Boston, MA-based WinnCompanies has broken ground on its first-ever adaptive reuse project in NC. The $35-million project will create 139 affordable apartments for households earning 60% AMI in a long-vacant textile mill in the City of Bessemer.

The 250,000-square-foot Osage Mill sits in western Gaston County, where new rental housing for working families is needed to sustain economic growth. Osage Mill is in a mixed-use neighborhood adjacent to Bessemer City’s downtown commercial area and offers easy access to Interstate 85 and strong employment hubs in both Charlotte and Spartanburg, SC.

Financing for the project is supported by tax-exempt bonds from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency and issued by the Gastonia Housing Authority.

Bank of America is providing construction and permanent financing, as well as equity under the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, the federal Historic Tax Credit program and North Carolina’s Mill Rehabilitation Tax Credit program.

WinnCompanies is an owner, developer and manager of high-impact affordable, middle income, mixed-income, market rate and military housing communities. It has 105,600 residential and military apartment homes under management and owns 125 apartment communities in 11 states and the District of Columbia.