New Bedford, Massachusetts- City officials today announced a development team has secured the development rights to Cliftex Mill #1, a key historic mill property located in the city's Upper Harbor Development District.
 
Keith Properties, Inc., in partnership with Winn Development will redevelop the Cliftex Mill at 194 Riverside Avenue in New Bedford Massachusetts. Keith Properties and Winn Development have developed and managed many projects throughout the region including Whaler's Place at 90 Riverside Avenue in New Bedford. The developers have also enlisted the expertise of, The Architectural Team, a firm keenly attuned to historic standards and requirements for adaptive reuse. Together, this team of experts will preserve the mill building's historic character, utilizing many of the building's original design elements.
 
"What is currently an eyesore will become a beautifully renovated, affordable residential rental development. This transformation will result in an affordable housing development of equal quality to the award winning Whaler's Place." said Mayor Scott W. Lang
 
Mayor Lang also said, "New Bedford's mill buildings are tremendous historic assets that can be converted for 21st century use.  We are familiar with the developers work as displayed in projects like Whaler's Place, and there is no doubt that the Cliftex redevelopment project will be another great success.  Going forward, The Mill Inventory, developed by the City as part of the ongoing Master Plan process, will continue to guide New Bedford in developing strategies for these very important assets." 
 
The New Bedford Economic Development Council (NBEDC) will provide gap financing for the rehabilitation and adaptive use of approximately 240,000 square feet of the mill redevelopment project. 
 
Matthew A. Morrissey, Executive Director of the NBEDC said, “The efforts of many parties are responsible for getting this project together. The rehabilitation of the former Cliftex Mill will ensure that this piece of the city's history will continue on in another, productive use and adding to the tax base
 
The historic Cliftex Mill is located in the Upper Harbor Redevelopment District, and has over the past several years been vastly underutilized and a blight on the neighborhood.  As has been the fate of several such plants in the immediate vicinity, the demolition of this structure has been pressured until the agreement was reached with Keith Properties and Winn Development. 
 
Keith Properties and Winn Development plan to invest more than $30,000,000 in the Cliftex redevelopment project, demonstrating. Applications for State and Federal tax credit funding will be made this fall and construction will begin in 2009.

Elizabeth Treadup (Mayor's Office)

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