&EPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-00-253
November 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Brownfields Success Stories
Liability Protection Ensures a
Good Night's Sleep for Marriott
CENTRAL MASSACHESETTS ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
n the north end of downtown Worcester, Massachusetts, lies the
site of a former steel foundry, owned by U.S. Steel until just after
World War II. While half of the site was soon returned to industrial
use following U.S. Steel's closure, the remainder was for decades
used for nothing more than parking, with the original foundation of the
foundry resting under a layer of flat asphalt. Now, through the efforts
of the Central Massachusetts Economic Development Authority
(CMEDA) and the site's past and current owners—as well as
assistance from an EPA Brownfields Assessment Pilot award—the
site is home to a $15 million, 129-room Marriott hotel that created 50
full-time jobs.
By 1960, U.S. Steel's manufacturing plant had been demolished, and
the idle property was purchased by Parker Realty Corporation (PRC),
who used the site as a parking lot for more than 30 years. In 1998,
Marriott approached CMEDA—an organization established by the
state in 1995 to oversee the area's brownfields revitalization efforts—
with an interest in redeveloping the 2.4-acre PRC site into a new
Courtyard hotel. While initially dissuaded by the discovery of residual
lead contamination on the site, Marriott's discussions with CMEDA
and reassurances of the Authority's liability protection for site pur-
chasers against both reported and unknown contamination convinced
cont. >
JUST THE FACTS:
• Leveraged $15 million to create 50 full-time
jobs at a new Marriot Hotel.
• CMEDA provided liability protection to site
purchasers.
• Used an innovative technology—nitron
metals analyzer—to determine contamina-
tion levels in 20 minutes.
Reassurances of the
Authority's liability
protection for site
purchasers...convinced
the company to
proceed.
EPA'S Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in
economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A
brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA
is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to
test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for
residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in
the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans forthe environmental cleanup of brownfields.These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities,
and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site
assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
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was
CONTACTS:
Central Massachusetts Economic
Development Authority
(508)799-1880
U.S. EPA-Region 1
(617)918-1210
Visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
the company to proceed. As part of that protection, the title of the 2.4-acre parcel
transferred to CMEDA prior to cleanup, to end the chain of liability with the
Authority.
As part of this exempting arrangement, PRC spent more than $130,000 on
assessment and cleanup of the parcel, and paid CMEDA $15,000 in
administrative fees for the Authority's oversight during the four-month
cleanup process. EPA's Brownfields Pilot contributed $31,800 in
assessment funding, and the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) provided an additional $8,000 for
assessments. Originally estimated at $200,000, additional cleanup costs
reached only $ 104,000, thanks to an innovative new technology provided by
the DEP. The DEP's "nitron metals analyzer" enabled CMEDA to
determine contamination levels in 20 minutes, rather than a typical three-day
analysis. This process allowed CMEDA to more precisely determine the location
and amount of lead contamination in the soil and reduce the amount of construction
equipment rental time needed to remove it.
Keeping with the terms of the agreement, Marriott completed foundation work on the property in
March of 1999, and CMEDA transferred the property's title—along with liability protection in the
event that any additional contaminants were discovered—to the hotel chain that same month.
Marriott had placed $1.2 million into escrow from which cleanup funds were drawn, and as part of
the arrangement between Marriott, PRC, and CMEDA, the remaining funds from this escrow
were given to PRC for the property's purchase. Marriott's subsequent $15 million redevelopment
project created 25 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs; the new, 129-room hotel opened its
doors in October 1999. Annual tax revenues from the hotel's operation are expected to exceed
$50,000 per year. CMEDA and EPA's Brownfields Assessment Pilot are also involved in other
redevelopment projects in Central Massachusetts, including an effort to transform former mill sites
into recreational greenspace and jobs for local residents. For more information on the CMEDA
Brownfields Pilot, contact Lynne Jennings at EPARegion 1, (617) 918-1210.
Brownfields Success Story
November 2000
Central Massachusetts Economic Development Authority
EPA 500-F-00-253
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