at-a-glance
ROBERTSON ON THE RIVER
Taunton, MA
Cleanup Grant
Former Textile Mill Cleaned Up and
Transformed into Affordable Housing
ADDRESS:
PROPERTY SIZE:
FORMER USES:
CURRENT USES:
120 Ingell Street, Taunton, MA 02780
6.5 acres
Historic Textile Mill
Affordable housing units and commercial space
EPA GRANT RECIPIENT:
The Weir Economic Invest-
ment Revitalization Corporation
received a $52,000 Brownfields
Cleanup Grant.
PROJECT PARTNERS:
Metric Construction, Bank of America,
Massachusetts Housing Partnership,
Massachusetts Department of Housing
and Community Development
For additional data and geographic information for this
and other Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA's:
Envirofacts - www.epa.gov/enviro/html/bms/bms_querv.html
Enviromapper - www.epa.gov/enviro/bf
PROJECT BACKGROUND:
Constructed in 1890, the Robertson Mill operated as a mill for yarn production and various other textile products until
it was closed in the early 1990s. The property remained vacant until the Weir Corporation purchased it in 2003 from
Combined Realty Trust. The mill was a blight and safety concern for the historic Weir Village community due to the soil
contaminated with polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and lead from the railroad easements that serviced the mill,
and asbestos.
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
• 6.5 acres cleaned up and 40 redevelopment jobs leveraged
• Soil excavation, lead and asbestos removal, and removal of Underground
Storage Tanks (USTs) was funded by a $140,000 Brownfields RLF Loan
and a $ 148,000 Brownfields RLF subgrant from the City of Taunton
• More than $15 million in redevelopment funding leveraged from local,
state, and public entities
OUTCOME:
EPA awarded a $52,000 cleanup grant to the non-profit Weir Corporation for
the redevelopment of the 140,000-square-foot historic Robertson Mill with
its partner, Combined Realty Trust, into 64 units of affordable rental housing,
18,000 square feet of commercial space, a community meeting room, and a
100-foot wide Riverfront Park. On November 16, 2004, groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the Robertson on
the River apartment complex. Less than a year later, on October 31, 2005, a grand opening ceremony was held for the
complex, which has 20 one-bedroom, 34 two-bedroom, and 10 three-bedroom apartments and offers affordable rent to
households earning between 30 and 60 percent of the median income. Currently, 63 of the 64 apartments are occupied
with over 120 people living at Robertson on the River and two new businesses are located on the first floor.
View of the karate studio, one of the businesses
at Robertson on the River.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ or call EPA Region I at (617) 918-1 I I I
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