Groundbreaking For Mill Project Slated April 28 - Courant.com

Groundbreaking For Mill Project Slated April 28 - Courant.com: "Groundbreaking For Mill Project Slated April 28"


The groundbreaking ceremony that will mark the transformation of the former Roosevelt Mills sweater factory into residential and commercial space will take place April 28, according to Mayor Jason L. McCoy.

The ceremony, which will take place at 2 p.m. on the site of the once busy factory at 215 East Main St., had been set for March 30 but had to be rescheduled due to inclement weather.

The development, to be known as Loom City Lofts, will include 68 one-bedroom apartments on the upper floors and roughly 10,000 square feet of retail and office space on the first floor. The project is supported by state funding through the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.

Roosevelt Mills has been vacant since 1998. Before anything could be done with the site it had to be cleaned up. Tests showed it was polluted with chlorinated solvents including tetrachloroethene, a cancer-causing chemical that was used to dry-clean sweaters. Another chemical, sodium persulfate, was used to destroy the tetrachloroethene and itself will breakdown into sodium and sulfate, two elements found naturally in the soil that are not harmful.

The mill was built in 1906 and was one of the first reinforced concrete buildings in the country. It was the last textile factory in Rockville, once known as the Loom City, to go out of business.

— Joseph A. O'Brien Jr.