Representatives of Stevens Mill Owner, LLC are joining the Dudley Board of Selectmen meeting on January 27 with an update on the mill renovation project expected to begin in the spring of 2025. Residents with questions about the mill project are encouraged to attend this meeting. 

The project had its beginning in August 2020 when Stevens Mill Owner LLC of Columbia, SC, bought the 6.95-acre property and its 267,000-square-foot mill at 8 Mill Street. 

Project developer Camden Management Partners, who holds Stevens Mill Owner LLC, proposed a $43 million plan to renovate the mill. 

The plan approved by the Dudley Planning Board in May 2022 detailed a mixed-use development in the historic Stevens Mill to contain 159 market rate apartments, including 16 affordable units, and 5,600 square feet of commercial space. 

The groundbreaking was set for spring 2024, but high interest rates coupled with the continued high costs of construction nationwide have created a multi-million-dollar shortfall in the developer’s budget, thereby causing the delay of construction. The $43 million project cost is now reported to be more than $60 million. 

Stevens Linen Assoc., Inc. dominated one of the region’s oldest industries from 1850 to 1950. Incorporated by Henry Hale Stevens in 1846, Stevens Linens began production in a mill built in 1812 at the corner of Ardlock Place and Mill Road. 

Its foremost structure, known as “The Main Mill,” was constructed of locally quarried granite block between 1861 and 1864. 

In time, its two seven-story towers stood over what became the largest of five mill villages in Dudley. The now historic mill on the east side of town ceased operations in the mid-20th century and, with the exception of a short-lived flea market, has been vacant since.

Today, it is said to be the only remaining example of a linen manufacturing plant in the United States. 

While the developer works to launch construction, the grant-funded infrastructure improvements to the neighborhood around the mill are on schedule. Work to install new water and sewer lines, realign road intersections and install sidewalks has paused for the winter months and are set to continue in the spring.