IYRS celebrates opening of restored 1831 Aquidneck Mill on May 14

by Cynthia Goss on 29 Apr 2009 On May 14, when the International Yacht Restoration School of Newport celebrates the official opening of the newly restored 1831 Aquidneck Mill building, the ceremony will mark more than a crowning addition to the school's waterfront campus.

After decades of lying fallow, this Mill has been restored by IYRS to not only play a key role at the school: the historic building will also play a broader role in the surrounding community.

Originally built for textile manufacturing, the Mill has been repurposed to house expansion space for IYRS, a maritime research library, the school's new Visitor Center that is expected to draw thousands of visitors to the area this summer, and lease space for twelve companies that have relocated businesses, jobs, and new economic activity to the Lower Thames Street neighborhood.

'There are wonderfully layered benefits to this restored Mill,' said Terry Nathan, president of IYRS. 'The Mill provides much needed space for additional school growth, as well as a separate income component associated with tenants. It also satisfies the long-term mission of the school to preserve the entire historic campus, and what a beautiful improvement to the quality of life in this neighborhood. The entire mix of benefits is very gratifying.'

The ceremony on May 14 begins at the school's campus at 449 Thames Street at 11 am. Ceremonies will be followed by an open house that runs until 2 pm so members of the public can tour the historic building, which is one of only two surviving mills in Newport.

Newport Collaborative Architects served as architects of the $7.5-million project and construction was managed by Farrar & Associates of Newport. A number of organizations contributed to the funding of the project, including: The van Beuren Charitable Foundation, 1772 Foundation, Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust, U.S. Small Business Administration, Prince Charitable Trusts, Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, and The Champlin Foundations.

The school celebrated the groundbreaking of the project on July 12, 2007 and the restoration was completed on time and on budget, with the first tenants moving to the Mill earlier this winter.

In the 1830s, the Mill's original textile operation relied on Newport's waterfront as a transportation highway; today's businesses at the Mill use the assets of the waterfront in different ways. 'The IYRS Mill is a wonderful place to work—and for us, it's a useful tool in attracting top talent to our fast-growing company,' said Andrew Glashow, CEO of Mill tenant Wild Things, a company that produces climbing equipment and apparel. The company opened up a new office at the Mill that brought 10 jobs to the area.

Most tenants have involvement in the marine industry, and the IYRS campus—with boatbuilding facilities and a marina—provides an opportune waterfront setting for these businesses. One such tenant is Nautor's Swan, a company that builds semi-custom, ocean-going yachts in Finland that are world renowned for their unrivalled quality. According to Keith Yeoman of Nautor's Swan in Newport, the Mill was instantly recognized as an ideal location for the company: 'The people involved with IYRS read like a Who's Who in sailing,' said Yeoman.

Other marine businesses now located at the Mill include Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, Confident Captain/Ocean Pros, Dunning & Associates naval architects, The Gowrie Group, Jamestown Distributors, and Newport Yacht Management. Additional tenants include Hilltop Motors, The Rhode Island Foundation Newport County Fund, Wild Things, and Worldways Social Marketing. Some tenants are new to Rhode Island while others have relocated to Thames Street from other areas of the state. Including the school, businesses in the Mill account for nearly 40 jobs.

It is fitting that the Mill opens during the current economic challenges. According to Dr. Catherine Zipf, assistant professor of cultural and historic preservation at Salve Regina University, Newport's mills were also born during a period of economic distress and stand today as a testament to Newport's resiliency.

After the Revolutionary War, Newport was in a physically sad state and in need of recovery. But without the money or infrastructure to revive the city, it took several stabs at reinvention before Newport entered its Gilded Age and attracted wealthy residents and their glorious mansions. Before that happened, four mills were built in Newport, but only two (including the Aquidneck Mill) were considered successful.

'Newport was not well suited to mill culture,' said Zipf. 'Still, the mills represent an important moment in Newport's history, when the city was trying to reinvent itself and to capitalize on its waterfront resources in a different way than it had in the past … These mills demonstrate the resiliency of Newport during very difficult economic times.'

IYRS trains skilled workers for the marine industry, an important business in the state of Rhode Island, with full-time and Continuing Education programs at its Newport campus and a newly expanded satellite location in Bristol (R.I.). Now affiliated with the Museum of Yachting, IYRS and the museum have coordinated summer exhibitions and restoration projects in a dedicated effort to create new attractions that will draw visitors to the area. A water taxi to ferry visitors across Newport Harbor between the school and the museum will run in the summer months, adding a unique mode of travel to those interested in Newport's maritime culture.

For more information about IYRS, please visit www.iyrs.org.