A common phrase with organizational experts starting in the early 1980s was that specific staff were “living in silos.” This was a catchy way of saying that people were not interacting enough to stay on mission in a company or group.
But for Mid-Shore developer Bob Greenlee, that is precisely what he wants people to do; live in a silo. And not just any silo, but one that could indeed be one of the Eastern Shore’s remarkable architecture gems of this century if it becomes a reality.
Working with Easton and London-based architect Mitch Hager, Greenlee’s firm has developed a novel way to convert the silos owned by the Perdue Company in Easton into residential use. Perdue has been eager to sell the site due to grain farmers unwilling or unable to drive the narrow streets to get to the facility. They turned to Greenlee and his team to come up with new plans for the site.
While one option was simply to level the existing silos and replace them with straightforward residential housing, Greenlee and Hager saw a new and radical way to use the space. Instead of tearing down the silos, they would form the foundation of a design of some 40 plus apartments or condos right next to the popular rails to trails pathway.
Appropriately using the name “The Granary” for the complex, Mitch and Bob see this as not only a way to keep these iconic structures in place. This approach could also be a unique model for other communities on the Eastern Shore facing similar challenges with these aging facilities.
In the first part of the Spy’s extended conversation with Bob about his significant commercial projects on the Mid-Shore, we sat down with both of them last week to learn more about this exciting proposal.
This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about SVN | Miller Commercial please go here. For Mitch Hager’s firm, please go here.
Carla Massoni says
This is so creative! Bravo!