The first floor of the Sable Mill opened to tenants this month as a co-working space with forty desks, eight small offices and a cafe counter facing the water — the first occupied use of the building since the textile operation left in 2015.
Owners Jonah and Beth Kessler bought the 44,000-square-foot mill in 2021 for $600,000 and have spent roughly $3.1 million on structure, windows and mechanicals, about a third of it covered by state historic rehabilitation tax credits.
Why the windows took two years
The credits are also why the project took five years. Historic rehabilitation rules meant the 212 original windows had to be repaired rather than replaced, at roughly triple the cost, and the interior brick could not be painted or furred out.
Everybody asks why it took so long. The answer is that we were not allowed to do the fast version, and honestly the slow version is better.
Beth Kessler
What it costs to sit there
- Open desk, monthly: $180
- Dedicated desk: $290
- Small office (two to four people): $650 to $1,100
- Day pass: $22, and the cafe is open to everyone
The tax credit agreement caps rents on the co-working floor for twelve years, indexed to inflation — a condition the Kesslers say they were happy to take and that, Beth Kessler noted, “makes the spreadsheet boring, which at this point is a feature.”
The rest of the building
The second and third floors remain empty. The Kesslers have proposed 24 apartments there, which would need a zoning change the Planning Board has not yet scheduled. Neighbors on Water Street have raised parking, as they did with the riverfront park.