Tempe looks to establish Hayden Flour Mill as a national historic place
Independent Newsmedia/Caroline Yu
Tempe is in the process of redeveloping Hayden Flour Mill, with goals to transform the site into a project that benefits the community while acknowledging its historical significance.
Amidst plans for the redevelopment of the Hayden Flour Mill area, Tempe is in the process of establishing the iconic mill and silos as a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tempe entered into a development agreement in 2023 with Venue Projects and Sunbelt Holdings to redevelop the Hayden Flour Mill site at 119 S. Mill Ave., as explained by a city report.
In this agreement, Venue and Sunbelt expressed their intent to nominate the 1918 mill and 1951 silos to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Currently, the Hayden Flour Mill and Silos is recognized as a historic building by the city of Tempe and became eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places at the State Level of Significance in 1984.
The developers contracted with Jennifer Levstik of Westland Engineering and Environmental Services to conduct research for the project and to write the nomination for the mill and silos to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
At the Tempe Historic Preservation Commission’s July 10 meeting, Levstik gave a presentation on the research done and the nomination process for the site.
“This is the first phase of a two-phase project, so my role in this project is to draft and prepare a National Register nomination to get the Hayden Flour Mill listed in the National Register,” Levstik said.
She said that this is an important piece of the project because the developers need the site to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places in order to go after a federal historic rehabilitation tax credit.
Considering the mill’s historic significance, Levstik covered the different characteristics of the Hayden Flour Mill that make it eligible to be listed on the National Register, including when its period of significance was, its historical relevance and its style of architecture.
Because what remains today is a newer mill after the original mill from the 1800s was burned down, Hayden Flour Mill’s period of significance is only from 1918 to 1966. Levstik noted that the period of significance is critical because it determines what can be done with the site from here on out.
As for the mill’s historical relevance and architecture, Levstik explained that those were the two criteria used in the National Register nomination because of Hayden Flour Mill’s history as one of the longest-running and most successful flour mills in Arizona and for being the tallest reinforced concrete building in the Salt River Valley.
“It was pretty much a feat of architecture at the time that it was constructed,” she said.
Levstik also went over other considerations for the nomination, including the surrounding landscape of archaeological resources, establishing boundaries for the historic site and what’s to come with getting Hayden Flour Mill listed on the National Register.
Currently the developers are working on the actual rehabilitation plan for the site, the second phase of the application for the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit, but first they need the nomination to the National Register to be approved.
The Arizona State Historic Preservation Historic Sites Review Committee reviewed the nomination on July 12, deciding whether to forward the nomination for final consideration to the National Park Service’s Keeper of the Register. At that meeting, the committee agreed to forward the nomination with an ask for additional work and documentation.
With the redevelopment to come and the nomination to be recognized as a historic site nationally, Levnik assured the commissioners that the mill and silos will remain as they are, retaining their historical appearance.
“There’s no real intention to do any kind of significant alterations so the buildings will continue to read as these industrial agricultural facilities,” she said.
The commissioners engaged in a brief discussion on the nomination, posing questions about why more details about Charles Hayden were not included in the nomination and the architectural significance of the mill and silos.
Reporter Caroline Yu can be reached at cyu@iniusa.org. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
Community: She is a supporter of the environment and tries to get involved with related community events.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, with a minor in French.
Random Fact: She used to be a ballet dancer for 10 years.
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