Merino Mill in Mooresville, leased by Alino Pizzeria, Main St. Antiques and Merinos Home Furnishings, has been honored as a “Great Transformation” in the 2017 Great Places in North Carolina awards program, sponsored by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association.

According to the organization, a Great Transformation is a place that has been retrofitted and re-energized. The award acknowledges the efforts by property owner Michael Bay and the town to reinvent the old Burlington Mill in Mooresville. The property stood empty for more than a decade before Bay bought it in 2010.

The panel of judges giving the award included City of Greenville assistant city manager Merrill Flood, Parsons Brinckerhoff Raleigh senior supervising planner Nicole Bennett, Town of Chapel Hill director of planning and development services Ben Hitchings, and CLH Design principal landscape architect Zak Pierce.