The mill, also known as the J.J. Rogers building, is a complex of buildings along South Spring Street, Elliott Street and the railroad tracks. The mill was built in 1901 and is the namesake for the neighborhood it sits in: Mill Village. Its square tower and circular smokestack are part of the skyline of downtown. (photo by Djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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This is a rendering from UrbanArch of Memphis of what the building could look like. The entrance would be flipped to face the South Spring Street.

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Tupelo lawyer Greg Pirkle owns the building. (photo by Djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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This is the current entrance to the building. The metal on the buildings behind Pirkle will be removed and replaced with windows. (photo by Djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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The building housed the Rogers distributing company since the 1940s. (photo by C. Todd Sherman/Djournal)

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This was the messaging system before email. Workers had clipboards and a pulley system. They would attach information to the clipboards and pull the rope to move it upstairs or downstairs. (photo by C. Todd Sherman/Daily Journal)

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The Rogers family has documented much of the history of the buliding. (photo by C. Todd Sherman/Daily Journal)

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This is the second floor of the building. The majority of the building has the original wood floors and wood-beam ceilings. (photo by Djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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This is the one restored window in the building. It cost $9,000 to revamp. (photo by djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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This is the first floor of the building. It has hardwood floors, exposed brick and tons of windows. (photo by djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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The building has a flat roof. Pirkle hopes one day to use it to have rooftop dining and cultural activities (djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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The doors inside the building operate on a weight system. (photo by djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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This is one of the original rooms of the cotton mill. It has the original hardware installed along the windows in ceiling. Pirkle hopes convert it into a mixed-use performance venue. (photo by djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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This is one of the downstairs rooms. Lots of exposed brick. (photo by djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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This is the basement in the building. Pirkle plans to convert this to storage. (photo by djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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one of the old light fixtures (photo by djournal's C. Todd Sherman)

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Greg Pirkle owns the building. (photo by C. Todd Sherman/Daily Journal)

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Tupelo attorney Greg Pirkle has big dreams for the old cotton mill he bought in downtown Tupelo.

He hopes to fill the 109,000-square-foot space with:

• a sit-down restaurant
• sandwich shop
• upscale grocery
• movie theater
• gym
• residential lofts
• office space
• a mixed-use performance venue
• an open-format artist cooperative
• a bicycle shop
• an apartment for his wife and him

The mill, also known as the J.J. Rogers building, is a complex of buildings along South Spring Street, Elliott Street and the railroad tracks.

The mill was built in 1901 and is the namesake for the neighborhood it sits in: Mill Village. Its square tower and circular smokestack are part of the skyline of downtown.

If everything comes together, Pirkle hopes to begin construction this summer, starting with updating the utilities and running cable and Internet lines. He expects the renovations to last two years.

His goal is to secure leases for the various spaces, except for the residential areas, before starting. He’s currently working out lease prices.

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Read more in Friday's Journal.