Redevelopment Opportunities
Taking Hold in Baltimore
T
Ah
Baltimore, MD
he City of Baltimore, Maryland has begun to see the rewards of its
brownfields revitalization efforts as several redevelopment projects get
underway, including the creation of information technology business
centers and the restoration of wetlands. In September 1998, the
Brownfields National Partnership awarded Baltimore its Brownfields
Showcase Community designation. Since then, Showcase Community
staff have helped spur these and other projects by creating partnerships
among federal, state, and local agencies, universities, foundations, and
private and nonprofit organizations. These partnerships have already
leveraged more than $185 million towards Baltimore's cleanup and
redevelopment projects.
Showcase Communities are selected by the Brownfields National
Partnership to demonstrate that through cooperation, federal, state, local,
and private efforts can be concentrated around brownfields to restore
these sites, stimulate economic development, and revitalize communities.
Showcase Communities serve as models for broad-based cooperative
efforts to support locally based initiatives. Showcases receive up to
$400,000 from EPA for both environmental assessments and to support the
loan of a federal employee to the Showcase for up to three years.
Showcase Communities receive additional financial and technical support
from the Partnership's more than 20 federal partners, depending on the
community need and program eligibility.
Baltimore has a substantial list of brownfields restoration successes that
led to its Showcase Community designation, and several projects following
the Showcase award that have been supported through the Brownfields
National Partnership. The former American Can Company building, for
instance, sat abandoned for more than a decade despite its location on
Baltimore's waterfront. Once a developer expressed interest, this
brownfield became the first property in Maryland to complete the state's
Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP). Partnerships emerged between the
developer and the state to finance redevelopment, resulting in $24 million in
funding from the developer and $1.5 million from Maryland. A Public
Works grant from the Economic Development Administration and financial
incentives available through the federal Brownfields Tax Incentive also
contributed to this project. The site is now a retail and office center that
brought nearly 700 new jobs to the city.
A former Proctor & Gamble manufacturing complex was in a similar
situation to the former American Can site, sitting abandoned on the
waterfront (with an even more valuable location at Baltimore's Inner
continued ^
A view of one of Baltimore's
brownfields, prior to redevelopment.
JUST THE FACTS:
• Abandoned for more than a decade,
the former American Can site
became the first property in
Maryland to complete the state's
Voluntary Cleanup Program.
• A former manufacturing facility on
Baltimore's waterfront is now home
to an office complex that houses
1,525 employees.
• Partnerships among federal, state,
and local agencies, universities,
foundations, and private and
nonprofit organizations have
leveraged more than $185 million
towards Baltimore's cleanup and
redevelopment projects.
A former distribution center
is on its way to becoming 1.3
million square feet of office
and technology space that
will house at least 3,500
employees. Support for this
$100 million project has
come from EPA Showcase
Community staff, who helped
procure $9 million in HUD
loans and grants.
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CONTAC1
For more information on EPA'
Communities, contact Tony R?
Office of Brownfields Cleanup
Redevelopment at (202) 566-
Orvisit EPA's Brownfields Wei
http://www.epa.gov/brow
Harbor). Following purchase by a developer and completion of the state's VCP, Baltimore
Brownfields Assessment Pilot staff assisted the developer in applying for and receiving $ 10 million in
city- and state-funded infrastructure improvements, as well as brownfields tax credits. Having
preserved the historic facades of the original complex, this site is now home to an
office complex that houses 1,525 workers, with the capacity for 175 more.
In the southwest area of the city, a former Montgomery Wards distribution
center is on its way to becoming 1.3 million square feet of office and
technology space that will house at least 3,500 employees. Support for this
$100 million redevelopment project has come from Brownfields
Assessment Pilot and Showcase Community staff, who helped procure a
$1 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) grant and an $8
million HUD Section 108 loan. This project is located in an economically
distressed part of the city, and it is hoped that its success will serve as a
catalyst for revitalizing the area. The Maryland Department of the
Environment became the new building's first tenant during the spring of
2002. The developer is also working with the city government to establish a
First Source Hiring program to employ residents of the surrounding federal
Empowerment Zone. Partnerships with the city's Minority and Women's Business
Enterprise Program and the Baltimore Brownfields Worker Training Program will provide additional
opportunities for area residents.
Officials at the Baltimore National Aquarium, located at the Inner Harbor, are also working with the
Brownfields Showcase Community team to create the federal, state, and local partnerships needed to
develop a 60,000- to 80,000-square-foot Center for Aquatic Life and Conservation. In addition to
providing care for marine wildlife, Aquarium officials plan to use the center to teach visitors about
environmental stewardship by showing them the connections between themselves and the natural
world around them. The center will also be a training ground for inner city universities to develop
curricula and train students in marine biology, aquaculture, marine biotechnology, and marine health.
Aquarium officials have also formed a partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create
new wetlands and habitat areas along the harbor. The Aquarium will use these new natural areas to
teach citizens and organizations about the importance of environmental preservation.
An ambitious redevelopment plan is also taking hold in the Carroll-Camden Industrial Park, located
just south and west of the city's Camden Yards sports complex. Using a three-pronged strategy of
selective public acquisition, private development incentives, and infrastructure improvements, this
former manufacturing center will be transformed into a modern business park for offices, technology
businesses, and traditional industry. EPA Region 3 has provided the Maryland Department of the
Environment with more than $400,000 to conduct Targeted Brownfields Assessments (TBAs) in the
heavily industrialized and underutlized Carroll-Camden area. The city is applying to HUD to use a
previously obtained $6 million HUD Brownfields Economic Development linitiative Section 108 loan to
assist with site acquisition along the Warner Street corridor.
Other brownfields restoration projects assisted by Baltimore's Showcase Community include
restoration of a 20-acre former public housing site, and redevelopment of the 30-acre Port Liberty site
into a $ 16 million auto import terminal and cable distribution facility that will create 3 75 j obs.
Showcase Community staff are also working with local associations, such as Revitalizing Baltimore
and the Parks & People Foundation, to formulate a strategy for reinvestment and to identify potential
federal, state, and other partner organizations to help restore these valuable assets.
S:
Showcase
ofOSWER's
nd
758
site at:
lelds/
Brownfields Success Story
Baltimore, MD
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA500-F-02-153
December 2002
www. epa.gov/brownfields/
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