North Carolina has suffered from the dramatic shift of textile manufacturing to China and other countries. Between 1997 and 2002, 236 textile plants shut down in North and South Carolina. These shutdowns have caused great harm to their local communities not only due to the loss of jobs, but also due to the deterioration of the communities as these properties often sit vacant for decades. This site had been vacant since 2006. Not only was it a tremendous eyesore, but it is also a detractor holding back the community and economic development in this part of town. The cleanup of this Brownfield site and the transformation of the numerous buildings in phase I, II, and III is completely transforming this part of Winston-Salem.

Phase I:

The former home of several industrial uses, the Phase I site contained contaminants that undermined the redevelopment of the site, including: historic use of chlorinated solvents (associated with a dry-cleaning operation) and petroleum on properties to the north, including the B&R automotive repair location (855 and 857 Northwest Boulevard); historic spray painting and storage of chlorinated solvents at 875 Northwest Boulevard; and the documented petroleum release at the Roy F. Musten Automotive Inc. facility (803 W Northwest Boulevard). The risk associated with past activities at these sites included potential discharge of volatile organic compounds. As a result, the developers entered into a Brownfield agreement with the state of North Carolina. Prior to occupancy of the Phase I and Phase II redevelopments, the developer agreed to a LURA mandating installation of a vapor intrusion mitigation systems (VIMS).

Phase II:
Though the Phase II site has been deemed safe for its intended use, it will, nevertheless, be paved, further mitigating any potential contaminant risk that might exist from past industrial uses. 
Phase III:

The bridge loan on the Mill Building, which will be redeveloped in Phase III in the future, enables the repositioning of this long-abandoned mill building (800 Chatham Road) into workforce housing. This places a building back into productive use, saving on environmental resources. At this time, the 800 Chatham Road property complies with the North Carolina Brownfield Agreement.

The owners and property manager are committed to maintaining compliance which is largely confined to maintaining the effective operation of the VIMS.

 
The Chatham Mill site is supported by public transit. Located on Route 90 of the Winston-Salem transit system, congregants and visitors will have easy access to and from downtown, schools, and shopping. The site is just 0.25 miles from the Thurmond/Haywood bus stop, as illustrated on the map above. The developer has stated its commitment to maximize public transit ridership and decrease reliance on the automobile. The site will also offer bike and walking paths, providing an additional eco-friendly option for attendees to come and go.