Photos: The Mill is getting a makeover

Bar shot — The back bar becomes one giant shelf as renovators make room.

Photos by Shauna McKnight

Exciting news for music fans! The Mill’s renovations, which began after New Year’s Day, will be completed just in time to host Dana T this Friday at 9 p.m. The new layout’s biggest feature is a completely refurbished seating area — located to the right of the stage — with elevated, u-shaped “mafia booths” to allow for better views of the performers.

According to co-owner Marty Christensen, the idea is to turn the “worst seats” in the house into the “best seats.”

The rarely-used accordion doors, originally meant to partition the booths from the stage nearby, have been removed to allow for better views of the stage. Additionally, a room to the left of the stage — normally used as a green room or equipment holding area — has been opened up to allow for additional seating.

Stadium Seating area closeup — Raised seating platforms now occupy the space just to the right of the stage. This area will feature U-shaped “mafia style” booths.

Full shot - stadium visible — The removal of the accordion-style doors — which previously obscured parts of the stage, even when fully folded — allows for much better sight-lines throughout the venue. In this shot, the raised platform area is visible in the background.

Marty Chisten — Marty Christensen, co-owner of The Mill, has some big things in store for the venue.

More changes that customers can anticipate are new tables, carpeting, small lights around the edges of the room and a lot more open space. The dark-stained wood tables and booths will match the wooden, organic theme from the front room. Christensen said most of the changes are to make The Mill more aesthetically pleasing.

Christensen has owned The Mill for the past ten years, and does software-related work as his primary job. He sees The Mill as a passion project.

“I don’t do this to make a living. This is a mission-driven thing for me to own this place,” he said. “And so, now that we’re in a position to make some improvements, I get to go even further into that mission of making the place just better, cleaner and in better repair and that is super fun. I love this.”