July 6, 2007

Restoration

Mill given second chance as regional arts centre

DAN O’REILLY

correspondent

After years of neglect and abandonment, a remnant of Ontario’s once proud 19th Century industrial mill heritage is being given a new life.

Nestled on the banks of Shaw’s Creek in the Village of Alton, near Caledon, the Alton Mill is in the process of being converted into a regional arts centre.

“It won’t be a condo and it won’t be a power centre,” says Jeremy Grant, vice president of planning and development with the family-owned Seaton Group, the developer spearheading the $5-million project.

The renovation of the 23,000-square-foot stone building will result in the creation of a mix of art studios, workshops, professional offices, heritage exhibits and a restaurant overlooking a pond that once supplied the power to operate the mill, says Grant.

Designated as a heritage structure by the Town of Caledon and listed on the federal government’s Canadian Register of Historic Places, the mill consists of the main two-storey mill building, a three-storey water tower, a brick chimney stack, the remains of a number of accessory buildings and the adjacent mill pond and dam.

Built between 1881 and 1913, the mill was the longest running water-powered mill on the upper Credit River system, remaining in operation until 1982.

It was one of the few surviving mills in the Greater Toronto Area, says Grant, whose family has owned the 3.4-acre property since the late 1980s.

“We couldn’t sell it and we couldn’t lease it,” says Grant, describing the mill’s more recent history, which included failed attempts to develop it with potential partners.

In the late 1990s, however, the developer reached an agreement with a local woodworker who carried out almost landlord-type improvements in return for rent credits on space he leased in the building, says Grant.

That was the genesis for a development plan to transform the mill into an arts centre in co-operation with the Headwaters Arts Festival, a non-profit group that will manage the studio part of the building.

Securing that co-operation was a requirement for a $774,000-Ontario government grant under its Rural Economic Development (RED) program. The developer is also eligible for a $1.7-million grant from the federal government’s Commercial Heritage Properties Incentive (CHPI) Fund.

“It (the project) wouldn’t have been feasible without that funding. But we have to spend our money first and then be reimbursed. Both programs have strict eligibility requirements.”

A project team of consultants with extensive heritage restoration experience has been assembled by the developer. Catherine Nasmith, past chair of the Toronto Preservation Board, is the architect. Structural engineers are Tacoma Steckley Engineers. Construction manager is J.D. Strachan Construction Limited.

The King City contractor recently completed a small Phase 1 renovation of the more useable east section of the mill, where several professional artists and crafts people have leased space for a few years. It’s now embarking on the really tough Phase 2 restoration of the two floors and the basement in the rest of the building.

The water that powered the mill for so many decades is the source of major structural damage in those areas, says principal James Strachan.

A major portion of the project will include repairing several columns and a large section of the south wall adjacent to Shaw’s Creek. Other work will be repairing many of the original windows and then installing sull sashes that will increase energy efficiency, while maintaining the original look of the windows.

However, base building mechanical and electrical systems have to be installed and some special components purchased. An example is the basement, where the slab will be lowered by six inches to make room for a restaurant.

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