Brownfields
Success Story
The Silver Lining in an
Abandoned Hospital
Silver City, New Mexico
For nearly 25 years, Hillcrest General Hospital served as a healthcare hub
for residents of Silver City and others in western New Mexico. In 1983,
Grant County officials decided to build a new hospital, Gila Regional
Medical Center, rather than make costly upgrades to Hillcrest. Once
Gila began operations and Hillcrest closed, the building quickly fell
into disrepair and earned a reputation among locals as an eyesore and
a nuisance.
"The site is located in a very prominent part of town, on the main
drag right as you enter city limits," says Alex Brown, Silver City's town
manager and finance director. "Silver City generates a lot of revenue
through recreational tourism, and we were concerned about how the site
could affect visitors' perception of us."
The Opportunity
In 2004, Brown received a directive from his colleagues in the city
council to acquire the Hillcrest property and demolish the building. After
approximately one year of negotiation with the site's owner, he used city
funds to purchase the property.
After finalizing the acquisition, Brown knew the building's age and
former use meant a full environmental assessment would be necessary
before redevelopment could proceed. He contacted the town's
Brownfields program, which helped secure a $168,393 U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Assessment Grant for Phase I
and Phase II environmental site assessments. The assessments revealed
significant contamination—asbestos, lead, incinerator ash, and animal
droppings containing bacteria that could cause harm if inhaled by people
visiting the structure.
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA Grant Recipient:
Silver City, New Mexico
EPA Grant Type:
Brownfields Assessment Grant,
Brownfields Revolving Loan
Fund Grant
Former Uses:
Hospital
Current Use:
Affordable Senior Flousing
EPA-funcied site assessments revealed
significant and widespread contamination
The Hillcrest Hospita
for decades before tl
demolished in 2009.

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Apartment construction began in April 2018
and took approximately 20 months
to complete.
it Working with EPA
on the Hillcrest
Hospital project
is one of the best
experiences I've
ever had as a
public servant.
Alex Brown,
Town Manager, Finance Director,
Town of Silver City, New Mexico
The Cleanup
Thanks to a previous relationship with the Brownfields program, Brown
says the remediation process was relatively seamless. "Based on my
experience working with the town's Brownfields office to clean up old
mill sites in town, i knew that EPA would be helpful in transforming the
Hillcrest Hospital site."
The town received a $342,560 EPA Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund
Grant to cover the costs of waste removal and building teardown. The
loan allowed financing with a 20 percent repayment discount at zero
percent interest, which helped accelerate payback time. Cleanup began
in 2007, and demolition of the hospital was complete by 2009.
The Redevelopment
Brown's next task was to find a new tenant. The city council targeted
hotels and other businesses tied to recreational tourism, but good fits
and interested buyers were few and far between. The site remained
vacant and under town control until late 2016, when Bethel Development
approached Brown. Bethel specializes in affordable housing and had
experience working in Silver City having developed the Silver Cliffs
Apartments on the north side of town.
"Bethel provided us with an independent analysis, which concluded that
Silver City's senior population needed affordable housing," says Brown.
"Subsequent research on our end indicated the same thing. All we had to
do was work out the acquisition details."
Silver City was willing to donate the land to Bethel, and the company
received a five-point tax credit for bunding on a brownfields site through
the state of New Mexico's Qualified Allocation Plan. The parties finalized
the details in June 2017, and construction of Mountain View Senior
Apartments began in April of the following year.
The Benefits
Brown expects Mountain View Senior Apartments to benefit Silver City
beyond providing elderly residents with affordable homes. "Having this
resource should spur more economic development. Bethel will invest
in maintenance and administrative staff, and, as an added bonus, other
businesses can point to Mountain View as a place where prospective
employees can bring their parents."
Apartment construction was completed in fall 2019, and many of the 69
housing units are currently occupied.
"I'm so happy that Silver City found its 'prince charming' buyer in Bethel,"
says Denise Wiiiiams, Brownfields Project Officer for EPA Region 6.
"What was once just an abandoned building is now a tremendous asset."
For more information:
Visit the EPA Brownfields website at
www.epa.gov/brownfields or contact
Denise Williams at 214-665-9749 or
Williams.Denise@epa.gov.
EPAS60-F-m»
October 202©

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