SEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-185
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Brownfields Success Stories
Stamford Cleanup Loan
Davidson Race Towards
and Expansion
STAMFORD, CT
n November 1999 Blues Brothers LLC, the company that owns
the Harley Davidson franchise in Stamford, Connecticut, received
the third loan under EPA's Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan
Fund (BCRLF) Pilot Program. The $165,000 loan will pay for
cleanup on the site of a former printing and engraving shop that is
expected to be redeveloped as a new, $600,000 Harley Davidson
showroom by the fall of 2000.
To date, EPA has awarded 68 BCRLF Pilots. The purpose of these
Pilots is to enable states, cities, and Native American tribes to make
low-interest loans to facilitate the cleanup and redevelopment of
brownfields properties. The program has already leveraged more
than $50 million in redevelopment funding from the BCRLF loans
issued to date. The City of Stamford was selected as a BCRLF
Pilot in May 1999, receiving $500,000 that will be loaned out in
amounts up to $250,000 per loan, at up to 15-month intervals, to help
pay for brownfields cleanups. Stamford's BCRLF Pilot will issue
loans with a 6 percent interest rate and will forgive the interest if the
loan is repaid within 12 months. The Stamford BCRLF will provide
loans for cleanup in the city's South End and the Waterside areas,
the two lowest-income neighborhoods in the city.
cont. ^
Helps Harley
Relocation
JUSTTHE FACTS:
' A $165,000 BCRLF loan will pay for cleanup
on the site of a former printing and engraving
shop that is expected to be redeveloped as a
new, $600,000 Harley Davidson showroom.
' Although the property requires cleanup only
to commercial/industrial standards, the site's
owners will clean up the site to residential
standards in order to broaden future use
options.
' Site redevelopment, which includes renova-
tion of two turn-of-the-century buildings and
landscaping, is anticipated to be completed in
the fall of 2000.
Although the property requires
cleanup only to commercial/
industrial standards, Blues
Brothers will clean up the site
to residential standards (which
excludes site capping) in order
to broaden future use options.
ERA'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 for the 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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Blues Brothers has a showroom in Stamford just a few blocks away from the
new site, so when they began looking for a place to relocate and expand, the
nearby site was a natural choice. However, before Blues Brothers could
move in, the .75-acre site, whose past uses include a machine shop and a
printing and engraving facility, required assessment for potential con-
tamination. Blues Brothers funded Phase I, II, and III environmental
site assessments, conducted from March through June 1999, that found
contaminants including semi-volatile organic compounds, mixed petro-
leum, and chromium and other metals.
CONTACTS:
OSWER's Outreach and Special
(202) 260-9347
Visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
The property is located in a mixed-use neighborhood of the South End of
Stamford, where a neighborhood community group, the South End Neigh-
borhood Revitalization Task Force, has been meeting for three years. In
October 1999 Blues Brothers first presented their proposal to redevelop the
former printing and engraving site to the task force. The city's Community Rede-
velopment Director who serves as the BCRLF Fund Manager, also attended this meet-
ing and told Blues Brothers about the availability of the BCRLF loans. Following several
meetings with Stamford's BCRLF staff, Blues Brothers decided to apply for the BCRLF
loan. Subsequently, in December 1999, Blue Brothers signed a loan agreement with the
city, and the loan will be in place when cleanup begins.
Cleanup of the site is expected to begin in March 2000 and will involve removal of con-
taminated soil. Although the property requires cleanup only to commercial/industrial stan-
dards, Blues Brothers will clean up the site to residential standards (which excludes site
capping) in order to broaden future use options. The loan's term is 15 months at six
percent interest. However, if Blues Brothers repays the loan within 12 months, which
they are expected to do, no interest will be charged.
Site redevelopment, which includes renovation of two turn-of-the-century buildings and
site landscaping, is anticipated to begin immediately after cleanup and be completed in the
fall of 2000. Blues Brothers expects the overall redevelopment to cost $600,000, an in-
vestment in the community in addition to the property's $725,000 purchase price.
Brownfields Success Story
May 2000
Stamford, CT
EPA 500-F-00-185
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