EPA
%
%
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C, 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-98-XXX
May 1998
From Slag to Riches
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
Brownfields Success Stories
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. Since 1995, EPA has funded more than 120 National and Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilots, at
up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields solutions. The Pilots 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.
More than 240 acres of land considered
unusable for decades has re-emerged as
valuable residential property for the City of
Pittsburgh, thanks, in part, to an EPA Brownfields
Pilot that provided $200,000 to Pittsburgh's Urban
Redevelopment Authority (URA). Those funds
allowed the URA to fully assess a long-neglected
238-acre tract known as Nine-Mile Run, along
with a second site, the 6.7-acre former Lectromelt
facility. Nine Mile Run was formerly a dumping
area for industrial slag, an industrial waste product
of steel processing, while the Lectromelt facility is
Slug Piles Tower Over Nearby Houses at
the Nine Mile Run Site
The Abandoned Lectromelt Electroplating Plant
The URA acquired Nine Mile Run in late 1995.
Public investment in infrastructure improvements for
this site, including roads and sewage facilities, is
estimated at approximately $30-50 million. $6.1
million of these funds has been secured, and
$600,000 has been spent on pre-development costs.
Ground work and grading activities will begin after
the site receives State environmental clearance
a former electroplating plant located along the
Allegheny River.

-------
certification in Spring, 1998. Infrastructure
improvements and initial residential construction
will begin in Summer, 1999. Total private
investment is expected to exceed $200 million,
which will be used to develop 713 new housing
units, approximately 100,000 square feet of new
neighborhood commercial retail space, and 80
acres of park land. By the project's completion,
more than $240 million of new housing stock, $ 10
million in new retail construction, and 1,680
temporary and permanent jobs are anticipated.
Since only half of Pittsburgh's EPA Brownfields
Pilot funding was needed to evaluate the Nine Mile
Run site, the remainder went toward assessment
of the former Lectromelt property. Purchased by
the URA in 1994, the Lectromelt site has garnered
interest from the Rubinoff Company, a developer
who has worked throughout the Pittsburgh region.
The Pittsburgh Pilot leveraged $ 1 million in
assessment and cleanup funds for the project from
the State Enterprise
Zone (EZ) and
Pennsylvania's Industrial
Site Reuse Program
(ISRP). EZ funds were
used for demolition and
clearance activities,
while ISRP funding was
used for environmental
cleanup. Pennsylvania's
Department of
Community and
Economic Development granted the URA
$500,000 for environmental cleanup activities at
the Lectromelt site. The site's cleanup was
completed in 1997. Upon redevelopment, a
planned 100,000 square-foot structure will serve
light industrial and manufacturing purposes.
Redevelopment of the Lectromelt site will create
200 full-time jobs and leverage an estimated $8.0
million in investments from private developers.
Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program
legislation, passed in 1995, is a primary reason for
the success at the Lectromelt site. Under prior
regulations, the entire property would had to have
been cleaned up to pristine condition, at a cost of
several million dollars. Under the new regulations,
those costs were reduced to $560,000, with 75
JUSTTHE FACTS	
•	Brownfields Pilot funds allowed the city to assess a
long-neglected 238-acre tract known as Nine-Mile
Run, along with a second site, the 6.7-acre former
Lectromelt facility.
•	Public investment in infrastructure improvements for
the Nine-Mile Run site is estimated at approximately
$30-50 million. Private investment is expected to
exceed $200 million, which will be used to develop
713 new housing units, approximately 100,000
square feet of new neighborhood commercial retail
space, and 80 acres of park land.
•	Redevelopment of the Lectromelt site will create 200
full-time jobs and leverage an estimated $8.0 million
in investments from private developers.
percent of these costs financed through State
assistance.
In order to sustain the
Brownfields Pilot
redevelopment effort, the
City of Pittsburgh and
Allegheny County have
committed to creating
and capitalizing a
Revolving Loan Fund
(RLF) for brownfields
site cleanup and
redevelopment. The
Mon Valley
Infrastructure and Development Fund will be
capitalized initially at $ 10 million. The sources
which comprise the Mon Valley Fund are: $2.5
million in Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) funding from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development; $3.5 million
from the Allegheny County Economic
Development Fund (local sources); $2.5 million
from the City of Pittsburgh Development Fund;
$1.5 million from a City of Pittsburgh CDBG fund;
$650,000 in City of Pittsburgh Capital funds; and
the $350,000 EPA Brownfields Cleanup Revolving
Loan Fund. Pittsburgh is one of only 24 Pilots to
receive this EPA RLF grant. Although no specific
sites have yet been selected, the RLF funds will
be used within Pittsburgh's Federal Empowerment
Zone or a State Enterprise Community.
Contacts:
Urban Redevelopment	U.S. EPA - Region 3
Authority of Pittsburgh	(215) 566-3129
(412) 255-6658
Visitthe EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
Brownfields Success Story
May 1998
Pittsburgh, PA
EPA 500-F-98-XXX

-------