Brownfields Success Story

Refashioning Hickory’s 

Historic Textile Mills

Hickory, North Carolina

Anyone traveling down Lenoir Rhyne Boulevard in southeast Hickory, 

North Carolina may notice two renovated historic landmarks—the 

Hollar Hosiery Mills–Knit-Sox Knitting Mills and Moretz Mills. Hosiery 

production contributed significantly to Hickory’s emergence as a 

leading manufacturing city in the early 20th century, but the industry 

has declined steadily since the early 1990s. Most of the hosiery mills in 

Hickory have shut down, including Hollar and Moretz Mills. 

In the late 2000s, the city, Lenoir-Rhyne University, local developers and 

other community stakeholders began working together to coordinate 

redevelopment plans for properties along the boulevard. City planners 

wanted to make Hickory’s major gateways and transportation corridors 

more functional and aesthetically pleasing. The mills also were targeted 

for redevelopment under the city’s Operation: No Vacancy program, 

which encourages the reuse of vacant or underutilized buildings within a 

designated urban revitalization area. 

“The program stimulates economic development and preserves 

neighborhood aesthetics while protecting the natural environment,” says 

Brian Frazier, the city’s planning and development director. “We wanted 

to restore these important landmarks to use again.”

The Opportunity

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $400,000 

in Brownfield Assessment Grants to Hickory in both 2007 and 2012 to 

conduct Phase I and II environmental site assessments and develop 

property reuse plans that included the two vacant hosiery mills. Property 

owners could better market the sites for reuse, while cleaning up 

neighborhoods, creating jobs and increasing the tax base. 

The city also awarded redevelopment funds for both properties under 

its Vacant Building Revitalization and Demolition Grant program, which 

Moretz Mills stood vacant for years until 

its owner, government partners, and 

community stakeholders worked together to 

revitalize the property. 

EPA Grant Recipient: 

City of Hickory, North Carolina

Grant Type:

Brownfield Assessment Grant

Former Use: 

Hosiery Mills, Storage Space

Current Uses:

Restaurant and Other Food 

Service, Event Venues, Fitness 

Center, Office and Retail Space

Originally built in the 1930s, Hollar Mills 

was the home of various textile and other 

operations before shutting down in the 1990s. 
“

“

Hollar Mills is no Hollar Mills is now home tw home to restaurants, 

retail shops and a 10 tail shops and a 10,000-squar000-square-foot 

event venue thaenue that can act can accommodate 

600 gues600 guests. 

These buildings 

represent the 

history of Hickory 

and provide a 

foundation for 

us to build upon. 

Now potential 

developers 

come to the city 

to pitch ideas 

and plans to 

us, instead of 

the other way 

around.

David Leonetti, 

Community 

Development Manager,

City of Hickory

prioritizes suspected brownfield sites. Both sites also received state and 

federal historic preservation tax credits and state mill tax credits, and the 

North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority awarded the city a Building 

Reuse Program grant to support the reuse of the Moretz Mills building.

Assessment, Cleanup 

and Redevelopment

Hollar Mills underwent a Phase I environmental assessment in 2009 

and a Phase II assessment shortly thereafter. The assessments revealed 

some contaminated materials, which were either removed from the 

site or encapsulated under pavement. In early 2012, a local developer 

announced plans to convert the space into a mixture of restaurants and 

retail. A local construction company oversaw the restoration and, after a 

full interior and exterior renovation, the site reopened in 2013. Hollar Mills 

now hosts an organic, farm-to-table restaurant and an events venue, a 

frozen yogurt store, and a brewery. Future plans include a bike store and 

specialty gift shop.

The successful redevelopment of Hollar Mills gave John Moretz, owner 

of Moretz Mills, confidence to ramp up his own project. A Phase I 

environmental assessment at Moretz Mills revealed asbestos, lead paint 

and minor soil contamination. Remediation included encapsulating parts 

of the sidewalk and parking lot. A Phase II environmental assessment did 

not reveal any issues requiring remediation. Renovations were complete 

in fall 2014. The $14 million redevelopment included purchasing an 

adjacent property; interior demolition; a new staircase and roof; new 

doors, windows and lighting; updated heating, ventilation and air 

conditioning equipment; and new electrical wiring, sprinklers and 

insulation. The project also involved extensive interior design, décor 

and landscaping, as well as a new parking lot, gutters and stormwater 

retention facility. Today, Moretz Mills is about 90 percent occupied and 

houses a fitness center, a 12,000-square-foot event venue, and retail and 

office space. 

“It’s been awesome to see these buildings gain new life,” Frazier says, 

“and to see the revitalization and preservation of Hickory’s historic mills.”

The Benefits

Redeveloping the mills has not only improved aesthetics in the city, but 

also has created places where workers and businesses want to locate, 

invest and expand. At Hollar Mills, more than 200 jobs were created 

during construction, and the restaurant and event venue support 100 

jobs, including for kitchen and waitstaff, event planners and valet drivers. 
Redevelopment at Moretz Mills created 150 temporary construction jobs, and 

most of the employees currently working in the 50 professional services jobs at 

the facility live in Hickory or nearby. More than 190 office and e-commerce jobs 

are slated for Moretz Mills over the next three years and are expected to pay at 

least 25 percent more than the average wage in Catawba County. And a software 

company plans to invest an additional $400,000 in Hickory over the same period. 

Both sites are generating tax revenue, as well. Hollar Mills is expected to generate 

more than $16,000 in annual property tax revenue for both the city and the 

county. Moretz Mills could generate approximately $30,000 per year in both city 

and county tax revenue.

These projects also have helped spur additional development in the area, 

including the Lenoir-Rhyne University Physician Assistant Program building 

currently under construction, and the Transportation Insight Corporate Campus, a 

30-plus-acre redevelopment project to build the company’s headquarters.

“The redevelopment of these mills has opened up this corridor of Hickory in a 

way that we’ve never seen before,” Frazier says. “It’s really something special for 

the area.”

This gym is one of several health 

and wellness facilities at Moretz Mills 

today. Others include a massage and 

acupuncture business, and an antiaging center and medical spa.

EPA 560-F-16-162

June 2016