Green renovations at Hawkins Mill pave way for Allied Roofing

Come early fall, the 72-year-old mill at the corner of Kansas Expressway and College Street will sport native grasses and small shrubbery, if Allied Roofing Systems owner Clint Tackitt’s vision goes according to plan.

Tackitt plans to start renovations on the former Hawkins Mill, 1500 W. College St., by June 1. He hopes to move out of Allied’s current headquarters 655 S. Campbell Ave., later this year, putting that property up for sale.

Tackitt bought the property in late 2010 from Jim Hawkins, whose great-uncle Fred Hawkins, built the mill in 1939.

Hawkins, who is approaching his 70th birthday, said he’d been looking for a buyer for his family heirloom since 1999, when the mill ceased doing business as an agricultural feed supplier.

“There’s no one to follow me in the business, and I didn’t want to operate the business by myself or burden my wife,” said Hawkins, who is financing Tackitt’s purchase. “We enjoyed it while we were in it.”

During the last 11 years, the mill has been leased to Aqua Terra Gardens, Joann’s Antique Mall and companies looking for storage space.

Hawkins and Tackitt agreed not to release information on the final sale contract, including total cost. According to the Greene County Assessor’s Office, the property was assessed at $34,590 and appraised for $108,100 in 2010.

For Tackitt, the renovation and upcoming move represent an opportunity to grow. The company – ranked No. 8 among Springfield Business Journal’s 2011 Dynamic Dozen companies – posted 42 percent revenue growth between 2008 and 2010, with 2010 revenues of more than $6 million.

And with $3.5 million in jobs lined up by the end of the first quarter of this year, Tackitt knew he needed more room.

The mill site will give Allied space for on-site metal fabrication and enable the company to add about 30 jobs.

Plus, fixing up the mill, which Tackitt called an icon, fits with the company’s focus on sustainable roofing materials and recycling.

“We’re big into working with the environment, and we really saw this as an opportunity to rehab an old building that had really been let go,” he said.

“For us, it’s more of a means to market our niche,” he added. “From an advertising standpoint, it will pay itself off.”

Tackitt expects to spend about $300,000 to renovate the mill. Though the renovations are designed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, he said the building won’t be LEED-certified because that process would cost $25,000.

In addition to the vegetative roof, plans call for an irrigation system that will hold about 2,000 gallons of rainwater on the roof and store about 20,000 gallons more indoors in old molasses tanks. The water will not only keep the vegetative roof alive but also will be used in the building’s toilets, Tackitt said.  

Recycling storm water not only helps decrease dependence on City Utilities’ water, but it also reduces the amount of polluted water run-off into the city’s natural waterways and cools the building so as to reduce cooling costs, he added.

In case of a drought, Tackitt said Arnie’s Plumbing will install a float system in the converted molasses tank, which will fill with City Utilities water to keep the cisterns at usable water levels at all times.

Tackitt also will supplement electrical power with solar panels and passive light surfaces to run the property’s security system and for limited interior use, he said.

Other environmentally conscious measures include using only materials within a 500-mile radius and recycling all waste materials from construction.

“Nothing will make its way to a landfill,” Tackitt said.[[In-content Ad]]