Brownfields
Success Story
A Heyday in West Haymarket
Lincoln, Nebraska
Along the western edge of downtown Lincoln, Nebraska lies the Haymarket
District. First developed in the 1870s with the arrival of the Burlington and
Missouri River Railroad, the district's industrial and warehousing uses served the
adjacent railroad facilities.
In the 1980s, the city partnered with community leaders to remedy blighted
conditions in the area. Since then, the West Haymarket redevelopment project has
transformed dozens of acres of underutilized property into a civic arena, hotels,
community space, retail and office space and residential units. Step by step, Lincoln
has built upon redevelopment successes and has a lot to show for it today.
Challenges
Redevelopment in West Haymarket has been hampered by the area's historical uses.
Beginning in the late 1800s, the railroads fueled trains and conducted other rail yard
maintenance there. In addition, the site of a former manufactured gas plant was later
used as a lumber yard and scrap metal recycling facility, and was contaminated with
volatile organic compounds, heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls.
Until recently, redevelopment had taken place up to about 7th Street, where the
city hit a roadblock. The environmental issues—especially those associated with the
railroad—were too difficult to get around. Redevelopment would require moving rail
lines, and determining how much cleanup was necessary depended on establishing
an end-use for the area. Plus, the scrap metal recycler located between two rail lines
initially had been reluctant to allow environmental assessment of its property.
The Cleanup
Redevelopment finally took off when local leaders identified West Haymarket
as a great location for an arena, boosting developer interest. Voters approved a
$10 million bond measure to revitalize the area for a combination of public and
commercial use.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the city several Targeted
Brownfields Assessment grants to examine West Haymarket properties. EPA later
awarded the city two Brownfields Cleanup grants totaling $400,000 to address the
scrap metal recycling facility and former manufactured gas plant and lumberyard.
One hundred forty thousand cubic yards of unsuitable soil was removed, recycled or
capped for use as a parking lot. The sites have now been remediated, and planning
for their redevelopment is currently under way.
EPA Grant Recipient:
City of Lincoln, Nebraska
Grant Types:
EPA Targeted Brownfields
Assessment Grants, EPA
Brownfields Cleanup Grants
Former Uses:
Rail Lines and Yards, Coal and
Lumber Storage, Scrap Metal
Recycling Facility, Manufactured
Gas Plant
Current Use:
Mixed-use Commercial,
Office and Residential
oEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Downtown Lincoln's early railroad,
industrial and warehousing uses led
to blighted conditions that made
redevelopment challenging.

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West Haymarket today has a new
network of recreational spaces, including
this seasonal skating rink outside the
Pinnacle Bank Arena.
it Just 5 years
ago, this area
was largely
unpaved and
industrial. Its total
transformation
since then fits
right into the
brownfields
cleanup vision. 33
Ernesto Castillo
Planner II
Urban Development Department
City of Lincoln
For more information:
Visit the EPA Brownfields website
at www.epa.gov/brownfields
or contact Jennifer Morris
at R7_Brownfields@epa.gov.
EPA BF-1H3)
November 2017
Jennifer Morris, a project manager for EPA Region 7, says that redevelopment in the
area has been powered by a series of events—ail with a sustainability focus. "The two
sites that received cleanup funding are parts of a larger effort," she says. "Lincoln
received technical assistance through EPA's Greening America's Capitals Program to
revitalize the South Capital area through improvements to streets and alleys. They
used Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality State 128a funds to assess
properties. Ultimately that led to the start of redevelopment of the West Haymarket
area, including the passage of the bond and, later, construction of the arena."
Current Uses
West Haymarket today has a new network of streets, pedestrian ways, parking
structures and mixed-use development, including residential, recreational, cultural and
entertainment spaces.-The 470,400-square-foot Pinnacle Bank Arena offers year-
round entertainment, including concerts, family shows, touring acts and
sporting events.
In addition, a local sports video software firm is building its headquarters in West
Haymarket. The projected payroll and investment associated with this project will
create an estimated $140 million of annual economic activity.
Nearby, a national engineering firm headquartered in Lincoln built a new office, and
new student housing was constructed in the area less than a mile from the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Two new roundabouts outside the football stadium help
manage traffic, as does a new roadway that moves traffic north outside of downtown.
The city also built the state's first protected bike lane, which runs between the two
brownfield cleanup sites and extends about 17 blocks from 7th and N streets,
where it hooks up with the Jamaica Trail, to 23rd and N streets, where it connects
with the Billy Wolff Trail.
Community Impact
Redevelopment has employed 2,282 construction Workers to date, including 1,347 from
Lincoln/Lancaster County and 744 from other Nebraska counties. Ninety-two percent
of the workers are from Nebraska. Seventy-five percent of all contracts, totaling $160
million, have gone to Nebraska firms. The Pinnacle Bank Arena has spurred more than
$70 million in private investment throughout West Haymarket.
Adapting existing buildings instead of demolishing them has made West Haymarket
one of Lincoln's greenest neighborhoods. Increasing housing density, a mix of uses and
proximity to the University of Nebraska and downtown combine to create a live-work-
play environment that lets residents meet basic needs without needing automobiles.
The city is planning additional redevelopment fn South Haymarket, a 38-block
subarea adjacent to Historic Haymarket and West Haymarket. The redevelopment
strategy includes an urban neighborhood with an additional 1,000 to 2,000 residential
units, well-defined streetscapes that connect to trails, an urban plaza, open spaces,
expanded commercial and office space, adequate parking for the new uses and other
amenities Within greater downtown.
Transformation
West Haymarket is a prime example of how a community can use EPA assistance to
leverage multiple sources of additional funding, technical assistance and community
support to drive and expand growth.
Ernesto Castillo works for the city on development projects. "Before the first EPA
assessment grants, everything west of 7th Street was roundhouse, rail yard, scrap yard,
industrial land and rail lines," he says, "Now there are paved streets, restaurants, hotels,
residences, new construction and more coming. The planning, brownfields assistance
and needed investments all just fell into place."

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