UPDATE! Join us for an OPEN HOUSE on December 10th, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the Historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak Street in Ashland, Oregon! We will discuss plans for the final cleanup of the Croman Mill site, and the proposal for a new Ashland neighborhood of parks, trails, shops, homes and businesses. Meet the team and share your ideas! RSVP here:
Drawing by Laurence Qamar
Many people in Ashland are looking forward to the long-awaited cleanup and redevelopment of the former Croman Mill, a derelict timber mill that closed in 1996. In response, the Townmakers team is planning a vibrant new walkable mixed-use neighborhood that adds amenities, jobs and housing for Ashland's residents. The new neighborhood is planned to include affordable housing, new jobs, shops and cafes, parks, walking and bike paths, and an extension of the Central Bike Path that runs through the center of Ashland. The project is planned to incorporate timeless principles of livable neighborhood design as well as advanced concepts in green building and ecology.
Ashland Mill will be a sub-district of the existing Croman Mill District, which was created in 2010. The new name, which avoids confusion with other Croman Mill properties, also commemorates the history of Ashland as a mill town -- it once featured a woolen mill, a flour mill, a separate timber mill, and also Croman Mill itself with its previous names (Peters Mistletoe Mill and McGrew Brothers Mill). In fact, the original name of the city of Ashland was... Ashland Mills!
The site of the new Ashland Mill neighborhood lies at the southern end of Ashland, within the current city limits (except for a small patch making an important connection to Siskiyou Boulevard). As such, it offers the opportunity for a logical urban extension of Ashland into a walkable mixed use, live-work-play development that responds to the City's current needs and challenges. It will complement, and not compete with, existing amenities and businesses. (Rather than "fighting over the pie," Ashland Mill will "expand the pie" to benefit all!)
The Ashland Mill Master Plan. Click here to download.
Goals of the project include:
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Redevelop a brownfield site that is currently in need of cleanup, and is generating truck traffic, dust and noise.
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Provide a livable amenity for the City of Ashland, with parks, trails, neighborhood center, and compatible businesses, that is able to be used by all the neighbors.
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Provide a walkable, bikable, mixed-use, live-work-play neighborhood.
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Provide family-wage jobs, and support the development of new locally-appropriate businesses, products and services.
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Provide needed housing, including affordable and mixed-income housing.
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Provide energy-efficient, resource-efficient, low-carbon neighborhood and building systems.
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Focus on health and wellness, including health-oriented business recruitment, healthy lifestyles, and green building technologies.
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Develop innovative urban formats with new technologies where feasible, including electric and data systems, live-works, satellite offices, incubators, neighborhood markets, affordable housing types, “makerspaces,” etc.
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Support Ashland’s economic development beyond tourism, including local products, knowledge economy, synergies with Southern Oregon University, et al.
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Create an “urban extension” of Ashland that builds on its best qualities, including its livability, and its natural and historic beauty.
ABOVE: Aerial of the site in relation to the City of Ashland. BELOW: Aerial of the closed mill site, with piles preparing for final cleanup and removal prior to the creation of the new neighborhood shown at top.
BELOW: View of the area requiring cleanup from Mistletoe Road.
About the team:
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Mike Weinstock, the town builder, has a long history and personal connection with Ashland, and is committed to seeing its best qualities preserved and enhanced.
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Lead Urban Designer Laurence Qamar has a long history of working in Ashland. Laurence was a planner for North Mountain and Railroad Districts in the early 2000s. He is also an award-winning architect and urban designer who has also been involved in landmark walkable mixed-use projects across Oregon and the Northwest.
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Lead Planner Michael Mehaffy also has a long history with Ashland. Michael's daughter graduated from Southern Oregon with a degree in biology in the late 1990s, and he and his wife spent many days in Ashland. He is also an award-winning planner and educator with a lead role in notable walkable mixed-use communities.
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Brokerage and marketing expertise is provided by Neal Collins of Latitude Regenerative Real Estate. Neal’s background in development, capital markets, and communications spans the US, Europe, and Asia.
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Other team members include Terrain Landscape Architecture from Ashland, and other Oregon-based consultants including Parametrix civil, infrastructure and transportation engineers; Schott and Associates wetland biologists; Sandow Transportation Engineering; and Maul Foster Alongi Environmental Engineers.
We hope you'll help us make the vision for Ashland Mill a reality!
A light industrial area including live-works and "makerspaces"; and a neighborhood courtyard with small cottages clustered around it. Drawings by Laurence Qamar
Ashland Mill Open House - join us on December 10, 2025!
For the address and more information, click here.
