Tag: The Mill

Bloomington OKs $400K for promotion of Trades District development, tech center construction

Looking north from the top of the Trades District parking garage. Cutting across the foreground is 10th Street. The Mill, with its sawtooth roofline, is visible to the right about mid-way up the frame. (Jan. 28, 2023)

The now open space in downtown that’s roughly bounded by 10th and 11th streets, and Rogers and Madison streets, will get some renewed focus and attention for development.

The area is known as the Trades District, which is a 12-acre portion of a larger area comprising Bloomington’s certified technology park.

The real estate was purchased by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission more than a decade ago.

At its meeting last Monday, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) approved an agreement that pays The Dimension Mill, Inc. $200,000 each year for two years to “advance the City’s objectives for the Tech Center, Trades District and Bloomington’s innovation ecosystem…”

The Dimension Mill, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that operates the coworking space known as The Mill, in the former dimension mill of the Showers Brother furniture factory.

A key part of the agreement with the RDC is that The Mill will hire an executive director for the Trades District and technology center, to focus on development of the district, construction of a new technology center, and recruitment of tenants for the center. Continue reading “Bloomington OKs $400K for promotion of Trades District development, tech center construction” →

“We’ve gotta get moving on that,” says state rep on convention center project, given threat of tax sunset

The Monroe Convention Center expansion project needs to make some progress, state representative Democrat Rep. Matt Pierce (District 61) said at a Friday luncheon hosted by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce at The Mill.

Looming during this year’s legislative session is a threat to the project’s planned funding source, which is the county’s 1-percent food and beverage tax. The threat cited by Pierce is Senate Bill 37,  which has already been filed by Republican Sen. Mike Gaskill (District 25).

If SB 37 is passed, it would end food and beverage taxes across all counties in the state 20 years from now, on Jan. 1, 2043, or the date on which all bonds or lease agreements that are outstanding on May 7, 2023, are completely paid—whichever is later.

Pierce summed up the stalled effort of Bloomington and Monroe County government to collaborate on the convention center expansion like this: “We gotta get moving on that.”

Pierce was joined at the event by three other area state legislators: Sen. Eric Koch (District 44); Sen. Shelli Yoder (District 40); and Rep. Dave Hall (District 62).

Pierce’s comment on the convention center expansion came in response to a question from chamber CEO and president Eric Spoonmore.

The other three legislators didn’t comment on Spoonmore’s food and beverage tax question. Continue reading ““We’ve gotta get moving on that,” says state rep on convention center project, given threat of tax sunset” →

Bloomington RDC hopes to seal deal on smell for some offices at adaptive reuse coworking project

B Square file photo of The Mill, a co-working space in Bloomington, Indiana.

Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) is hoping that a $12,000 contract with Ann-Kriss, Inc.—to paint and seal some brick and concrete surfaces in an old industrial building—will wrap up an issue with lingering odor that has beleaguered part of the roughly $5.5 million adaptive reuse project.

According to Bloomington’s director of economic and sustainable development, Alex Crowley, the issue with the unpleasant smell is limited to the confined space inside some of the interior offices. It has apparently not been a problem throughout the relatively open layout of the former dimension mill of the Showers Company furniture factory.

The building, which is located north of city hall in the Trades District, launched as a coworking space in 2018. The RDC leases the building to the Dimension Mill, Inc., which is a nonprofit formed to operate it.  Under the terms of the lease, DMI is paying the RDC $75,000 this year. Next year that amount goes up to $100,000.

The sealing work was described by Crowley at Tuesday’s RDC meeting as the final step of some measures that had been recommended by VET Environmental Engineering, after the company conducted some indoor air testing in early 2020 and again in early 2021. Continue reading “Bloomington RDC hopes to seal deal on smell for some offices at adaptive reuse coworking project” →

Tax increase forum | One table says: Spend climate action money directly to benefit low-income people

Notes from the “finance and economic equity” table. Meeting at The Mill, March 5, 2020.
Notes from the “finance and economic equity” table. Meeting at The Mill, March 5, 2020.
Notes from the “finance and economic equity” table. Meeting at The Mill, March 5, 2020.
Notes from the “finance and economic equity” table. Meeting at The Mill, March 5, 2020.
Notes from the “finance and economic equity” table. Meeting at The Mill, March 5, 2020.
Notes from the “finance and economic equity” table. Meeting at The Mill, March 5, 2020.
Notes from the “finance and economic equity” table. Meeting at The Mill, March 5, 2020.

“Lift the people up. Once you’ve got a sustainable model that is working for the people at the bottom, then you can have my 50 cents.”

That’s what Patrick Cortese, an educational publisher, told a Bloomington city official last Thursday night. The occasion was a community meeting about taxes held at The Mill, a downtown co-working space.

Cortese was talking about the idea of increasing the county’s local income tax to pay for climate action initiatives.

The 50-cent figure comes from the amount of the proposed tax increase, which would raise the existing tax by .05 points. That works out to 50 cents for every $100 dollars earned by a wage earner in Monroe County. Continue reading “Tax increase forum | One table says: Spend climate action money directly to benefit low-income people” →

Plan commission OKs The Mill, 130 more apartment units to be added to Bloomington

Given site plan approval by Bloomington’s plan commission at its Monday meeting was The Mill, a five-building, 130-unit apartment complex in a development in the southwest part of town, near Summit Elementary. Construction is expected to start by August or September.

Sudbury from above perspective Screen Shot 2019-07-08 at 9.08.31 AM
Rendering of The Mill from  the July 8, 2019 meeting packet for Bloomington’s plan commission.

Completion of the project is targeted for August 2020, according to an email to The Beacon from Steve Brehob, who is president of Smith, Brehob & Associates, which is handling the site planning for The Ridge Group, a Muncie-based firm.

According to documents in the plan commission’s packet, each of the five buildings will include 26 units with a mix of studios, 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments.
Continue reading “Plan commission OKs The Mill, 130 more apartment units to be added to Bloomington” →