Skip to content
Exterior entrance of a brick industrial building with a metal awning over double glass doors and concrete steps with metal railings.
Our Work/Preservation/Hathaway Creative Center

Hathaway Creative Center

A tall, double-pane window with a grid of panes set into a red brick wall.
A wooden landing with a staircase leading downstairs, enclosed by a white vertical-panel railing and large industrial windows.
A construction worker wearing a green hard hat stands on scaffolding and repoints a brick wall above a window.

Project Details

DESIGN TEAM

Nancy Barba
Cynthia Wheelock
Tim Morrison

CONTRACTOR

Structural Integrity Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Wright-Ryan
Ames
Hewett & Gifford
Pinkham and Greer Civil Engineers
Lowell Specifications

LOCATION

Waterville, ME

Photography

Sandy Agrafiotis

Services

Awards

2009 Maine Preservation Honor Award

A mill on the Kennebec.

Built as a textile factory on the shores of the Kennebec River in 1887, this building is known to most Mainers as the Hathaway Shirt Factory, its use from 1957 until 2002. Barba + Wheelock led a team of design professionals to redevelop the building and surrounding site into a mixed-use building that now serves as an anchor for downtown Waterville.

Many disciplines, many approvals.

The project team included architects; mechanical, civil and electrical engineers; remediation specialists; historic preservationists; landscape architects and construction managers. Challenges included negotiating the flood plain, increased traffic generation, planning board review and lengthy coordination with the National Park Service and Maine Historic Preservation Commission for the Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program. Among the services completed was the successful application for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and a Historic Preservation Certification Application (Parts 1, 2 and 3).

Brought back in phases.

Phase One was a fast-tracked construction project completed in December 2008. The third floor was renovated to house offices for MaineGeneral HealthReach and the second floor for TD Bank’s insurance division. Phase Two followed in May 2009 with sixty-seven apartments on the fourth and fifth floors, exterior improvements, and core components for business and retail space on the first and second floors.

Barba + Wheelock continued to work on an array of fit-outs for offices, retail tenants and a radio station. A third phase completed the work on the 230,000 sf building, one of three in the original complex, adding a restaurant, offices, apartments and amenity spaces for residents, including a fitness room and business center.

A layered funding strategy.

Working with a team of two out-of-state developers, funding for this project
came from a variety of sources:

  • Conventional Mortgage
  • Developer Equity
  • Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credits
  • State Rehabilitation Tax Credits
  • New Market Tax Credits
  • TIF Financing
A large, multi-story brick industrial building with many windows sits behind a paved parking lot.
A pencil sketch of an interior corridor featuring a row of structural columns and storefront-style windows on either side.
A white column capital supporting a ceiling beam with peeling paint.
Low-angle view of a red brick industrial building with a recessed doorway and grid-patterned windows.
A downward view of a winding staircase with dark steps, white brick walls, and black handrails.
A large, multi-story brick building with many windows at twilight, with exterior lights illuminating the entrance and a curved driveway in the foreground.
Long office corridor with orange accent walls, wood floors, and exposed ductwork and cable trays overhead.
Pencil perspective sketch of a long interior corridor lined with storefronts and structural columns.
A winding stone staircase with a black metal handrail descends along a painted brick wall and a large structural column.
Aerial view of a town situated along a river, featuring a large brick industrial building and bridges, surrounded by autumn forests.

More Projects

View all Projects
Modern two-story house with light vertical wood siding, large windows reflecting trees, metal roof, and a small yellow potted plant by the glass door.

Light House

Historic red brick building with arched windows on a street corner; church with steeple and shops visible in the background, under a clear blue sky.

Lemont Block

50 Exchange Street’s historic brick façade with arched windows and decorative cornices, housing retail shops at street level

50 Exchange Street

Ready to start?

 Every project begins with a conversation.

Contact Us

Get the insider perspective

Sign up to receive the Woodhull Digest, a behind the scenes look at our millwork shop, construction process, and the evolution of our designs, sent straight to your inbox.