The old Goodell Mills complex in downtown Antrim, with the “Vermont” building on the west side of Great Brook and the “New Hampshire” buildings on the east side. (Courtesy photo)
Antrim’s historic Goodell Mills complex, which dates back to the Civil War era, could soon see new life as an assisted-living and elderly housing facility.
According to owner Zander Kempf, who is trying to secure financing for the project, “there is market demand for assisted living facilities.”
At a recent meeting, Kempf told the Antrim Planning Board that he understands how important the historic mill buildings are to downtown Antrim.
“We are preserving the building on Main Street, and we know people would like to see commercial space in there,” he said. “We know this is a centerpiece of the town.”
One longtime tenant of the Antrim Mills building, the Grapevine Family & Community Resource Center’s Avenue A Teen Center, is about to move into new quarters adjacent to the Grapevine’s headquarters on Aiken Street. The Grapevine had been hoping to move the teen center into their main building due to safety and logistical reasons.
The Antrim Mills complex consists of five adjoining brick buildings built between 1867 and 1895. A sixth, separate building across Great Brook was built in 1900.
According to Bill Nichols of the Antrim Historical Society, Antrim residents always called the five buildings of the mill complex on the south side of Great Brook “New Hampshire,” while the separate brick building on the far side of the brook was known as “Vermont.”
“People who grew up in town still call it that,” Nichols said.
The Goodell Company, which was the largest employer in Antrim for nearly 100 years, manufactured cutlery, including a patented apple corer. According to historic record, David H. Goodell took a three-week tour across the country in the late 1800s and sold 2,000 apple parers. He invented dozens of other devices, including a cherry-pitter and a corn cob stripper.
The Goodell Company was sold to the Chicago Cutlery Company in 1986 and closed in 1989. The rear buildings in the complex have largely sat vacant ever since.
In 2022, Kempf submitted a plan to develop the 63,000-square-foot mill complex for a multi-use commercial and residential space, but financing for the project fell through. Kempf’s original housing plan had called for about two-thirds of the space to be converted to affordable rental units, including studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
In 2023, Kempf succeeded in getting the building added to the National Register of Historic Places, which enabled him to apply for historic building tax credits.
On April 17, Kempf and his partner, Mitchell Rasor, outlined their new plans to the building to the Antrim Planning Board. Rasor clarified that previously approved site plans will stay the same, and that the DEA and wetland permits for the project are still valid.
“We have just altered the type of housing,” Rasor said. “We will not be changing the site plan.”
Modifications to the interior include additional accommodations for fire code as required by building code for assisted living facilities.
“It takes seniors longer to evacuate in case of emergency. They cannot evacuate as quickly, so we will be working with the fire department on that,” Kempf said.
The assisted living facility would 35 or 36 units in a range of sizes.
“There are few different possible configurations for assisted living. There could be one- and two-bedroom apartments for independent living, while in memory care, there could be two beds in a room. There are a lot of different layouts which we will explore with a market study,” Kempf said.
Kempf said he and his partners had been speaking with numerous assisted-living operators around the state about the best options for the Antrim Mills site.
When asked why he had pivoted to assisted living, Kempf said he had considered other ventures, such as self-storage, but believed an assisted-living project has the best chance of finding financing and had the strongest potential to be profitable.
The proposed facility will be accessed through a parking lot in the rear of the building. The complex also includes a parking lot across the street, which Rasor said could potentially be used for staff and visitor parking. Kempf said the “Vermont” part of the complex could potentially be developed into market-rate housing.
“We can’t see any use for that building except apartments,” he said.
Kempf and Rasor plan to build a pedestrian footbridge across Great Brook, connecting “Vermont” and “New Hampshire,” which was part of the original housing plan.
“The goal is to create a beautiful community space,” he stated.
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