Bernon Mills Estates, A New Life For An Old Factory

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 4th 2010 at 8:02AM

New England's past as a manufacturing center has yielded a bumper crop of former mills and warehouses that have a second life as luxury condos. Bernon Mills in Woonsocket, Rhode Island was built in 1827 by the Russell Manufacturing Company. A pair of prominent Providence industrialists, Sullivan Dorr and Crawford Allen, bought out the Russell Manufacturing Company and founded the Woonsocket Mill Company at the site giving the surrounding village today's name of Bernon. They would balso uild also a stylish Greek revival building one year later for a total of four buildings by 1859. By 1889 the Woonsocket Mill Company had 15,000 spindles, 337 looms and 300 employees. Later the site would be purchased and converted into Woonsocket's first electric power company, the "Woonsocket Electric Machine and Power Company."

So far there are 48 units with Wolf and Sub Zero appliances, granite countertops, hardwood floors and exposed stone walls. On site amenities include a fitness center, business conference rooms, two overnight guest suites, indoor/outdoor patio, and transportation to the Franklin train stop for Boston commuters The size of the units in the first phase are modest but so are the prices. A top floor penthouse with over 1300 square feet of space is listed at $299,000.

Gallery: Bernon Mills Estates