Celebrating Success:
MacGillis & Gibbs / Bell Lumber
& Pole Company
Superfund
Redevelopment
Initiative
"No one was going to come forward to
reuse this site, and the property owner
was reluctant to grant EPA and MPCA
access to the property. The city realized
that if it didn't take the lead, the future
was uncertain. We decided that it was
time for the city to step up and see what
we could do to get things moving [with
the property]." - Kevin Locke, former
New Brighton Community Development
Director
"It was clear that the city had put a lot
of thought into their plans, and had
looked not only at redevelopment, but at
how cleanup and redevelopment could
work together at the property. We
[EPA] see it as part of our mission to
enable communities like New Brighton
to be able to safely return contaminated
properties to beneficial use." - Dcirryl
Owens, Region 5 Remedial Project
Manager
Through close collaboration between the City of New
Brighton, EPA Region 5, the Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency (MPCA) and other partners, a portion of the MacGillis
& Gibbs / Bell Lumber & Pole Company Superfund site has
been cleaned up and redeveloped into one of the leading
examples of mixed-use Superfund redevelopment in the nation.
The 68-acre Superfund site consists of two adjoining properties
in New Brighton, Minnesota. Wood preserving facilities
operated on both properties through most of the twentieth
century. The site was added to the Superfund National
Priorities List in 1984, after the discovery of contaminated soil
and ground water. Cleanup activities included stabilization and
removal of metals contaminated soils, either biotreatment or
capping of organic contaminated soils, and a ground water
pump and treat system. The majority of cleanup operations
were completed by 2001.
The site's cleanup and redevelopment were closely
coordinated. In fact, the City of New Brighton had been laying
the groundwork for the reuse of the 25-acre MacGillis & Gibbs
site property since the mid-1980s. In 1997, the City and federal
and state agencies negotiated a Prospective Purchaser
Agreement to resolve the City's liability concerns and the City
acquired the property.
The City's acquisition of the site property and subsequent
partnerships with interested businesses enabled cleanup and
redevelopment to move forward, resulting in the New Brighton
Corporate Park III. Today, the redevelopment includes
manufacturing and distribution businesses as well as
commercial office space, retail shops and restaurants, legal and
medical services, a post office, and a 120-unit condominium
development. The redevelopment of the site property illustrates
how community leadership, collaborative partnerships and
flexible long-term planning can result in the protection of
human health and the environment and community
revitalization.
For more information, please contact Melissa Friedland at
friedland.melissa@epa.gov or (703) 603-8864 or Frank
Avvisato at avvisato.frank@epa.gov
or (703) 603-8949.

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