NMTCs, HTCs Help Ongoing Transformation of Historic South Carolina Textile Mill
Thermo Fisher Scientific to Expand Greenville Facility for Sterile Drug Product Development and Commercial Manufacturing
Rendering of Greenville, North Carolina expansion provided by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, is expanding its site in Greenville for sterile drug product development and commercial manufacturing of critical medicines, therapies, and vaccines. As part of the approximate $500 million investment in Greenville, about 500 new roles will be hired over next 12 to 24 months. These jobs will add to its existing workforce of more than 1,500 employees.
“We are excited by the news of Thermo Fisher’s investment in their Greenville facility which further strengthens Greenville and Pitt County’s legacy as a hub of pharmaceutical production,” said Steve Weathers, president and CEO of the Greenville – Eastern North Carolina (ENC) Alliance. “Our area has more than 2,000 people working in pharmaceutical manufacturing occupations which is a concentration 12 times higher than the United States.”
The 1.5 million-square-foot Greenville site is a multi-purpose pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging campus with 29 buildings on 640 acres. The expansion will include a new stand alone 130,000-square-foot facility with two live virus filling lines which will be operational in 2022.
“This announcement shows the strength of Thermo Fisher in the sterile drug development sector and will augment what is already a world class facility. The company’s investments will result in a large number of new, well-paying jobs for citizens of Greenville, Pitt County, and eastern North Carolina,” said Greenville – ENC Alliance vice president of business development, Brad Hufford.
The site will also add six new lines in 2021 and 2022, including commercial scale liquid filling lines and a development line for liquid and lyophilized (freeze-dried) drug products.
The Greenville – ENC Alliance is actively working with various local partners to help develop the future workforce to meet the needs of Thermo Fisher and other regional pharmaceutical companies. Partners include the City of Greenville, Pitt County, NC Biotechnology Center, Pitt County Public Schools, Pitt Community College, and East Carolina University.
Read more at ENC Alliance
Judson Mill to House Music Venue, Community Services
West Greenville’s 800,000-square-foot historical redevelopment project is set to receive $16.5 million in New Markets Tax Credits for the completion of its $19 million commercial phase, in conjunction with historic and S.C. mill tax credits.
The site’s 1950-era 107,269-square-foot warehouse will house Feed and Seed, a local food security nonprofit, and the YMCA of Greenville, which will extend over 13,000 square feet of the building. Other tenants will include a 12,000-square-foot music venue and 30,000-square-foot Rockoon Climbing Gym and equipment store according to developer Tom Taft, Sr. of Taft Family Ventures, based in Greenville, N.C. Taft is partnering with Belmont Sayre Holdings in Chapel Hill, N.C., on the project.
Taft said the yet-to-be announced music venue will draw both regional and national groups to the area.
“It’s really a nice mix of community service and recreational activities, quite frankly,” Taft said. “We’re really excited about it. It’s going to be a major step forward for the entire project.”
The second phase follows the ongoing redevelopment of the roughly 100-year-old former Milliken mill into 204 loft-style market-rate and workforce multi-family apartments expected to reach completion in February or March 2021, Taft said, adding that the project was about 65% complete. Future plans will open up space for additional office, residential and retail tenants including potentially 30,000-square-feet of available space in the warehouse site. Three additional buildings on site – part of the project’s third phase – are the target sites for additional tenants.
Eventually, Taft also hopes to transform the project’s mill smokestack power house – a community landmark – into an “Class A” upscale restaurant within the next year.
Read more at GSA Business Report
The Innovate Fund Provides $16.5 Million in New Markets Tax Credits for Judson Mill Redevelopment in Greenville, SC
Investment will support 1,180 low-income people in an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Distressed Area in Greenville County.
The Innovate Fund, a Community Development Entity (CDE) managed by Tax Advantage Group by Cherry Bekaert and Greenville Local Development Corporation in Greenville, S.C., has allocated $16.5 million in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to complete the $19 million commercial phase of the greater Judson Mill redevelopment, a 35-acre, 800,000 square foot historic campus, located in West Greenville. A joint venture between Taft Family Ventures of Greenville, NC and Belmont Sayre Holdings of Chapel Hill, NC is spearheading the renovation of a 107,269 square foot warehouse building into a mixed-use building to include non-profit, health and wellness, and retail uses.
Feed & Seed, a local non-profit with a mission to increase food security for all South Carolinians, will occupy over 18,000 square feet of space, providing them a permanent home for the first time in an HFFI designated food desert. The YMCA of Greenville will operate an almost 13,000 square foot fitness center, providing the neighborhood with its only wellness facility open to the public. Tenants of the project have committed to providing reduced rates for low-income residents, free demonstration and training programs for area residents, and community gardens and produce stands at below market rates. In total, the project will support 2,376 people annually with access to community goods and services, in an area that exhibits a poverty rate of 44.2%.
"Both CommunityWorks and The Innovate Fund have been great partners, working with us and engaging the community since 2017 to make sure this project was ultimately successful," said Kenneth Reiter, President and Founder of Belmont Sayre Holdings. Thomas F. Taft, Jr., Principal of Taft Family Ventures also noted the importance of the NMTC allocation provided by The Innovate Fund saying, "The financial benefit to the project from the NMTC allocation not only helped the project's overall feasibility, but it allowed us to offer commercial space to several local and non-profit tenants at significantly reduced rental rates which helped us bring in the right tenant mix for this historic neighborhood."
Tammie Hoy Hawkins, CEO at CommunityWorks, and an Advisory Board member of The Innovate Fund, said, "This project brings The Innovate Fund's investment in West Greenville to $46.7 million, providing both quality jobs and community services to an area of Greenville that has not seen the same resurgence as downtown Greenville. It's exactly for this reason that both CommunityWorks and The Innovate Fund have prioritized investment in this low-income community."
The completion of the project will help further catalyze the $125+ million redevelopment of the remainder of the campus into a mix of residential, commercial office, and retail uses noted Whitney Ferguson, Program Manager for The Innovate Fund, adding that The Innovate Fund's investment would not be possible without both the continuing support from South Carolina's legislative delegation, including U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and U.S. Congressman William Timmons, and The Innovate Fund's financial partners, including CommunityWorks, Reinvestment Fund, Foss & Company, and Truist Bank.
Read more at PR Newswire
Second Day of Feeding ENC Food Drive Collects More than 18,000 Meals
Donate to the Feeding ENC Food Drive
More than 18,000 additional meals were collected on the second day of the Feeding ENC Food Drive in Greenville.
In total, organizers said that more than 18,770 meals were collected Tuesday through money and food donations. This is in addition to the 31,251 meals collected on Monday.
At the drive on Tuesday, a $3,000 check was presented by Jonathan G. Taft, Principal with Taft Family Ventures, -- that check will provide up to 15,000 meals.
The Feeding ENC Food Drive will continue for the rest of the week across the area, and donations are also being accepted online.
Read more a WCTI12.com
Construction to Kick Off on Wake Forest Residential Development
Construction is set to begin soon on a new affordable senior living community in Wake Forest.
Greenville-based Taft Family Ventures plans to start work next month on Crenshaw Trace, a 68-unit apartment community situated on 4.2 acres at 987 Durham Road next to a Waffle House and a Fairfield Inn hotel.
Plans for Crenshaw Trace call for 36 one-bedroom apartments and 32 two-bedroom units available to families with at least one member who is 55 or older.
“We’re planning to start construction basically by the end of July,” says C.J. Tyree, Partner at Taft-Mills Group, a subsidiary of Taft Family Ventures. The company bought the property last October for a little over $1 million.
Tyree says typical rental rates will be in the low $800s for single-bedroom apartments and in the mid-$900s for two-bedroom units. Lower rates will be available for those in lower AMIs, he added.
Read more at Triangle Business Journal
Historic Judson Mill Transformation Remains on Track
Judson Mill has long served as a kind of monument to Greenville’s historic might in the textile industry.
The former Milliken textile mill located at 701 Easley Bridge Road, just outside downtown and West Greenville, was once the largest mill in Greenville County.
Now plans to convert the 36-acre mill into a live-work-and-play mixed-use district are well underway, with about 110 workers on-site each day, in addition to architects, engineers and others working behind the scenes or off-site.
“We couldn’t be more honored or excited to be part of working alongside a mix of talented, experienced local partners to bring Judson Mill to life for a new generation of Greenvillians,” said Thomas Taft Jr., principal at Taft Family Ventures, a major investor in the project.
The sheer scale of the project — a transformation of more than 800,000 square feet of historic buildings — is why developers are splitting the work into multiple phases.
The first phase, which began in late 2019, consists of adding 204 loft apartments in addition to amenities such as a community pool, fitness center and courtyard. The completion of the first phase is scheduled for spring of 2021.
The second phase, which is running concurrently with the construction of the apartments, will add an entertainment center headlined by the upcoming Rockoon Climbing Gym.
Additional retail will feature Feed & Seed, a nonprofit food cooperative, and an as-yet-unnamed brewery/restaurant. Developers are also considering other sports and entertainment concepts to fill out around 8 to 12 acres of retail space along Easley Bridge Road near St. Francis Downtown Hospital. Taft said the second phase should be complete by the end of 2020.
Read more at Upstate Business Journal
Taft Family Ventures 2019 Year in Review
Taft Family Ventures Continues Growing its Hometown Roots in Greenville, NC
Jonathan Taft discusses why Greenville is a great city for business.
Taft Development Group Purchases Site Near Charlotte's Park Road Shopping Center
Taft Development Group has acquired Melrose Place apartments, a community near Park Road Shopping Center, located in Charlotte.
Taft Development Group (TDG) acquired Melrose Place apartments, at 1351 E. Woodlawn Road, which is near the intersection with Park Road and is in walking distance to Park Road Shopping Center. TDG paid $8 million for the 2.9-acre site, which includes Melrose Place and four single-family residential lots on Drexel Place, according to Mecklenburg County real estate records.
The site was the subject of a rezoning that was filed in 2015 but wasn't approved by Charlotte City Council until late 2017. The new zoning allows for up to 265 apartments and eight townhouse-style units, but TDG is expecting to rezone the site again to accommodate its plans, said Mike McCarty, President of Taft Development Group.
The Park Road corridor has become an attractive submarket for investors in Charlotte, led at least in part by the redevelopment of Park Road Shopping Center by Edens, which has spent significant capital in renovations and new tenancy at the 1950s-era retail center.
The 54 apartments at Melrose Place were built in 1967. Units are in a series of low-rise, garden-style buildings and rent at rates markedly below new construction apartments in the immediate area. The property would likely qualify as naturally occurring affordable housing, as the rents are below market average but the property isn't subsidized.
McCarty said new construction is likely at least a year or, potentially, two years out and that TDG does not plan to demolish any buildings or make tenant changes until the project moves close to groundbreaking.
Elsewhere in the region, TDG is under construction on a $35 million, 250-unit multifamily development in Matthews near Family Dollar's headquarters.
Read more at Charlotte Business Journal
Taft-Mills Group Recognized as Top 50 Affordable Housing Developer
Affordable Housing Finance ranked Taft-Mills Group 44 in its list of the Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2018.
Taft-Mills Group has been ranked as one of the Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2018 by Affordable Housing Finance. TMG nearly nearly doubled the number of new units it received funding for in 2018 compared with the prior year and hopes to again double production in 2019. This marks the first time the burgeoning company has appeared on the list.
Dustin Mills, President and Co-Founder of Taft-Mills Group, said “We’ve worked hard to grow our company and it’s an absolute honor to be included in a list with so many other firms whom we both admire and aspire to be more like.”
Since its founding in 2015, Taft-Mills Group has secured funding to develop some 700 affordable housing units representing more than $87 million in total development cost.
Taft-Mills expects to nearly double their development production in the coming year through expansion efforts already underway in Maryland and Virginia.
View the list at Affordable Housing Finance
Read additional coverage at The Daily Reflector
Developer Breaks Ground on $35M Multifamily Project in Matthews
Taft Development Group is developing Residences Galleria, which will include 250 units at the Charlotte-Matthews border on Monroe Road.
Taft Development Group is developing Residences Galleria, which will include 250 units — one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments as well as two- and three-bedroom townhouses. The $35 million project is being built on a 21.5-acre site at 10252 Monroe Road, on the Charlotte-Matthews border and across the street from Family Dollar's headquarters.
Units will include interior finishes like granite countertops, plank floors and stand-up glass showers. Some of the townhouses will have garages. Community amenities include a clubhouse with a swimming pool and sundeck, yoga and fitness center, business lounge, pavilion, billiard room, and clubroom with a cooking demonstration area.
Taft Development estimates pre-leasing for Residences Galleria to commence in late 2019 and that move-ins will begin in winter 2020. Taft Construction Group is the general contractor at Residences Galleria. The property will be managed by Taft Management Group.
This is the second project in the Charlotte metro for Taft Development Group, which also developed The Indigo at Cross Creek in Indian Land. The company says it is currently planning and developing 1,300 multifamily units, 300 single-family lots and 40,000 square feet of commercial space.
Read the full article at Charlotte Business Journal
Taft Family Ventures Plans New Housing Across from Red Hat Amphitheater in Downtown Raleigh
Taft Family Ventures has expanded its Raleigh footprint with the purchase of the Owens Roofing Co. property across from the Red Hat Amphitheater in the downtown Warehouse District for $5.1 million.
TFV’s Taft Development Group recently bought the nearly one-acre site at 301 West Cabarrus Street and plans to bring a new residential and retail building in that space.
“We are excited to launch another project in Raleigh, and especially so in the Warehouse District,” said Thomas Taft Jr., principal with Taft Family Ventures. “We believe this is a high-profile site in one of the region’s most vibrant urban neighborhoods.”
Read the full article at Triangle Business Journal
Inspired by Affordable Housing
Taft-Mills Group President Dustin Mills (pictured center) discusses how he got his start in affordable housing 22 years ago, and why his team, work and industry continuously inspires him.
One of the most intriguing things about the affordable housing industry is learning how people got their start. Some people stumble upon it by chance, and some learn about the tax credit industry over time and choose to go in that direction. For Dustin Mills, President of the Taft-Mills Group in Greenville, NC, it was a little bit of both. “Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to build,” Dustin explained. “I’ve always liked the idea of constructing something that will exist for decades and knowing I was responsible for it getting there.”
Just five days after completing his undergraduate studies at Wingate University, Dustin started his first job with a small affordable housing developer. “It’s hard to find a development job after graduating from college without having any industry relevant experience. I took the first one I could find, and it happened to be with a small developer that worked with tax credits. I didn’t even know what they were when I first started working there.” Little did Dustin know, his first job out of college would begin his 22-year long career in the affordable housing industry – and counting.
During his journey, Dustin formed a strategic partnership with Tom Taft, Sr., a Greenville, NC, based developer, to form the Taft-Mills Group. For over five years now, they have developed, constructed, and managed affordable rental housing that blends seamlessly into the communities in which they are located. “I’m so proud to be part of a team that delivers affordable housing with such a high level of quality that people can’t distinguish it from market-rate housing. At the end of each day, I can go home knowing that people are being positively impacted by the work we’re doing. It’s inspiring to me.”
Another thing that’s inspiring? “Our ever-evolving industry. It has its challenges but that is what’s exciting about it. It’s possible that we’ll always have to battle to justify what we do, but affordable housing is good for the community and will continue to be a rewarding process. It’s also great to see affordable housing become a positive platform in the political world – it wasn’t always like that.”
CAHEC is proud to have wonderful partners like Dustin and the Taft-Mills Group. “CAHEC truly personifies the term ‘partner’ because no matter what challenges we face, I know I can count on them.” Dustin said. “It’s critically important in business to have a great partner, and CAHEC always ensures we find a solution that is mutually beneficial.”
Read the article at CAHEC.com
Taft Family Ventures' New Downtown Project Will Target Homebuyers
Taft Family Ventures announced it is building a 12-unit townhouse development on property bordered by Reade Circle, Dickinson Avenue and Evans Street.
Taft Family Ventures is pursuing a third housing development that is geared towards home buyers in downtown Greenville, a company spokesman announced at Wednesday’s annual Uptown Greenville State of the District event.
Unlike its previous two student housing projects in the district, Avenue Townes will be 12 for-sale townhomes. The development will be located on a lot that is bordered by Reade Circle, Dickinson Avenue and Evans Street.
“Greenville needs diversified housing in our downtown area. A for-sale product is very important to us,” said Mike McCarty, president of Taft Development Group.
McCarty described the site as a premiere location since it puts future homeowners within walking distance of restaurants, retail shops, the State Theatre, Sheppard Memorial Library and other amenities.
“Hopefully we want to inspire other developers to do more for-sale products downtown,” McCarty said.
The firm is finalizing the project’s cost, but McCarty described the structures as “brownstone-inspired, luxury” townhomes.
The units will range from 2,160 to 2,400 square feet and are expected to have three bedrooms. Some units will have rooftop decks, elevator access from the ground floor, cantilevered patios off the main living area and parking. Pre-sales will begin this spring.
McCarty also announced the company also plans to move its headquarters to a building it is renovating near the intersection of Eighth Street and Dickinson Avenue this fall.
Read the article at The Daily Reflector
Further coverage at WITN.com
14 Acres South of Downtown Raleigh Slated for New Apartments
Taft-Mills Group, an affiliate of Greenville firm Taft Family Ventures, is launching another affordable apartment project in southeast Raleigh.
A family-owned real estate company based in Greenville is expanding its Raleigh footprint with plans for a 180-unit affordable apartment complex southeast of downtown Raleigh.
Taft Family Ventures is planning to build the development on a 14-acre parcel at the intersection of I-40 and Rock Quarry Road, behind a Food Lion-anchored shopping center.
The project is being built using tax-exempt bond financing and a $2.3 million contribution from the city of Raleigh, says Dustin Mills, President of Taft-Mills Group. The group is an arm of Taft Family Ventures that focuses on affordable housing. Residents who earn 60 percent of the area’s median income will qualify to live there.
Mills expects construction to begin in a year and says the project's location is what led the firm to make the investment.
“The site is excellent,” Mills says. “It’s immediately adjacent to a grocery store-anchored shopping center. There’s a library in the area and there’s easy access to public transportation.”
Taft Family Ventures has primarily focused on multifamily development across North Carolina, but has more recently diversified into other types of real estate investment.
In the Triangle, the firm has been active with new construction on apartment projects from Clayton to Durham, including affordable and high-end projects. In Raleigh, the company built and sold the 401 Oberlin apartment and retail building across from Cameron Village, closing a deal in 2015 for $65 million.
“We’re proud to have been involved with projects like 401 Oberlin, but developing and delivering affordable housing is just as important to us as any other asset class,” Mills says.
Read the full article via Triangle Business Journal
Expanding Family Company Buys Triad Building for $6.44 Million
The 112,000-square-foot industrial building provides distribution, storage and office space for Cone Health.
An in-state, family-owned real estate company making efforts to diversify its holdings has purchased a Triad industrial building used by a regional health care delivery system.
Taft Family Ventures of Greenville paid $6.44 million for a 112,000-square-foot building on 8.1 acres at 2100 Summit Ave. in northeast Greensboro that Cone Health leases and uses for distribution, storage and office space. The facility was built in 1974.
Seller South Atlantic Warehouse bought the facility in March 2016 and installed new HVAC systems, lighting, racking, fencing and security systems.
Tom Taft, principal at TFV, told Triad Business Journal that the building is in good shape, and that no major changes or renovations are planned in the near future.
Cone Health is "just a great tenant," Taft said. "They have a 10-year lease."
Taft said multifamily residential communities have dominated TFV's holdings, especially in the Greenville area, and that the company is trying to diversify into different sectors and other geographical markets.
"We're in the process of investing between $22 million and $25 million to try to increase the diversity of our holdings," Taft told TBJ.
TFV also owns a 60,000-square-foot building at Kimel Park and South Park Shopping Center in Winston-Salem.
TFV has an assortment of medical buildings as well as student apartments, single- and multifamily residential communities, and industrial and office developments throughout the Carolinas and several other states.
The company, through subsidiary Taft-Mills Group, has started construction on Amberly Trace, an 80-unit affordable housing apartment community at 1029 Chapel Hill Road in Burlington. It plans to start construction on Oliver's Trace, an 88-unit affordable complex at 1134 Oliver's Crossing Circle in south Winston-Salem, in summer 2019.
Read more at Triangle Business Journal
Taft Family Office Unveils The Inland Distribution Center with Acquisition of Industrial Park
Inland Distribution Center brings newly constructed ±100,000 square-feet of Speculative Building to serve the progressive business environment of the Upstate region
Today, Taft Family Office, a division of Taft Family Ventures, announced its purchase and the expansion of the 294,590 square-feet Industrial Park located off Gilliam Road near the Inland Port in Greer, SC. Created as a cost-effective and highly functional space, the Inland Distribution Center is strategically located a few miles off Interstate 85 and neighbors the SC Ports Authority’s Inland Port, positioning it to serve a wide variety of uses and to improve the region’s ability to attract new businesses and create jobs. TFO’s goal is to provide a turnkey experience to users with its new state-of-the-art speculative building and direct rail access.
“This investment further executes on our continued confidence in the economic growth hypothesis in the Upstate thanks to the Inland Port, its unique location on the I-85 crescent, and its dynamic workforce and progressive business environment,” said Tom Taft, President of Taft Family Office, and Chairman & CEO of Taft Family Ventures.
The Inland Distribution Center is currently 60% leased and has ±147,045 SF available for lease.
“The Greer Inland Port offers a cost-effective and consistent supply chain which is hard to find in today’s challenging transportation environment,” said Micah Mallace, Director of Strategic Projects for South Carolina Ports Authority. “This makes the Inland Distribution Center an even more compelling option for distribution and manufacturing alike.”
Taft-Mills Group Will Build Nearly $11M Affordable Housing Complex in Triad
Taft-Mills Group is set to build an affordable housing apartment complex worth just under $11 million in Burlington.
Taft-Mills Group is building a nearly $11 million affordable housing apartment complex off Chapel Hill Road, Burlington.
Company President Dustin Mills said he expects to start construction on Amberly Trace Apartments in late September or early October. Construction will take about a year, and Mills said the company will start taking lease applications in the spring.
Mills said the complex will have 80 units of affordable housing in four residential buildings. It also will have an exercise room, a computer center and a multi-purpose room.
The company will serve as its own general contractor.
Taft-Mills is a subsidiary of Taft Family Ventures, which develops, builds and manages affordable housing in the southeast.
Read more at Triad Business Journal