United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-99-081
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
>>EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Lowell, MA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
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.
BACKGROUND
Lowell, Massachusetts was the nation's first planned
industrial city. The City'sprosperitygrewthroughout
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After
World War I, however, Lowell declined, as
manufacturing companies migrated to southern states.
Decades of disinvestment, decay, poverty,
unemployment, and crime followed. Almost 2,000
acres of abandoned and underutilized industrial and
historic mill manufacturing properties plague the city.
Today, 18 percent of Lowell's 105,000 residents live
belowthe poverty level. Approximately 25 percent of
Lowell jobs have been lost since 1985. While growth
in the State's high-tech service-based industries has
exploded, the majority of Lowell's unemployed lack
the education and skills to gain employment in these
fields. Redeveloping Lowell' s brownfields may be the
only way to create jobs forthese residents. Since itwas
awarded aBrownfields Assessment Pilot and designated
aNational Brownfields Showcase Community, Lowell
has completed 3 0 Phase I and 6 Phase II site assessments.
BCRLF OBJECTIVES
The Lowell BCRLF will provide the additional financing
required to spur the cleanup of priority sites. The
BCRLF will complementthe City' s efforts to provide
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Lowell, Massachusetts
Date of Announcement:
May 25,1999
Amount: $500,000
BCRLF Target Area:
Sites within the Federal
Enterprise Community and
throughout the City
Contacts:
Assistant City Manager
(978) 970-4252
Region 1 Brownfields
Coordinator
(617) 918-1209
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/
For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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comprehensive assistance to businesses and developers
converting brownfields to safe, sustainable, taxable,
job-creating parcels. The pilot plans to provide 50
percent ofBCRLF loans to sites in the Federal Enterprise
Community (EC). Two potential sites include aproperty
targeted for conversion from industrial and commercial
use to residential use and a 990,000 square foot historic
industrial and commercial mill space.
FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS
The Assistant City Manager/Director of the Division of
Planning and Development will serve as the lead
agency. The DirectorofEconomic Development (DED)
will work with the Economic Development Officer to
directly manage each project, serving as site manager.
Through a competitive process, Lowell will contract
with either the Lowell Development and Financial
Corporation (LDFC) or a third party to act as fund
manager. The pilot anticipates making four loans,
averaging approximately $100,000, to eligible
borrowers during the initial lending period.
LEVERAGING
The City will bundle the BCRLF with othertools such
as the Massachusetts Economic Development Incentive
Program, Section 108 Loan and Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) Programs, and the
Federal Brownfields Tax Incentive. Additionally, the
Brownfields RedevelopmentFund and the Brownfields
Tax Credit, a new Massachusetts law, will soon be
available. To obtain 50 percent of project costs from
the State, Lowell will seekto have some sites designated
as Urban Renewal Projects. Other federal programs
may be leveraged to fund a loan loss reserve. Lowell
willmake $4 million of Section 108 loan funds available,
to assist developers in financing cleanup and non-
cleanup related costs. The City will pro vide an in-kind
contribution in the amount of $20,000 for a staff
member to act as a general pilot manager.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding
also apply to BCRLF funds.
Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot Lowell, Massachusetts
May 1999 EPA 500-F-99-081
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