Long Mill injunction denied

By Sarah Arkin

Published: April 30, 2008

It’s only a matter of time before Dan River Inc.’s Long Mill will be reduced to nothing.

Judge David Melesco ruled Tuesday that he is “reluctantly” denying the Danville Historical Society’s request for an injunction against continued demolition of the mill.

“The thing that really tips this against issuing a preliminary injunction is the public interest,” Melesco said. “Kids are going to go in there, skateboarding, spray-painting … and they’re going to get hurt. I think what’s out there is extremely dangerous.”

Attorney Bob Morrison, representing the Historical Society, said he wasn’t surprised by the decision, but wouldn’t have been surprised if the judge had granted an injunction either.

At a hearing last week, Morrison said much concern had been expressed about the potential hazards of the physical condition of the mill.

“The forces of nature — gravity and the weather — are doing more damage than the demolition,” Melesco said Tuesday.

Dan River Inc. signed over the deed for the Long Mill complex to the Danville Historical Society in 1999 with a clause saying that no more than 25 percent of the structure could be demolished.

The following year, the Dan River Inc. Riverside Division Historic District, including the Long Mill complex, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A letter from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources last week notes that part of the benefits of that designation are “federal and state historic rehabilitation (credits)” —  incentives for developers and investors to rehabilitate existing facilities.

Interested in renovating the mill and developing apartments, shops and restaurants, the Historical Society initially leased the deed to Scott Burton and the Riverside Mills Redevelopment Group in 1999.

Burton applied for a $500,000 loan to aid these efforts in December 1999. Morrison contends Burton secured the loan with a special deed barring any subsequent owner of the property from tearing down more than 25 percent of its buildings without the Historical Society’s permission. 

Burton defaulted on his loan and the 675,000-square-foot Long Mill complex was sold for $578,000 to the River Partnership at a public auction in February 2002.

Although the building wasn’t officially condemned until June 2007, a letter from City Inspections Director Jerry Rigney to City Manager Jerry Gwaltney stated that plans for demolition had been in the works as early as March 2006.

Morrison said that during Thursday’s hearing, Rigney admitted that he had been sent to condemn the property by Gwaltney and River Partnership owner Ben Davenport.

“We believe the partners went to the city and tried to have the property condemned because that could get around the covenant,” Morrison said.

“None of this was made public because they knew what a firestorm it would be if the Historical Society and public found out.”

However, earlier this month it was apparent that the public wasn’t interested in creating a firestorm when the Building Code Board of Appeals — the public’s forum in the matter — turned down a request to halt demolition.

Melesco noted that decision.

“I wish more than the Historical Society realized how important (the mill) is to the community,” he said. “…It’s criminal what we’ve done to ourselves today.”

Contact Sarah Arkin at or (434) 791-7983.