By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

BURRILLVILLE — The old clock tower building at the former Stillwater Mill in Harrisville is getting a long-awaited facelift.

Town Council President Nancy Binns reported Friday that the clock tower building, which has loomed over the sprawling 4.4-acre mill site for years and is considered the architectural crown jewel of the former textile mill, has been sold to the Neighborworks Blackstone River Valley Alliance, which is heading the overall rehabilitation of the mill site. As part of that project, the clock tower building will be converted into 47 mixed-income and elderly housing units with work to begin in the fall.
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 this past spring.
“We've been waiting for this (clock tower building) for a long time,” Binns said. “We're excited that it's finally happening.”
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 thjrough 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.