Montville — Environmental cleanup and renovations are underway at Oxoboxo Lofts, the 72-unit development at the historical mill that long housed manufacturer Faria Beede.

Crew members from Woburn, Mass.-based construction and property development firm The Maggiore Companies on Friday said they've been working on the site for several weeks. The project developer is Waltham, Mass.-based Dakota Partners, who plans to overhaul the 100,000-squre foot industrial space in Uncasville into a mix of affordable and market-rate studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

According to Dakota Partners and Mayor Ron McDaniel, the project already has received federal and state historic tax credits, as well as low-income housing tax credits to help support the restoration. Property records show the site, 42 Pink Row, still is owned by Faria Beede Instruments Inc.

"The project's been in the works for quite a long time," McDaniel said. "It's a nice transition of a historic mill. A great project from a quality organization that works historic elements into the buildings."

The 117-year-old nine-building complex, at one time a cotton and textile mill, housed Faria Beede for five decades, manufacturing speedometers and gauges measuring fuel, temperature or pressure in vehicles and boats.

While several officials back the project and are excited to see a vacant site repurposed — Faria Beede moved to a North Stonington facility in late 2017 — the Town Council last week unanimously rejected a request from the developers to set, and maintain, the property tax assessment over the next decade. State statute allows developers and municipalities to agree to freeze the assessment as an incentive, McDaniel said.

In an Aug. 20 letter to town officials, Hartford law firm Pullman & Comley, which represents the developer, requested the town enter a 10-year agreement to fix the assessment at $2.1 million, based on an estimated market value of about $3 million once the project is completed.

McDaniel said there was some concern "of the unknown going forward," as 10 years "would take it through two revaluation cycles. There could be significant amount of growth, or it could go the other way. You never know with real estate."

A message left with Town Council Chairman Tom McNally was not immediately returned.

Councilor Billy Caron said like other officials he was excited about the redevelopment in town but that the council was "not going to lock in to tax abatements or freezing the assessment."

A message left with Dakota Partners was not immediately returned.

The letter from Pullman & Comley noted 85 percent of the units would be low- and moderate-income, while 15 percent would charge market rate rents. Dakota Partners' website says the firm plans "extensive building improvements," including new windows, roofs and HVAC systems, "a community clubhouse, fitness center, basketball court, playground and on-site management and resident services."

On Friday, a crew worked on restorations from a hanging platform halfway up the mill's towering smokestack, which Dakota Partners described as an icon "that acts as a beacon for the Thames River" and will "remain a distinctive landmark in the community."

Dakota Partners said on its website that it hopes to have tenants occupy the first completed buildings by next summer.

b.kail@theday.com