Generation Development Group, LLC is advancing plans to convert a second structure at Silo City. Ninety-two residential units and 20,000 square feet of commercial space are planned for the Perot Malthouse. This phase of the Silo City project will include site greenspace and waterfront accessibility improvements. The first reuse project on the site, the $65 million conversion of the historic American Mill & Warehouse building, is underway and will include 168 residential units and commercial space.
The 43,537 sq.ft. malthouse will be converted into a mixed‐use structure with first floor commercial uses, and 92 residential apartments on the upper floors, a mix of one, two and three bedroom units. This phase carries a $40 million price tag.
From the project application to the Planning Board:
The design incorporates the spaces, equipment and tanks of the malting process, inherent to the facility to create internal light wells, allowing for efficient utilization of vast floor plates for residential use with ample natural light and ventilation. Where feasible machinery, tanks and equipment will be left in place and highlighted, where infeasible or already missing design will incorporate interpretive details to remind patrons of the industrial lineage of the site. Due to internal light wells, minimal alteration will be necessary to the facades allowing construction efforts to focus on stabilizing and preserving the elevations through masonry repointing and cleaning, reopening of original fenestration pattern, and replacement of windows with historically sensitive and thermally efficient units.
Sensitive integration of new programmatic elements to the complex extends to the site planning where the design proposes to continue the aesthetic created by Phase 1 highlighting sustainable landscape efforts, and active and passive recreation spaces for residents and the public. Naturally reclaimed “greenspace”, former rail beds between American Silos and Perot Malthouse to be purposefully programmed as a natural greenspace designed to accommodate the artistic, musical and recreation activities ongoing and planned for the campus. Additionally, vegetation proposed for the parcel continues the pollinator heavy plant materials existing on the site and planned in Phase 1. Following green infrastructure practices, the surface of the parking lot is proposed to be permeable asphalt. The proposed plan is intended to feel as though the natural landscape is succeeding in the midst of this industrial ruin, reinforcing that the historic structures are the focal point.
Carmina Wood Morris is project architect for both phases.
