Brownfields
Success Story
Giving Credit Where It's Due
Roanoke, Virginia
Villa Sorrento was a well-known Italian restaurant that opened in Roanoke,
Virginia in 1959. After temporarily closing its doors to relocate from its
Patterson Avenue address in 2000, the restaurant briefly reopened in 2001
before closing for good in 2004. But while Villa Sorrento closed, the original
restaurant site remained, as did environmental contaminants on the property.
The Cleanup
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the City of
Roanoke a $200,000 Brownfield Assessment Grant, which funded Phase I
and II Environmental Site Assessments and cleanup planning. The Phase II
environmental sampling revealed high concentrations of lead and asbestos
on the property. Roanoke then used a Brownfield Cleanup Grant to remediate
existing environmental hazards and demolish the old structure.
The project subsequently received an $850,000 Community Development
Financial Institution Grant from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and a
$350,000 Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
The Benefits
After completing all remediation, the Freedom First Credit Union West Branch
opened its doors in 2014. The branch employs five full-time workers and
makes use of nearly all the half-acre site. In what is a traditionally underserved
area of Roanoke, the Credit Union offers educational meeting space for
financial and healthy living seminars, a pavilion for the West End Community
Market, a community kitchen and a neighborhood garden. The Credit Union
also partnered with Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP) to hire a
manager for the community kitchen and to employ two individuals to run
the market.
EPA Grant Recipient:
City of Roanoke, Virginia
EPA Grant Types:
Brownfield Assessment,
Brownfield Cleanup
Former Use: Restaurant
Current Use: Federal Credit Union
Every vacant building
that is stabilized helps to
expand the boundaries of
the traditional downtown
core and benefits the
market.
Clay Taylor, Agent,
Waldvogel Commercial Properties
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
For more information:
Visit the EPA Brownfields website at
www.epa.gov/brownfields or contact
Felicia Fred at Fred.Felicia@epa.gov.
¦PA 5B0-F-1P2T3
October 20T?

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