United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-189
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Brownfields Success Stories
Restoration of Kalamazoo's Former
Industrial Sites Spurred by EPA Grant
A
KALAMAZOO,
warded by EPA in October 1996, Kalamazoo's Brownfields
Pilot has helped to spur the redevelopment of numerous brownfields
sites including a former railyard, a coal powerplant, a machine shop,
a well field, and an automotive parts manufacturer by providing
assessment and design funding and technical support. When all
five sites are fully developed, the city will have benefitted from
hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars in private investment.
The first of these redevelopment projects is on a former well field
located on 17 acres of city-owned land and 18 acres of private
property. The Pilot funded Phase I and II environmental assess-
ments of the city property and found that no cleanup was required,
although portions of the site could require soil capping or paving. In
late 1998, the city built a 700-foot access road that will enable de-
velopment of the entire 35-acre site. The private owner and the
city split the $200,000 cost of road construction. The private owner
already has plans to construct an aluminum recycling and process-
ing plant on eight acres, and the city expects to sell eight acres (the
remaining nine acres will be developed as greenspace due to the
location of a creek and wetlands on the site) to developers for light
industrial, office, or warehouse use at a cost of up to $400,000.
Using a portion of the city's $200,000 Brownfields Pilot grant for
environmental assessments helped move redevelopment efforts for-
ward at another brownfield, a former railyard depot. After the
cont. >
JUSTTHE FACTS:
1 The Pilot funded environmental assessments
on a 3 5-acre former well field and found that
no cleanup was required.
1 The Pilot's Phase II assessments of a former
railyard depot preceded removal of an empty
underground storage tank; the site is now
home to an antiques mall.
1 Based on the Pilot's reuse analysis of a former
automotive parts manufacturing site, the state
DEQ is expected to contribute approximately
$1.5 million for site cleanup.
The Pilot has helped to spur the
redevelopment of numerous sites
including a former railyard, a coal
powerplant, a machine shop, a well
field, and an automotive parts
manufacturer by providing assess-
ment and design funding and
technical support.
ERA'S Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in
economic redeve lopmentto 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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site's owner conducted a Phase I assessment, the Pilot funded a Phase II as-
sessment in the fall of 1998, and an empty underground storage tank was
subsequently removed. The owner of the property has now spent $ 100,000
to transform the old depot into an antiques mall expected to open in the
summer of 1999. Renovation of the 8,000-square-foot building included
a new roof and repairs to the foundation, as well as restoration of on old
brick street on the property.
CONTACTS:
Pilot-funded assessments enabled redevelopment of additional
Kalamazoo brownfields, including an abandoned machine shop. The
city is selling the half-acre site for $10,000; the 8,000-square-foot build-
ing will be renovated for use as office space, and construction will be
completed in 1999. Another former brownfield, a prime Kalamazoo riverfront
site, will eventually be home to a public riverfront trailway and park. The state
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) funded Phase I and II assessments
on the 2.5-acre, former coal powerplant site, and the Pilot funded construction plans for
the public park. Although very low levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamina-
tion were discovered, no cleanup was required. Aside from a 70-foot setback of riverfront
land designated for the public park, this site will be sold to a developer for $50,000 per
acre. The park will be completed in 1999; additional redevelopment plans include a new
retail center and restaurant. As part of the purchase agreement, the developer will donate
$40,000 toward development of the waterfront park.
An additional site aided by the Brownfields Pilot is the former Old Shakespeare Rod and
Reel property, most recently home to an automotive parts manufacturer. The Pilot funded
an analysis of this property, studying reuse options based on the site's contaminants and
location. Based on the Pilot's findings, the state DEQ is expected to contribute approxi-
mately $1.5 million for site cleanup and demolition of 22 buildings. Four years after work
on this site began, a preliminary redevelopment plan has been created, and the city has
been working with a potential developer for what is anticipated to be a new office/retail/
residential/warehouse project.
City of Kalamazoo
(616)337-8044
U.S. EPA-Region 5
(312)353-3151
Visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Success Story
May 2000
Kalamazoo, Ml
EPA 500-F-00-189
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