By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

BURRILLVILLE — The former Stillwater Mill in Harrisville is once again a beehive of construction activity and heavy equipment.

Neighborworks Blackstone River Valley Alliance, which is heading the overall rehabilitation of the mill site, began work this week on the clock tower building, which has loomed over the sprawling 4.4-acre mill site for years.
“The demolition has started and the project is in full swing,” Town Manager Michael C. Wood told the Town Council Wednesday.
The town sold the building to Neighborworks Blackstone River Valley Alliance in July of last year. As part of the project, the clock tower building will be converted into 47 mixed-income and elderly housing units. The project should be completed in about a year.
This is the last phase of the mill rehabilitation project, which included the town’s construction of the new Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library. The $9 million library facility was constructed at the north end of the Stillwater Mill site and is the cornerstone of the town’s efforts to revitalize the mill. The library opened last year.
Wood says the clock tower building, considered the architectural crown jewel of the former textile mill, will be rehabilitated back to its original 1911 historical appearance.
“The northerly end of the building, that is closest to the new Jesse M. Smith Library, will house an office suite complex, with up to five office suites sharing conference meeting space and support services,” said Wood, adding the utilization of the office space will fall under the jurisdiction of the Redevelopment Authority.
According to Wood, the existing riverfront plaza and railing system that serves the library will be expanded behind a portion of the clocktower for an additional 265 feet. The current one story portion of the mill (dye house) closest to the library will be demolished and replaced with a passive green space area.
The project will include innovative “green” building practices such as a geothermal heating and cooling system; durable cementious siding and trim and low-e windows. Surface water that does enter the Clear River will be treated onsite by innovative stormwater structures prior to discharge, Wood said.
“The Clocktower Building is a very complicated project,” he said. “Making the project viable to the development community was the fact that the town received $910,000 in cleanup funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Burrillville successfully competed for the award against the likes of Los Angeles, Milwaukee, San Diego, New York, Pittsburg, Memphis and Sacramento. The average population of those cities is 790,000; Burrillville’s population is 16,000.”
Last November, the mill was the chosen location to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the voter-approved $50 million bond referendum for affordable housing. The Harrisville mill is one of 20 affordable housing development projects throughout the state to be included in the first round of bond funding last year.
The Harrisville mill rehabilitation project recieved $1.2 million in bond funding from Rhode Island’s Housing Resources Commission - which is administering the bond funding program - to establish 36 affordable apartments eligible for those making between 40 and 60 percent of median income.
The Housing Resource Commission released an additional $2.5 million in bonds - for rental units only  - earlier this year. The commission plans to award an additional $12.5 million through Building Homes Rhode Island in each of the next three years through 2010.
The mill complex was built 100 years ago and at one time manufactured worsted cloth. The mill was in operation during both world wars and was last used in the 1960s.
After a major fire damaged the mill in 1894, the buildings were rebuilt and manufacturing continued. In 1904, the largest concrete fire-proof mill of its kind in New England was built by mill co-owner William Tinkham. It still stands today and is known as the Clock Tower building.