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2016 Best Historic Rehabilitation Project
Hickory, NC
The Lyerly Full Fashioned Mill, located on Main Avenue Way SE in Downtown Hickory, was constructed in 1930. It is Hickory's only remaining two-story hosiery mill from this era and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in August 2007. The mill closed in the mid-1990s and sat empty until 2014 when Transportation Insight, a national logistics company that employed 325 people at another Downtown Hickory location, purchased and began renovating the historic industrial property for use as its new corporate headquarters.
The rehabilitation of the Lyerly Mill is a federal and state historic tax credit project that meets the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. OHM Holdings, LLC (Transportation Insight) engaged architects MHAworks for the project. The building contractor was Neill Grading and Construction Company. Exterior work included replacing broken bricks, cleaning the mortar, replacing the 2,370 individual panes of ¼-inch thick glass in the windows and refurbishing or rebuilding the metal window frames. Construction crews removed the original first floor, laid thousands of feet of conduit for utilities and then poured a new floor. Modern technology incorporated into the project provides employees with state of the art equipment, an open floor plan that contributes to advanced teamwork, and an atmosphere to be innovative in a creative space.
Transportation Insight invested approximately $10 million to transform the 17,942 square foot building into a productive place of business. The City of Hickory developed a public parking area to serve the company's employees. The company officially began operating out of the renovated mill on July 1, 2015. The tax value of the property increased from $854,600 to $3,220,000 as a result of the project. The property can accommodate an additional 175 employees, which the company plans to hire over a five year period.
The NC Department of Commerce - NC Main Street and Rural Planning congrats Transportation Insight, OHM Holdings, LLC, MHAwork, Neill Grading & Construction and the City of Hickory on this award. Thanks for your investment in your community.