By John Dignam TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
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PUTNAM— Water flowing from the Quinebaug River in the 19th century powered the Putnam Woolen Mill on Pomfret Street, and it may power redevelopment of the historic property in the 21st century.

Mill owner Greg A. Renshaw says providing its own power will make the project “viable even in an economic downturn.”

“The cost of energy has increased significantly in the last five years, so this would give us a huge advantage in leasing the property by offering long-term contracts with fixed prices for heat and electricity,” Mr. Renshaw said in an interview last week.

It’s a question of whether he can bring it to fruition and make it happen. It’ll be a great addition to the town. " Douglas M. Cutler,
PUTNAM TOWN ADMINISTRATOR "

“This will be the impetus to get this mill property back on track,” he said.

It will be a 21st-century track. Under Mr. Renshaw’s plan, the mill, renamed the Historic Cargill Falls Mill, will house more uses than the processing of cotton and wool. His vision for the property includes small high-end antiques and specialty shops, artisans’ shops, restaurants, food shops, residential condominiums, offices and a company to provide antiques to movie companies for props.

Greg Renshaw stands at Cargill Falls on Quinebaug River, across from the mill that he owns.

Those uses are in keeping with the Industrial Heritage Overlay District zoning amendment the town approved last year, which allows small and start-up businesses, niche businesses associated with tourism, residential uses or cultural uses in old mills.

Timothy P. Ford, recently elected selectman and former Redevelopment Agency chairman, said the district was created so that the town’s old mills would have the potential to be redeveloped for new uses.

“They are of great value, but have also been of great concern,” Mr. Ford said, because of the difficulty of finding new uses for the former industrial giants.

Mr. Renshaw’s mill is one of five mills on the Quinebaug River in the center of town. The other four are in use.

“It’s a question of whether he can bring it to fruition and make it happen,” said Town Administrator Douglas M. Cutler, who said Mr. Renshaw has kept town officials apprised of the project’s progress.

“It’ll be a great addition to the town,” he said. “It’s an ideal location from the standpoint of people walking downtown.”

Mr. Cutler said the only problem a busy mill complex might cause would be increased traffic, “but in a way that’s a good problem.”

Town officials had been concerned that the hydroelectric plant, estimated by Mr. Renshaw to cost about $3 million, might mar the Cargill Falls landscape. However, Mr. Renshaw has assured them that neither the falls nor their appearance would be altered.

A license for a power plant at the mill had lapsed under former owners, and Mr. Renshaw has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for another license. He expects work will start late this year on the hydroelectric project, with completion in 2010. Excess energy could be sold to the town or power grid.

Mr. Renshaw’s plans for the mill complex include demolishing a few nondescript buildings to allow access by the main buildings to a 200-car parking lot in the rear. He also wants to improve the view of the river from a five-story, cut-stone building erected in 1806. Improvements also will be made to a back road farther up Pomfret Street. Seven buildings will remain, all built in the 19th century, the oldest built about 1800.

Mr. Renshaw said the complex’s 2,000 feet of river frontage across from the Putnam River Trail are an asset that also could include recreation projects. He said construction of a new hotel on the site is a possibility.

“But this is a big project, and it will evolve,” he said. “There’s no way to just turn it on.”

Mr. Renshaw bought the property in 2002; however, until recently, it was mired in title issues that made the project “unfinanceable,” he said. Because of those issues, he closed his antiques business in one of the mill buildings two years ago and at one point tried to sell the complex.

But Mr. Renshaw, who has been involved in the antiques business here since the early 1990s, said he and his wife, Leanne Parker, believe in the project and want to stay with it.

“We bought everybody out and control all the buildings,” he said, adding that they decided to move slowly, keep debt low and progress in stages.

He reopened his antiques store four weeks ago and is using antique and historic materials to create individual storefronts inside one of the mill buildings along the Quinebaug River. The first tenant will be a cabinet maker. He said he is negotiating with an art gallery to locate on the top floor of that building.

Mr. Renshaw said the antiques businesses in Putnam have been struggling the past few years, but that there still was a market that could be supplemented by other high-end boutique-style businesses.

“I think we’re at a turning point downtown,” Mr. Cutler said. “The antiques business has sort of leveled off, and we’re relying on the restaurants and theater to keep things going. At the same time, there are some vacant buildings that (are)…being marketed.”

Mr. Ford believes good response by businesses to a façade and sign program, an outdoor patio for a restaurant and café and interest in vacant space will have a positive impact come spring.

Mr. Renshaw said the mill complex, at 125,000 square feet, is double the space available just across Kennedy Drive in downtown and would have a significant impact.

“Water power was the driving force of the Industrial Revolution, and this (mill site) was here 100 years before the town. That’s why the town’s here. And water power is going to put the town back on the map,” Mr. Renshaw said.