A now vacant, former manufacturing facility in Wilmington’s Old Southside area could soon come roaring back to life as a microbrewery entertainment complex among other things, according to a developer associated with the project.

Howard Penton III, owner and developer of Wilmington-based Penton Development, said Thursday that he and a team of local developers formed C. Mills SPE LLC to purchase the 52,000-square-foot Century Mills building as well as the entire 3-acre city block that surrounds the nearly 70-year-old structure.

The Century Mills complex, 715 Greenfield St., is bounded by Martin, Greenfield, South Seventh and South Eighth streets.

“It’s a great, solid, old, pretty structure,” Penton said of the building’s art deco-style architecture and construction. “So we bought it.”

Mike Nadeau, a broker with Wilmington-based Creative Commercial Properties, sold the site to C. Mills SPE on Dec. 20 for $375,000, according to New Hanover County tax records.

Raleigh-based VantageSouth Bank owned the property prior to the sale.

Penton would not comment about key members of the development team, only saying that one of the developers is a “well-known player” in Old Southside’s continued redevelopment.

While plans are preliminary, Penton said the most promising potential use is converting the site into a microbrewery entertainment complex, given the region’s recent growth in microbreweries over the past several months.

Penton said officials envisioned the complex playing host to several new microbreweries, adding that those breweries could share a common seating and food court area, a music area for concerts and a shared beer garden for patrons.

“These are all very early on in the development stage,” Penton said. “But we really like the possibilities.”   

Developers also have the potential to incorporate multi-family residences on the site, thanks in part to the city rezoning the complex from industrial to urban mixed-use.
   
Last year, city officials rezoned more than 600 properties, including Century Mills, to urban mixed use – a designation that allows builders and developers to construct residential, commercial and civic buildings with relaxed setback and parking requirements – to help kick start development in the urban core of the city.

Under the designation, developers could add up to 25 units per acre, meaning that to maximize the potential residential conversion on the Century Mills site, the team could construct up to 75 apartment or condo units on the property, Penton said.  

Other uses discussed included turning the site into a climate-controlled storage facility or segmenting the building into smaller flex units – ranging from 12,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet.

The site has also garnered the interest of a single-tenant user looking to take advantage of the area’s Port Enhancement Zone designation, although Penton did not disclose the identity of the potential user.

Penton said the facility has 14- to 16-foot ceilings, a concrete roof and loading docks – making it an ideal location for microbrewery, residential, light manufacturing and distribution operators or other commercial purposes.  

The site has also been identified by city environmental planners as a potential candidate for the 2014 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Grant – a federal grant that assesses potential petroleum and hazardous substance pollution on former industrial sites in an effort to spur redevelopment.

The $400,000 grant, if awarded by the federal agency, would allow the city to cover research costs associated with compiling a report on what is needed to bring the affected property to EPA standards.

Penton said local developers have been monitoring the progress of redevelopment in a number of Old Southside locations. He said the significant overhaul of the Nesbitt Courts public housing complex into the now fully occupied South Front Apartments is accelerating a push for redevelopment south of Dawson Street.  

“That has been key in all of this,” Penton said. “You have approximately 280 people that have moved downtown, that are for the most part, highly-educated and have good steady incomes.”

He added the success of nearby Satellite Bar and Lounge and The Harp restaurant have also served as good anchors for redevelopment in the area. Penton added that city amenities, such as Greenfield Lake Park, and access to downtown Wilmington, helps bolster growth in the area.

“You have such a great mix over there,” Penton said. “The Southside is only getting better and more exciting.”